da bet esporte： The World Cup plot begins to thicken as the pool phase ends and the SuperSixes begins
David Wiseman05-Mar-2003The World Cup plot begins to thicken as the pool phase ends and the SuperSixes begins. Like Australia did four years ago, this is when you want tobegin peaking.There are only two changes to this Super Six from the last one. Sri Lankaand Kenya come in at the expense of South Africa and Pakistan. Pakistan miss out on qualifying for the next phase of the tournament for the first time since the inaugural World Cup in 1975.Kenya may be present due to the beneficiaries of circumstances outside theircontrol but in their next three games they have the chance to prove they arethere on bona fide grounds.Kenya are the Zimbabwe of four years ago. The surprise packet of thetournament and like Zimbabwe of four years ago they only require one victoryto advance to the semi finals.Notwithstanding the controversy and politics, Zimbabwe will be ecstatic theyhave made it to their second consecutive Super Sixes, proving that the lastone was no fluke.Australia are the red hot favourites. Like true champions, they are winningeven when they are not playing well or look like they are up to their necksin trouble. Their flexibility and versatility is the key. Which other teamin world cricket could be without players the calibre of Warne, the twoWaughs and Gillespie and find such wonderful replacements that you don’teven know they are gone?The Australians are playing like the West Indians of the first two WorldCups where the Calypso cricketers were on a different dimension. They wereuntouchable and defeating them was an impossible task. In the first WorldCup, Pakistan set the West Indies a challenging 267 runs to score from 60overs. At 166 for eight and later 203 for nine, it looked like a Pakistani victory, butDeryck Murray and Andy Roberts combined for a last wicket partnership of 64to steer the West Indies home with just two balls to spare.Australia’s victory against England at Port Elizabeth was reminiscent ofthis game.Advancing to the Super Sixes from Pool B was a struggle and it doesn’t getany easier for Pool B teams wishing to make it through to the final four.New Zealand and Sri Lanka have to play the two form teams of the tournament;Australia and India while Zimbabwe can make some ground on New Zealand andSri Lanka as they get to play Kenya.For New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka to qualify they basically need towin every one of their Super Six games.There is a lot to play for. Australia don’t just want to qualify for thesemi-finals, they want to finish first (or fourth) so they play in the daysemi-final at Port Elizabeth and avoid the crapshoot which faces the teamsin the day/night semi-final at Durban.After some confusion about the format four years ago when it was firstintroduced, the Super Sixes is now being embraced.It is a great system asit forces the top teams to play each other at least once. It also means thateach of the next nine games is an ‘eight point game’ and a must win one atthat. All this should mean for fantastic cricket as the remaining sixnations fight it out for cricket’s glittering prize.