Ponting's men brace for first real challenge

The World Cup is two weeks old, but Australia's challenge is yet to really begin. Only after Saturday's match against Sri Lanka, one of the pre-tournament favourites, will we really know how Ricky Ponting's men are placed in their quest for a fourth consecutive title. Only after they have faced down Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis on home soil will the full picture begin to emerge. 

The points table says Australia have won two from two, and they've played 31 World Cup matches since their last defeat. In the light of Ireland's triumph over England, Australia's wins over Zimbabwe and an out-of-form New Zealand shouldn't be ignored, but nor did they reveal anything new about Ponting's outfit. The Tait-Lee-Johnson triumvirate are a handful for weaker batting orders, Shane Watson makes solid half-centuries, and quality spin can slow the Australians down. No surprises there. 

The two warm-ups were more instructive, coming as they did against the two favourites to win the World Cup. Australia were beaten by India and then crushed by South Africa, and in that company Zimbabwe and New Zealand look rather irrelevant. Ponting knows this clash with Sri Lanka, finalists at the previous World Cup and a team that triumphed down under earlier this season, is the big one, at least until the quarter-finals.

"It's a little bit hard to judge in the first two games, we really haven't been pushed too much in the first two games," Ponting said. "The Zimbabwe game was obviously a very easy win for us and then to bowl New Zealand out the way we did and then pick the runs off pretty easily, we weren't really tested in that game either. It's not so much what we've done in the games that I'm happy with, it's just the way we've approached every session so far." 

Seven days in Colombo has given them plenty of time to work in and, importantly, acclimatise to a more muggy heat than they experienced in India. It's seven years since the Australians have been to Sri Lanka, and although five members of the squad have played internationals there - Ponting, Watson, Lee, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin - much has changed since then. 

That includes the Premadasa Stadium, which has undergone a major redevelopment, and Ponting doesn't expect the pitch to turn as much as the Australians had originally anticipated. All the same, Ray Price and his Zimbabwe colleagues showed that facing spin is not a strength of the Australian batsmen on the subcontinent. Muralitharan, at a ground where he's taken 107 international wickets, won't be any easier to handle, and nor will the mystery-man Mendis. 

It's in those middle overs against the spinners that Cameron White needs to stand up. The selectors have been impressed with White over the past year and gave him the captaincy for the final ODI against England last month, but this summer he's been scratchy as an old record. In the past, teams had watched White walk to the crease at No. 5 and feared his fireworks; now they see a man they can manacle to the crease.

And if it's not the slow bowlers who keep White and the middle order in check, it could be Malinga. His hat-trick and six-wicket haul against Kenya was a timely reminder that Tait isn't the only source of slingy missiles in the tournament. 

"We've played a fair bit against Malinga over the years," Ponting said. "He had a great game the other day against Kenya, and he looks like he's in pretty good form. He was one of the main focuses for us in the team meeting, talking about the right way to go about playing him. His bowling in the middle overs and with the older ball is particularly good." 

There's also a question over Australia's spinners. Ponting has been talking up Jason Krejza's efforts on the tour, but even against an otherwise wobbly New Zealand, he leaked a few too many runs, while Steven Smith faces a major battle against quality batsmen like Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. 

It all adds up to an intriguing tussle, and Australia's first serious contest of the tournament. If Ponting's men come through with flying colours, they can justifiably be talked about among the favourites. If not, at least they'll know where they stand.

ICC meeting in May to decide new World Cup format

The ICC will meet in May to draft out the structure of the World Cup from 2015 and beyond, incorporating an ODI league and a clause regarding promotion and relegation into the tournament that could radically alter the course, not merely of the ICC's flagship event, but the 50-over format of the game itself. The decision to trim the World Cup down to ten teams has been vehemently criticised, particularly by cricket's smaller nations, but the new structure will ensure they get some level of participation. 

The ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told ESPNcricinfo that the ICC Board had to finalise its last piece of a global ODI league format and arrive at a cut-off for eligibility for the 10 teams due to take part in the 2015 World Cup. The purpose of this "cut-off" is to make both the new league, which will begin after the World Cup, and the ICC's ODI rankings meaningful. The ICC must decide how many teams at the bottom of the top ten ODI rankings will compete in a World Cup qualifying competition with the Associates to enter the World Cup. 

Lorgat said the ICC's board would decide what that cut-off should be. "Somewhere we have to make the cut-off. Who knows what that would be yet - eight or nine or seven. The cut-off means that teams ranked higher than the cut-off directly get into the World Cup. Whoever is left out, goes into a qualifier." 

Using the current ODI rankings to give a hypothetical example, should the cut-off for the next World Cup be fixed at seven, it would mean that Bangladesh and West Indies would not be guaranteed an automatic place in the next World Cup, but must play a qualifier with Ireland, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Canada and Kenya to determine which three complete the ten-team field. Lorgat said, "That's where the Associates get the opportunity. They (the Associates) have obviously been disappointed (by the 10 team World Cup) because the more teams you make, the more teams can play (in a World Cup), but that's not top competition."

The first two weeks of this World Cup have produced a tie between two strong teams, an upset by the Irish over England and a scare given to Pakistan by Canada, and Lorgat said it had proved what the ICC had always said, that there is nothing wrong with 50-over cricket. What the ICC must handle now, he said, were issues "of context, of the right contest, in other words competitive teams, and scheduling. Those are what we need to address rather than the risk of the game becoming redundant." 

Despite the explosion of Twenty20 leagues after the 2007 World Cup, Lorgat said he did not think there had ever been a risk for the 50-over format. "We've always said three formats are viable, but what I was concerned about were self-fulfilling prophecies. We need to be careful we don't create self-fulfilling prophecies." 

The ODI league will be held over a three-year cycle leading up to the World Cup in its fourth year, with the member nations playing each other at least once over that three-year period, either home or away. The 'home or away' clause gives an allowance to countries like India who continue to keep away from making commitments to host some nations, largely due to reasons of financial unprofitability. 

India, in fact, is the only Full Member nation not to have hosted Bangladesh in a Test and the last time their 2011 World Cup co-hosts played an ODI in India was in 1998 as part of a triangular ODI series. Lorgat, however, said: "We can't ignore the fact that there are only 365 days of the year. There are some series that are bigger than others, we cannot forgo the fact that members determine bilaterally how much competition they have with each other." In the ODI league, he said, "India can choose to go and play Bangladesh in Bangladesh, if they happen to lose, that's the result, but that choice is up to the members." 

Lorgat said the first few games of the World Cup - until Ireland's defeat of England - had vindicated the ICC's decision to have a ten-team tournament in 2015. He said while he understood the frustration of the Associates, the World Cup had to address a balance between competitive games and extending opportunities across cricket. "You are always going to get a diverse view in terms of what is opportunity and what is competition, because you can't have both. If you provide opportunity, you're going to get some teams who are less competitive, because you have grown the field." 

The Associates, he believed, would have a better chance to succeed in the 16-team World Twenty20 because it was a format that "lent itself to competition. There is a bit more spice in that." Fifty-over cricket, he said, made it "difficult" for weaker teams who were trying to grow and yet find a way to "compete on overy occasion." In the 50-over format, Associates, he said, "might pull a blinder once or twice but over a sustained period of time, over a length of a competition, it is unlikely they will compete as strongly as the main teams." 

The proposals being discussed by the ICC are part of a "strategic restructure" that has taken place over the last 12-18 months. The World Cup "cut-off'" decision began in the ICC's working committee and is at the moment with the "governance group" because of the impact it could have on the Full Member nations. Cutting off the bottom three from a direct entry into the World Cup may well be strongly resisted from countries like Bangladesh or West Indies, one emerging and the other struggling, who may consider it a means of reducing their global significance and ensuring that stronger, richer nations can only tighten their clique.

One thing, though, is clear. Cricket's World Cup is never going to be the same again.

