Sir Viv, Lara fancy Aussies (16 June 1999)
London - Brian Lara and Sir Viv Richards have chosen Australia as new World Cup champions
16-Jun-1999
16 June 1999
Sir Viv, Lara fancy Aussies
Tony Cozier
London - Brian Lara and Sir Viv Richards have chosen Australia
as new World Cup champions. Clive Lloyd has gone for the
outsiders, New Zealand.
New Zealand play one semifinal against Pakistan in Manchester
today, Australia meet South Africa in the other in Birmingham
tomorrow.
"Australia seem to have the momentum and I think they're going
to go all the way," West Indies captain Lara told the dinner
guests at the Savoy Hotel after collecting his award as
Federation of International Cricketers' Associations Cricketer
Of The Year award.
Lloyd, who had earlier been honoured with a special award for
his contribution to the game, surprised the audience by picking
New Zealand.
"I think New Zealand could just sneak in," he said to
spontaneous laughter.
"Pakistan, South Africa and Australia are the teams to beat and
it's a very tight situation at the moment. But if you look back
over the years, it's often been the team that has just sneaked
in (to the semifinals) that has won."
He cited his own West Indies team in 1975, scraping through to
the next round on a one-wicket victory over Pakistan; India in
1983 beating the West Indies in the final, and Pakistan in 1992
qualifying because of one point from a rained off match against
England that they were bound to lose.
Sir Viv said on the BBC television programme, On Side, he had
been "backing Australia all the way" - since the West Indies
were eliminated, that is.
"They've been through their most difficult periods in the early
stages and I just feel they will now go all the way," he said.
Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)