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Trevor Chesterfield -
Colin Croft -
John Houlihan -
John Ward
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Trevor Chesterfield
Cricketing background: Trevor is New Zealand-born and has had a love
affair with cricket since he can remember, writing for newspapers and
press agencies in New Zealand, England, Australia and South Africa since
1957; he has been employed since 1975 as senior cricket writer of the
Pretoria News, in South Africa. Has one published work, 'Cricket Captains
of South Africa: from Melville to Wessles' with Jackie McGlew and is
now working on biography of former South Africa Test fast bowler Fanie
de Villiers. In his school days was a leg-spinner and played for Central
Districts colts in NZ and invited to NZ Colts trials 1955; also a first
class umpire in South Africa and minor provincial matches in NZ.
Prediction: I think that South Africa and Pakistan will compete in the final, New
Zealand can surprise by reaching the semi-finals. South Africa’s record
since losing the triangular tournament in England last year has been a
shade of pale short of spectacular; quality all-rounders supported by
excellent fielding have engineered the sort of balance coach Bob Woolmer
and the captain, Hansie Cronje, have sought since the 1996 campaign ended
in the quarter-finals. It did not come easy, but the hard work since
March 11 1996, when they lost to the West Indies has made them more
competitive and they have learnt to handle pressure and come back strongly.
Despite Pakistan’s often erratic form they can not be dismissed lightly and
have learnt to bond together under Wasim Akram’s observant and custom
designed leadership to suit their needs. Their one problem area is fielding
where they have a couple of liabilities: Inzamam-ul-Haq being one of them.
On a good day they would shock the Australians.
Do not laugh: the Kiwis may not be as flashy or adventurous as some of the
fancied sides, yet they have a peculiar characteristic among the players
which can overcome heavily stacked odds. On a good day can, and have, beaten
South Africa, Australia, India and Sri Lanka, in the last couple of seasons.
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Colin Croft
Cricketing background: Colin was a member of the West Indies side
of the late 70s and early 80s, arguably the greatest cricket side ever.
He was a fearsome fast bowler in his day and played in 27 Test matches
taking 125 wickets at 23.3 a piece. As a commentator and journalist
Colin is famously frank and forthright, and television viewers
worldwide will enjoy his candid exchanges with fellow commentator
Geoff Boycott during this World Cup. Colin writes for the London
Sunday Telegraph; South Africa's SportsDay; The Independent Newspaper
group of South Africa; The Stabroek News of Guyana; The Trinidad &
Tobago Independent Newspapers; Wisden Cricket Monthly; South African
Cricket Action Magazine, plus, of course, CricInfo.
Predictions: Predicting a winner of the 1999 Cricket World Cup is very difficult indeed.
England and New Zealand have an advantage because they are somewhat
accustomed to the weather conditions. Pakistan, Australia and South
Africa have teams which have the best talent around. The West Indies
and India have confidence gained in their last international encounters
to bring with them. Zimbabwe is on the way up. Sri Lanka should do
their best to defend their crown. Scotland, Bangladesh and Kenya
are "spoilers" waiting to upset some "big fish" as Kenya upset the
West Indies last time around. I can even predict that there will be
two, yes two, major upsets in this competition from the "minnows".
In my sometimes confused mind, the final four could be (1) Pakistan,
(2) South Africa, (3) England, Australia or New Zealand and (4) India
or West Indies. That is sitting on the fence, so I will go for a
Pakistan v South Africa final, unless they meet in the semi-final,
with perhaps Pakistan winning, but please do not hold me to that.
Pakistan has tried and tested talent. South Africa has the
cohesiveness and that most important quality, the fact that none of
their players considers himself any better than the rest of the team.
In their eyes, they are all equal. If one of South Africa or Pakistan
beat the other in the semis, then my winner will be Australia or, for
a dark, sleeping giant, (sorry about the pun), West Indies.
The player of the series could be, in this order, Michael Bevan,
Shaun Pollock or Jacques Kallis. Bevan is the single most underrated
player in the world, despite the fact that he averages about 60.00 runs
per One Day International innings. Pollock and Kallis have the
tenacity and determination of winners.
I would not put any money on anything here in 1999. Anyone can win.
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John Houlihan
Cricket Experience: John is a specialist online sports writer, who has
written for The Times, Virgin Net and CricInfo, as well as most of the
major English cricket magazines including Wisden Cricket Monthly, Cricket
World Monthly, Inside Edge and Johnny Miller 96* and he has also worked as
a cricket reporter for the Western Daily Press group. On most weekends
during the summer he can be found playing for The Times on Saturdays and
his local club side, the Fox & Hounds UCC on Sundays. He still entertains
pretensions of being a bowling all-rounder, combining reasonably nippy
medium fast away swing with a solid (or should that be stodgy?) defensive
opening batting technique. His aggregate of one Royal duck, one Golden duck
and a mammoth 2 in his first three innings of this season, would suggest
he's fooling no-one.
Predictions:
- Australia
- Pakistan
- South Africa
Unlike most observers, I don't believe there's a single pre-tournament
favourite and I think that the World Cup will be won by one of three or
possibly four teams. No-one can ignore the Australians who have an
abundance of world-class performers (just consider the players who didn't
make the squad) and one of the most dominant ODI batsman in the world in
Michael Bevan. Pakistan are a supremely talented outfit in almost every
department and Wasim Akram seems to have achieved the impossible and welded
them into a coherent team - if they remain united both on the field and
behind the scenes they will be very difficult to beat. South Africa have
both strength and depth, but are slightly flattered to be favourites ahead
of the other two nations, however there's no doubt they are a significant
force in one-day cricket and Hansie Cronje has an excellent chance of
lifting the trophy. Finally England are my outside selection, sporting a
resilient middle-order, some potentially match winning all-rounders and a
forceful seam attack well able to exploit local conditions. It's always a
case of 'if' with England, but if their top order can find form, they learn
to relish rather than fear the big occasion and above all, if they can
perform with any degree of consistency, they are more than capable of
springing a shock win.
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