A match crucial to quarter-final qualification

Chaos in Bangalore as fans rush for tickets

The problems surrounding the sale of World Cup tickets in India have descended into chaos, with police in Bangalore conducting a baton-charge on fans queuing up for tickets for Sunday's match between India and England. The 7000 tickets were sold out within three hours, officials said, leaving hundreds of fans - many of whom had queued up overnight - angry and disappointed. 

People started to queue from about midnight but soon after that were asked by the police to disperse. The fans regrouped again at around 5 am and were allowed to queue up but within the hour the crowd swelled and the queue stretched from the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the venue of the match, onto MG road - ironically, to the crossing named after Anil Kumble, president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association - the host organisation. 

By 8.30, when the tickets began to be issued, the chaos started to descend and soon the police swung into action. AFP reported that several people were injured and taken away on stretchers as police attempted to control the crowd, estimated at 5000. Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan, ESPNcricinfo's stats analyst, was among those who'd queued up from midnight. "The officials initially said only one ticket would be sold per person but suddenly they started to give two per head. Very soon, they said the tickets were sold out. We spotted one policeman holding ten tickets." He said the confusion added to the general sense of anger and restlessness.

The scenes were an eerie echo of the alarm sounded by the ICC in a letter to Sharad Pawar, where it said the high demand for these tickets created the "potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open". 

Javagal Srinath, the former India fast bowler who is now secretary of the KSCA, said 7000 tickets had been sold out, adding that some of the best tickets had been taken by the ICC for their sponsors. However, he said he was hopeful that more tickets would be made available over the next couple of days and would be sold online through Kyazoonga.com, the ICC's official online tickets sales partner. 

"There is a limit to how much we can fulfil people's expectations," Srinath said. "It is a big challenge but even our hands are tied. For a match of this stature, even if you double or triple the amount of tickets for the public, it won't be enough. That's the tradition in India and we expected this mad rush." 

Srinath explained how they arrived at the number of the tickets sold to general public. "There are about 4500 [KSCA] members, and we have to give one extra ticket to them. So that's around 7000 tickets gone there. We also have corporate commitments, and we had to give tickets to the ICC. For the first time, too, all the state Associations have taken their full quota (25 tickets each) of tickets. But we are also thankful that they are sending back some unsold tickets." 

"Some more tickets are expected to be available online. We are getting back some tickets from the ICC and CAB and those will be sold online. They are also willing to sell those tickets on the day of the match. So all is not lost for the fans of Bangalore." 

There was some dark humour too. Asked whether selling tickets was more challenging than bowling for India, Srinath said, "I think bowling at the dirt track was the easiest." 

Sunday's game was switched in late January to Bangalore because of problems at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata where the match, deemed to be the marquee game of the World Cup group stage, was due to be played. 

Thursday's incidents in Bangalore follow widespread criticism of the shortage of match tickets for the general public - only 4000 tickets will be available for the final - and shoddy distribution of tickets bought online. The ICC letter to Pawar, who also heads the tournament's organising committee, warned of the problems and the potential fallout - including lawsuits by angry fans and corporate sponsors who have not received tickets.

Misbah rides on higher confidence

It is difficult to believe both that, at 36, Misbah-ul-Haq hasn't played a World Cup before and that he is playing this one at all. Such was the force of his last axing, from all three formats no less, that until circumstances thrust him into the Test captaincy last October, his career was all but over. 

Yet as the premier domestic batsman in Pakistan in the 2000s, many felt he had been treated unfairly in not being given at least one opportunity between 2003 and 2007; with Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan in the middle order during that period, however, it was difficult to see how he would get in.

But, like the best actors and boxers, he does comebacks exceedingly well. In 2007, after a four-year exile, he nearly won Pakistan a world title. In this latest return he has been even more remarkable; 65 against Kenya in Hambantota was his ninth international fifty in 12 innings across Tests and ODIs. 

The player, he said during Pakistan's practice at the Premadasa in Colombo, does not change. "I've always said it is important for any player to get some self-belief and confidence back. You start scoring runs, the team starts believing in you and people's expectations of you increase and that gives you self-belief. And as your confidence builds your performance gets better. The player actually remains the same before and after, but with confidence higher, you perform better." 

