Wednesday, April 10, 2002 The World Cup is important, but it should not become an obsession. We are already hearing that team after team is gearing up for it. I am in Sharjah at the moment, and the World Cup appears to me more in the combatants' minds than the tournament that they are actually playing in. While I am a great believer in planning ahead, I am also convinced that there is no better preparation than learning the winning habit. That means a focus on success in each and every game, each and every tournament, rather than casting your mind forward to a far-off date and forgetting about the here and now.

This is a trap that most cricket boards - especially England, India, and Pakistan - fall into too easily. Suddenly, we are supposed to be constantly thinking about a tournament that is a little under 12 months away. As far as I am aware the same game is being played, under the same rules, that will be played in South Africa next year. This is pretty much the same game that has been played for decades. I would say that a team that is winning today is better prepared than a team that is losing in the name of forward planning. As an excuse for failure, I believe it to be unacceptable. I am not saying that you cannot learn anything from losing but that it is the manner of defeat - in other words your performance - that counts.

Like much else in modern cricket, the solution and the problem begins with Australia. We see them dropping the Waugh brothers and see it as another example of their ruthless preparation for the World Cup. But there are two points to remember. Firstly, Australia can afford to drop players of such experience because their team's form and performance is high, despite that hiccup in the VB Series. Because they are winning regularly, they can fine-tune their team with the World Cup in mind. Secondly, Australian cricket has the largest pool of players who are capable of performing well in international cricket. This means they can kiss goodbye to the Waughs with barely a murmur. It also allows them the luxury of picking different Test and one-day teams without compromising quality.

This is a strategy not worth pursuing if your performances are inconsistent, or if your players are talented but unpolished. India and Pakistan spend too much of their time explaining away defeats by claiming that it is part of a master-plan of future world domination. They need consistent performances from now onwards so that they can build on them, otherwise they will be flapping around forever.

They also must be careful not to designate players as one-day or Test-match specialists. Quality players can perform in both versions of the game. Australia's one-day experts - take Michael Bevan for example - are well-versed in the longer version of the game. This makes them more substantial one-day cricketers. Other countries have tried the Australian model of squad-rotation and separate international teams, but with too many ill-prepared players, and too few quality ones. The Asian teams, in particular, have a habit of labelling very young players as one-day specialists, effectively arresting their development.

Of the teams in Sharjah, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are the best prepared for the World Cup because their most recent performances have been good. Pakistan have some catching up to do, in form and in thinking.

Javed Miandad, Pakistan's most prolific batsman and later their coach, was talking to Kamran Abbasi. His column appears every Wednesday.

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