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From the Press Box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The first week of the 2003 World Cup has already thrown its fair share of shocks and surprises on and off the field.

On the field, Canada sprung the biggest surprise so far by beating Bangladesh by 60 runs, while Holland rattled India for 204, before going down by 68 runs. West Indies began the competition by beating the hosts and one of the favourites for the Cup, South Africa by three runs in a thrilling fixture at Newlands, Cape

Town, a day after the opening ceremony, but then lost to New Zealand. Sri Lanka for much of the time out of the limelight following a string of defeats in South Africa and Australia, finally got their act together to come out with a terrific performance to beat New Zealand in their opening fixture. The match was vital to both teams and that Sri Lanka came out to trumps would not only have given them immense satisfaction, but also a morale booster for the rest of the tournament. Defending champions and top favourites Australia posed the biggest threat to all the teams when they thrashed Pakistan by 82 runs.

How strong Australia are at the moment can be gauged by the fact that even without one of the greatest icon in modern day cricket Shane Warne and two key batsmen Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan, they were still able to score over 300 runs against Pakistan's pace attack of Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib and Razzaq and win by a thumping margin. In spite of all their travails, Australia remains the team to beat.

What has happened to Warne is a shame. No matter what sort of character he may be - he is one whom many love to hate, the World Cup has lost a match-winner and a colourful figure with his departure from the tournament.

Warne's excuse that he took the diuretic by mistake drew sympathy from some and condemnation from other quarters. The drug can be used to enhance a person's recovery from injury among other things and the speed with which Warne recovered from a dislocated shoulder makes one think whether the banned drug had anything to do with it. It would be a tragedy for him if he was to leave the game under the cloud of a scandal of any sort. Cricket will be poorer by far if Warne has left the game never to return.

Following closely on Warne's heels was the injury to another popular and colourful character on the field South Africa's Jonty Rhodes who broke his finger while fielding in the match against Kenya and, is out for the rest of the tournament. Both Warne and Rhodes are making their final appearances at a World Cup and what a sad way to exit from it.

On top of it all is the issue of Zimbabwe and Kenya playing hosts to South Africa in staging part of the World Cup matches. England's refusal to play in Zimbabwe and New Zealand in Kenya, has taken some of the gloss out of the tournament.

More than the Kiwis, it is the English who have captured the headlines in the newspapers overshadowing the events on the cricket field. The International Cricket Council (ICC) after cancelling England's match against Zimbabwe in Harare, are in a quandary whether to reschedule the match in South Africa and leave world cricket facing a split down the middle with Asian countries India and Pakistan, who have no problem playing in Zimbabwe, not agreeing to any change in venue to suit England.

The issue has got still more complicated with Australia, England's one-time ally in the ICC saying that they will honour their commitment by playing their World Cup match in Bulawayo, and Zimbabwe saying they will not play England elsewhere other than at home.

Two Zimbabwean cricketers Andy Flower and Henry Olonga put their international careers on the line by coming out strongly against their own government's policies. They wore black arm bands in their match against Namibia and now face disciplinary action from the Zimbabwe Cricket Union who have referred the case to the ICC. To the outspoken Flower who is undoubtedly the most outstanding cricketer produced by Zimbabwe this is nothing new. He has had his skirmishes with the ZCU on several instances in the past, the most notable being a rebellion by the players for an increase in payments, which has led to him becoming a marked man. He came out in protest on this occasion to help his Essex colleague and England captain Nasser Hussain who was in constant touch with him over the Zimbabwean issue. To some extent Flower's and Olonga's protest may have helped England's cause.

One disgusted cricket fan unable to stomach all the hype that was taking place, wrote in 'The Star' newspaper: "Cricketers from around the world have come here to play for the World Cup and not to play politics. So please stop making noises about the president of Zimbabwe. Go and play cricket at venues selected for you or pack your bags and go home. If you want to attack Robert Mugabe for what he believes is right for his country, do it at the right podiums and don't hide behind the cricket bat".

All these happening within the first one week of the competition has pushed the wonderful opening ceremony into the background. What that magnificent showpiece depicted to the estimated 1.4 billion television viewers worldwide within a matter of two hours, is how far humanity can come in such a short time to a nation that was isolated from all others because of its apartheid policies. It was the dreams, the genius and the patience of an extraordinary man such as Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, which made it a reality. Despite increasing nationalism associated with top international sports, the opening ceremony reminded us that its main purpose and main aim was to unite humanity. What we witnessed within that confined hours was what South Africa had to offer the world.

Words cannot possibly add anything to what has already been said about Mandela, but one can only hope for what he has done to South Africa and its continent, he may also be able to help the rest of the world get off the destructive path of which it appears to be headed.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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