Saturday, February 21, 2015

16 / 28

16 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015 SPORTS THE STAR
A ustralia coach Darren Lehmann
is saying what a lot of people
often think during the Cricket
World Cup it needs to be shortened.
Lehmann’s squad has a seven-day
gap between its opening victory
over England and its next Pool A
match against Bangladesh in
Brisbane on Saturday, cyclonic
winds and torrential rain permitting.
Australia’s third group match,
against co-host New Zealand in
Auckland, isn’t until February 28.
“I think we can condense the tour-
nament a little bit, to be honest,”
Lehmann told a Melbourne radio
station. “A week in-between is a
long time.”
The logistics of conducting a
World Cup in 14 cities across two
countries makes scheduling matches
tricky.
In the only match yesterday, for
instance, Zimbabwe played for the
second time in four days and beat
United Arab Emirates (UAE) – the
last of the 14 teams to play its first
match – by four wickets.
Zimbabwe, coming off a loss to
South Africa, reached 286-6 with
12 balls to spare in reply to the
UAE’s 285-7.
Lehmann’s point about the schedule
is well taken. The World Cup group
phase involves 42 matches in a
month, followed by quarter-finals
and semi-finals before the March
29 final. All up, more than seven
weeks.
Lehmann is by no means the first
to question the length of the tourna-
ment. Then International Cricket
Council chief executive Malcolm
Speed said, during the 2007 World
Cup in the Caribbean, that seven
weeks was too long.
While New Zealand prepared to
take on England on Friday at
Wellington, Australia’s match on
Saturday against Bangladesh –
which is coming off a win over
Afghanistan in Canberra on
Wednesday – remains in doubt
because of a cyclone off the
Queensland state coast.
World Cup too
long, says
Lehmann
WELLINGTON (AP):
B atting coach Mark Ramprakash played
at and missed a straight one yesterday,
when he seemed to suggest the England
line-up at the World Cup isn’t “up to speed
with 50-over cricket and the modern way of
batting”.
Ramprakash had been asked an
unthreatening question at a news conference
on the eve of England’s Pool A match
against New Zealand about the success of
his efforts to encourage the English bats-
men to play with freedom and express
themselves.
He said he is “happy with the direction”,
but referred to “the mentality for England to
get up to speed with 50-over cricket and the
modern way of batting in this format”.
He was forced to play some staunch
defence when asked whether he was
suggesting England players are out of
step with the game.
“Well, what I mean is that I set the bar
very high,” Rampraksash explained. “So
you judge yourself against the top, top
teams.
“I think it’s fair to say, and I think the stats
show, that England right now came into the
tournament as an underdog.”
Ramprakash said the England squad
lacked the experience of some of the leading
contenders in the tournament, and some of
“our players are finding their way.”
“The exciting thing is that they’ve shown
they can learn quickly,” he said.
Ramprakash said England’s approach
was to try and ensure their top batsmen
faced the largest percentage of the 50-over
innings “because they’re the guys that will
do the damage”.
He said players were starting to learn
when to adopt an aggressive policy in the
first 10 overs and when, if conditions
favoured bowlers, it was better to absorb
pressure and counterpunch.
Coach Ramprakash backs batsmen
Morgan: No panic in England
squad after two defeats
WELLINGTON (AP):
England captain Eoin Morgan
says there won’t be any panic
and probably no recrimina-
tions in his squad after their
humiliating eight-wicket loss to
New Zealand at the Cricket World
Cup yesterday.
England have had heavy defeats in
their opening games against the tourna-
ment co-hosts – after their 111-run loss
to Australia in their opening game – and
have only two days to prepare for their
next match against a Scotland team that
narrowly lost to New Zealand earlier this
week.
Morgan said he didn’t expect major
selection changes as a consequence of
yesterday’s loss.
He, however, admits England will
have to act quickly to repair their many
faults before their World Cup campaign
runs entirely off the rails.
Morgan