Aussies will not have it easy

Elmo Rodrigopulle

Whereever or whenever Australia plays Englnd at cricket the game will be full of excitement and no quarter will be asked or given till the final ball is bowled.

It will be no different when Australia meets England in the Internationl Cricket Council's Mini World Cup match today in India.

The teams have suffered defeats in their first round games against West Indies and India and today's game will certainly go down to the wire.

When the West Indies lost their qualifying game to Sri Lanka, Australia would have had ideas of an easy victory.But the Caribbean cricketers showed that they could turn it on when the occasion demands and that is exactly what they did to upset the high riding and favourites for the trophy.

In this game the Aussies would put back that defeat as a bad dream and come out firing all cylinders.They have never laid their hands on this trophy and will go all out to beat England and make further progress.

At one stage with Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke going well, victory against West Indies looked possible.

But that unfortunate run out of Gilchrist put paid to their chances and with Clarke presenting his wicket and with the batsmen following surrendering, the Aussies had the ignominy of being beaten by a side that not many people fancied.

However the Aussies have a well balanced side and if they fire the way they are capable of then England would not be opponents.

But on the other hand if they allow complacency to set in, then not only would they be beaten, they could also kiss goodbye to their hopes of taking the trophy to Kangarooland.

Batsmen of the calibre of Gilchrist, Watson, Ponting, Martyn and Clarke will have to get into the big run making groove. They cannot afford to get a start and not build on it.

At the moment the Aussies are undecided who should open with Gilchrist. They have preferred Watson to Katich.

Watson played too early and skied a catch without getting a move on and this put the Aussies on the back foot. But a failure in the first game would not mean that they will drop him.

The Aussie bowlers conceded too many runs to the West Indians by not bowling in the right areas and wicket to wicket. A better effort is required from them this time round.

As for England, they are relying too much on the allround ability of their skipper Andrew Flintoff. He failed in the game against India and the match was good as over.

Experineced players of the calibre of Strauss, Bell and Pieterson must make it their business to come good if England are to make an impression. Pietersen in particular must curb his impetuosity and play for the team.

Gayle deserves it

Good that the ICC slapped a 30 per cent fine of his match fee on West Indian allrounder Chris Gayle for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct.

Gayle's behaviour when he stalked Australian Michael Clarke mouthing words and trying to upset the batsman was uncalled for.

Maybe that the Aussies would have said things to Gayle when he was batting.

Gayle had every right to reply, but the manner in which he set about doing it was all wrong. One hopes that Gayle would have got the message with having to pocket out a percentage of his hard earned match fees.