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From the Press Box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

It has been an eventful second week in the 2003 cricket World Cup with the host country, South Africa desperately placed to survive through to the next round of the competition after their loss to New Zealand.

That South Africa are banking on other teams for their own survival in the competition is no secret if one is to go by what the print and electronic media has to say each passing day. One needn't have to look far.

When West Indies had to share their four points with Bangladesh after rain forced a no-result at Benoni, the headlines screamed: "Heavens help the SA team - masters of our destiny again" and another said: "Wet Windies throw Proteas a lifeline".

The World Cup organisers want the South Africans to be in the competition. Their early exit would be a disaster for the rest of the tournament because without the home country to cheer, there will certainly be a lack of interest and support which would result in shortfall of spectators and with it, revenue at the gates.

It is not that the tournament is heavily reliant on the turnout from the turnstiles, the selling of television rights has covered all that aspect. But what the organisers don't want is for the important matches of the final round to be played in front of empty stands, which would not be a good advertisement for the game when the world controlling body for the sport, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is trying to globalise it.

That is one of the reasons why you find teams like Holland, Namibia, Canada and Kenya in the competition which sometimes makes some of the contests rather lopsided as had been proved by the Sri Lanka-Canada game at Paarl, (a 45-minute drive from Cape Town) on Wednesday.

ICC chairman Malcolm Gray dropped in the afternoon to catch some of the action in the match and was surprised to find the ground staff watering the pitch for the next game. With almost everyone having gone home after the match had finished by 11.55 a.m., Gray was left to speak to a few gentlemen in the print media and express his surprise (or disappointment?) over the swiftness with which the match had finished. He asked a few details about the game before leaving. At least it may probably open the eyes of the ICC not to drag on a world event of this magnitude for 44 days involving 54 matches, most of them making a mockery to the game.

A survey done by a customised research division in South Africa using the omnibus service reveals that 60 percent of South Africa's urban population are not interested in the tournament. Nineteen percent described themselves as 'very interested', 11 percent as 'fairly interested' and 10 percent indicated 'slightly interested'. As far as women were concerned only 13 percent described themselves as being 'very interested', while a whopping 71 percent described themselves as 'not at all interested'.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne's famous clich, of "my mother gave it to me" reminds one of the famous Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece 'Psycho' where Bates, the main character of the film is controlled by his dead mother. Warne is facing a two-year ban from cricket after being tested positive for taking a banned diuretic, which he said his mother gave him to look good before a news conference.

The exit of Warne from the World Cup has made Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan the principal spinner in the competition. But the off-spinner who by now should be in the limelight is not getting the headlines he deserves. It is because he has hardly got a chance to be among the wickets. By the time he has warmed up to turn his arm over, the seamers spearheaded by Chaminda Vaas had done all the damage and left him with only the crumbs to clear.

Nevertheless Muralitharan will have a big role to play in the future of the competition as Sri Lanka are showing signs of making it to the next stage of the World Cup, the Super Sixes. While Muralitharan remains in the shadows, Vaas has taken the spotlight with his amazing bowling skills, becoming the first bowler to take an unprecedented three wickets in the first three balls of a match (he finished with four in the first over).

His grand performance did not go unrewarded for he was invited by the local cricket association in Pietermaritzburg to plant a liquid-amber tree which is customary for bowlers taking five wickets at the scenic ground. The first known tree was planted by former England batting legend Dennis Compton in 1957.

At the same time the World Cup lost Warne, one of the most popular and lovable figures on the cricket field, Jonty Rhodes of South Africa also made his exit, but in different circumstances. One of the most moving moments of Rhodes's departure from the team was witnessed at the Wanderers, when the task of picking up spare soft drink bottles lying around the ground was done by coach Eric Simmons.

"Jonty normally picks up the bottles, but I had to do it today," Simmons was quoted by the 'Saturday Star'. That's how much the South Africans missed the bubbly figure of Rhodes. One of the world's most recognisable figures and indisputably the best fielder in modern day cricket, Rhodes had the humility to do tasks usually reserved for the squad's junior members.

The fame and adulation, which came his way, did not go to his head. He was not referred as the heartbeat of the South African team for anything. Without him the South Africans are fighting for survival.

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