World Cup Cricket fever hotting up

World Cup cricket fever is hotting up and the days ahead will see it soaring as the teams, visitors and home spectators gather in the West Indies to cheer their teams on.

Every country is egging their cricketers, providing them with the best and nothing but the best in the hope that they will bring home one-day cricket's most prized possession - the ICC World Cup.

The ultimate prize and nothing less will be acceptable. Winners will be heroes and losers outcasts.

Here in Sri Lanka wherever cricket fans gather, be it in the pubs, clubs, public places, trains, buses and even in market-places the topic is the World Cup and the assessing of Sri Lanka's chances.

While the diehard supporters are confident that Sri Lanka will emulate their 1995/'96 achievement, some others, a don't think so, and have their own arguments for saying so.

Me thinks that the Lankans will not have it that easy as when they won the Cup under 'Captain Cool' Arjuna Ranatunga. I say this because at that time Lankans had the good fortune of not having to face Australia and the West Indies in the early rounds.

Not having to face these two formidable teams made Lanka's progress that much easier and smoother into the rounds that followed. But to the credit of that Lankan team it must be said that in beating the Australians in the final in Lahore and holding aloft the World Cup, they proved that had the Aussies come here for the early round game, Sri Lanka would still have beaten them.

But all that is now history and in the record books and what matters now is bringing home the World Cup that is to be on offer in the Caribbean Islands.

All the best teams have prepared earnestly and it would not be easy at this stage to predict the winners. But although the reigning champions Australia have suffered a few hiccups against England and New Zealand, they cannot be written off.

The good news for them is that Adam Gilchrist will be available from the first round games. Earlier it was said that he would have to be near his wife who was expecting their third child. The baby has been born and Gilchrist will join the team before the first round games.

Also skipper Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke will all be fit and so it can be said that they would not easily let the Cup slip from their hold.

As for me India and South Africa will be the other strong contenders to climb the winners podium on April 28 after the final.

As for the Sri Lankans like I said earlier there are a few chinks and it will not be easy for them to make progress. But then cricket is a funny game and like the Lankans did under Sanath Jayasuriya in the previous World Cup in South Africa where they surprisingly made it to the semi-finals, they could still be there at the finish.

But that is if the all important lady luck plays for them. Luck like in life is important also in sport.

I make bold to say that the Lankans have not got their best out into the Caribbean. I do not want to mention names because that would mean to demoralise them.

One factor that has gone to deter the Lankans from fielding the best is because there is a too frequent change of selectors. Every year selectors are being changed and this has added a lot of uncertainty.

I would suggest to the Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge to do away with the chopping and changing of selectors every year and give them also a four year term to perform their job to the best of their ability.

At present the Minister has a good team of selectors captained by former Sri Lanka fast bowling all-rounder Asantha de Mel and there is no need to change them.