World Cup Diary (19 June 1999)

19 June 1999

World Cup Diary

Simon Hughes

Pakistan have the fastest bowler in the world, the canniest spinner, the worst runner between wickets - and the tallest supporter. Naseer Ahmed Soomro flew in from Karachi for Pakistan's semi-final with New Zealand and took his seat in the stand. This had to be on the end of a front row because Naseer, at 7ft 9in, is actually the tallest person in the world.

He speaks little English, and what he did say was over my head, anyway. But I did manage to glean that he bowls a bit of leg-spin for a small Karachi club. It's fair to assume he probably doesn't have much of a loop, and he's unlikely to be much good at fielding off his own bowling, but at least he shouldn't bowl no balls. His feet are size 18.

Considerably shorter spectators in the crowd at Old Trafford were the pupils of St Michael with St John Primary School, Blackburn, who took part in the Kwik cricket display. The school is 100 per cent Muslim (Gujurati and Punjabi) and regularly win local district competitions. Last year they played in the county finals at Old Trafford.

"There's some real talent here," said their white headmaster, "and three of the four best teams in last year's finals were totally Asian. But I can't get any of the local league clubs to take any interest in them. It's disgraceful." So is the fact that the only Asians Lancashire have had regularly on their books are Farouk Engineer and Wasim Akram. Wasim's next game after the final, on the following Saturday, is for Smethwick against West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Birmingham League.

The carnival really arrived at Old Trafford. The atmosphere at Wednesday's semi-final was humming with horns, whistles, drums and security guards ejecting spectators with forged Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation passes.

Reflecting Britain's harmonious multi-culturism, Indian lawyers from Birmingham sat alongside Pakistani textiles wholesalers from Bolton and West Indian accountants from Doncaster. There was an Afro-Asian resonance to the tunes and rhythms led by one large Pakistani drummer,

a Sheffield taxi driver. He won't, however, be able to play his barrel-sized 'dall' at the final. Relenting slightly from their usual stance, Lord's will allow flags and musical instruments, but only smaller ones and without sticks. It's a shame, but, well, we wouldn't want to wake anyone up in the pavilion, would we? If there is anyone in the pavilion, that is.

Purists who believe Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game should have been at Edgbaston on Thursday. This match had everything: skill, courage, athleticism, the classical and the avant-garde, twists and turns and for most of the last hour, unremitting tension. "You seemed pretty calm out there," Steve Waugh was told by a press man afterwards. "Jeez, is that what it looked like? Waugh replied. "Actually, we were ******** ourselves, I can tell you."

And you would if you were facing up to another onslaught from Lance Klusener who, Shane Warne agreed, must be one of the best sluggers of a cricket ball. Klusener finished with 281 runs from 230 balls for twice out, a phenomenal rate of largely risk-free butchery. The match distilled all the vagaries of the game into 99 overs and was the ultimate examination of character, in just the same way as any Test match would be. It should be mentioned in the same breath as the tied Test of 1961. But it will fail to enter significant public conscientiousness because it was available, live, to only about two per cent of the UK population.

The eight wides at Edgbaston took the tournament tally to 965. As Pakistan average 23 a match and Australia 16, there's every chance the total will top 1,000 during the final. This is not welcome news to the spread betting firm Sporting Index, whose pre-tournament prediction was a total of 250 to 280.

"It's cost us about £250,000 already," said their marketing director, former Hampshire captain Nick Pocock. "Basically, every time David Shepherd or Steve Bucknor extend their arms, it'll costs us about £5,000."

Pocock was still in cheery spirits and prepared to buy me a drink, so presumably heads are not about to roll.

The Edgbaston semi-final was an anniversary of sorts for two stylish, savvy young women in the Upper Ryder stand who are making a name in the cricket world. Exactly two years ago, as England were humbling Australia in the first Test (oh, happy days) Amanda Heathcote and Sally Burns dreamt up Maiden Management, a firm specialising in promoting cricketers and cricket related events. "We've always loved cricket and want to help it make up it's commercial and cultural deficit against other sports," said Heathcote.

To that end, they've taken on Phil Tufnell - due for an England recall - and created this week's international player awards ceremony based on the PricewaterhouseCoopers world rankings. The natural antipathy to women in sport was illustrated when an equivalent event run by the Professional Footballers' Association banned the only female football agent. So they're already getting past the inside edge in that respect.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph