World Series Cup in Aust Dec 1992/Jan 1993 - Short Report



                   World Series Cup
      The World Series cup was disappointing in  the  standard
of  play  and  the  competitiveness of some of the games. This
could be traced back to Pakistan poor performances  after  the
opening  matches in Perth, where they defeated the West Indies
and then in Hobart where that tied with Australia.  From  here
on in there performances went from bad to worse beginning with
a horrendous collapse in Adelaide when they  look  comfortably
in  control,  this  was  followed  by  a  lack-lustre  batting
performance in the second match on the  Adelaide  weekend.  In
the  final  one  day  match  they  performed  the  astonishing
performance of letter Phil Simmons, an average medium pacer at
best  bowler  10 overs for 3 runs with no less than 4 wickets,
as they crumbled inexplicably for 81.
      Although that match was not affected by  a  poor  pitch,
the  quality  of  the  one  day  pitch  was generally bad, the
pitches were generally slow and with inconsistent bounce.  And
in  one  case, the match between the West Indies and Australia
in Sydney should not have been played on  a  pitch  which  was
obviously  sub-standard  and  the  sort  of  thing expected in
1890's not the 1990's.
      Overall, the West Indies proved to be the strongest team
in  competition,  they provided the most consistent batsman in
Brian Lara and in Richie Richardson  and  Desmond  Haynes  had
consistent  run  scorers.   Although  Phil  Simmons bubble was
burst in the finals, his bowling excelled in the early matches
and  with  Carl  Hooper  allowed the West Indies to play seven
batsmen. Ambrose proved he can bowl  with  the  best  in  both
forms of cricket and Ian Bishop's late form guided them to the
trophy.
      Australia would be disappointed  with  losing  the  Cup,
having  fancied  themselves,  especially  with  a test victory
under their belt. However fragility in the upper order batting
exposed  an  inadequate  lower order. IN the bowler department
Paul Reiffel slotted in as a specialist one  day  bowler  with
the mechanical style of Ewen Chatfield, Craig McDermott bowled
well and Michael Whitney,  Tim  May  and  Tony  Dodemaide  all
performed admirably. However a worry for the Australian's must
be the loss of bowling form by Steven Waugh.  His value to the
team  as  the fifth bowler is inestimable, and with Mark Waugh
taking wickets but being extremely expensive  he  is  not  yet
ready  to  bowl a full quota, and with the weak lower order an
extra bowler cannot be fitted in.
      Pakistan were to blunt, awful. They started well, easily
beating the West Indies in Perth and then coming from the dead
to tie with Australia, but things fell apart from there on in.
The  problem  was  simple,  the  batting was inexperienced and
brittle, providing one or two 50's  a  match  but  without  an
innings capable of making a good total. Obviously being bowled
out for double figures twice shows something is wrong with the
batting  line up. The Pakistan bowling attack is well balanced
although the fifth bowler was occasionally  a  problem.  Wasim
Akram and Waqar Younis bowled fast and aggressively, aiming to
take  wickets,  although  this  did  make  them  expensive  on
occasions.
1 Perth     West Indies 9-197 (50.0) (Lara 59 Akram 4-46)
            Pakistan 5-199 (49.2) (Miandad 59* Malik 35 Raja 34)
2 Perth     Australia 7-160 (50.0) (M Waugh 36 Matthews 32 
            Simmons 2-22)
            West Indies 1-164 (38.3) (Haynes 81* Lara 29 
            Simmons 43*)
3 Sydney    Australia 9-101 (30.0) (Jones 21 M Waugh 17 
            Simmons 3-11 Ambrose 3-18)
            West Indies 87 (29.3) (Logie 20 Ambrose 13* 
            Reiffel 3-14 Whitney 2-11)
4 Hobart    Australia 7-228 (50.0) (Jones 53 Taylor 46 
            Aaqib 2-35)
            Pakistan 9-228 (50.0) (Malik 64 Mujtaba 56* Latif 39 
            McDermott 4-42)
5 Adelaide  West Indies 7-177 (50.0) (Richardson 76* Akram 3-38)
            Pakistan 173 (41.5) (Sohail 41 Raja 52 Hooper 3-31)
6 Adealide  Pakistan 6-195 (47.0) (Ul-Haq 60 Mujtaba 45 Akram 36 
            May 2-27)
            Australia 2-196 (45.1) (Taylor 78 Boon 40 Jones 48*)
7 Melbourne Australia 8-198 (50.0) (M Waugh 57 Martyn 40 
            S Waugh 34 Ambrose 3-25)
            West Indies 194 (50.0) (Lara 74 Richardson 61 
            M Waugh 5-24)
8 Sydney    West Indies 9-214 (50.0) (Haynes 96 Richardson 33 
            Younis 3-29)
            Pakistan 81 (48.0) (Simmons 4-3 Patterson 2-19 
            Miandad 17 Younis 17)
9 Brisbane  Pakistan 71 (23.4) (Latif 22* Bishop 5-25
            Ambrose 3-13 Benjamin 2-16)
            West Indies 1-72 (19.2) (Haynes 25* Richardson 22*)
10 Brisbane West Indies 9-197 (50.0) (Hooper 56 Haynes 
            36 Reiffel 3-33)
            Australia 190 (49.0) (M Waugh 54 Healy 40 
            Patterson 2-31)
11 M'bourne Australia 6-212 (50.0) (Jones 84 Boon 64)
            Pakistan 7-180 (50.0) (Raja 40 Miandad 40 Ul-Haq 39* 
            McDermott 2-26)
12 Sydney   Australia 8-260 (50.0) (Boon 50 Taylor 58 S Waugh 64 
            Younis 3-55)
            Pakistan 6-237 (50.0) (Raja 67 Mujtaba 47* Miandad 41
            Ul-Haq 40)
Final Points Table
Team        P     W     L     T     D     Pts  RR diff
Australia   8     5     2     1     -     11   +0.058
West Indies 8     5     3     -     -     10   +0.762
Pakistan    8     1     6     1     -     3    -0.827
The Finals : West Indies won 2:0
13 Sydney   West Indies 8-239 (50.0) (Lara 67 Hooper 45 
            Logie 38 Haynes 38)
            Australia 214 (49.3) (M Waugh 51 Healy 33 
            Ambrose 5-32)
14 M'bourne Australia 147 (47.3) (Taylor 33 S Waugh 28 
            Ambrose 3-26 Hooper 2-28)
            West Indies 6-148 (47.0) (Lara 60 Hooper 59* 
            Dodemaide 2-19)

 Contributed by Phil Shead (drinnen@deakin.edu.au)