Had poker been an official pursuit in Pakistan, his face would've won him titles, so expecting him to express regret, or anger, or even blink twice, at being asked about missing past World Cups is futile. He is happy, he says, just to be playing at all. "I think whatever cricket you do play you should think about that. I am enjoying it at the moment, I have always enjoyed playing it, domestically or internationally and I only want to do what I can for the side." 

Misbah's return has fitted in seamlessly with a gradual upswing in Pakistan's batting results over the last year or so, an under-scrutinised aspect of their performances. In 20 ODIs in Sri Lanka, England, the UAE and New Zealand, Pakistan have made 250 or more 13 times. Each member of the top six has made contributions at various stages, so that the problem has been one of plenty, of pacing an innings, of arranging the order so that momentum is not squandered and stability always present. 

Misbah has come, as he did on Wednesday, mostly at five and has batted often in tandem with Younis Khan. Though the poor start then highlighted the calm the pair brings, against a better attack more oomph might be needed through the middle, an Umar Akmal breaking up the pair. Some in Pakistan, Imran Khan no less, want Misbah even higher in the order. 

"The situation as it is, with the way the batting order is, all our batsmen have scored runs," Misbah said. "Kamran [Akmal] comes in at three and he has opened, Younis at four who has mostly played at three, the openers did well scoring hundreds in New Zealand, so we're not really feeling that our batting is missing something. We've got guys scoring runs and performing. Our batting order is fine and it is a good combination at the moment. Whatever the team needs, will happen. None of the players have any issues with where they are batting and what number." 

Few attacks can match Sri Lanka's for potency or variety so Saturday, in what is likely to be an electric atmosphere, will be a comprehensive test of Pakistan. "Sri Lanka always, but especially in the last 2-3 years they have been very consistent, playing good cricket and in home conditions they are a very tough side," Misbah said. 

"To get a good first win in this kind of tournament, with most of your batsmen scoring runs and then convincingly get them out, the morale gets high and players get into touch. It is a very vital match for both sides."

Tahir and de Villiers star in seven-wicket win

AB de Villiers showed his pedigree with his second World Cup hundred, his 10th in all one-day internationals, and the fastest by a South African in a World Cup as South Africa chased down 223 at a canter at the Feroz Shah Kotla, the result sealed in the 43rd over for the loss of only three wickets.

De Villiers, who was named ODI Player of the Year for 2010, barely put a foot wrong in his knock, ticking along at better than a-run-a-ball from the start and sounding an ominous warning for South Africa's opponents in this tournament. He shared in a decisive 119-run stand for the third wicket with Graeme Smith and shut down the game by adding a further 84 in JP Duminy's company. 

South Africa's batsmen built upon the good work of their bowlers as Imran Tahir had a debut to remember, picking up four wickets and striking at crucial moments to peg West Indies back on a pitch that displayed none of the demons that led to the abandonment of the last international game at this ground in December 2009. 

A new-look South African bowling unit kept a lid on a combustible West Indies, the spinners bowling a combined 29 overs for just 138 runs as West Indies imploded to be all out for 222 when, at one stage, 270 had seemed more likely. After the spinners had kept South Africa in control for much of the game, Dale Steyn returned at the death to ensure there would be no late fightback. 

South Africa were in dire need of a counterpunch when de Villiers entered at the end of the fifth over with West Indies' new-ball bowlers in the midst of an inspired opening spell. Hashim Amla, whose 1,322 runs in the year leading up to this World Cup has made him one of the vital cogs in South Africa's one-day line-up, and Jacques Kallis both fell to sharp catches behind the wicket as Kemar Roach bowled with real pace and, continuing the trend already being set by other teams in this competition, left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn shared the new ball with success. 

South Africa were 20 for 2 with that dismissal but, defying West Indies' attempts to keep the pressure on, de Villiers appeared totally in control from the start of his innings. Threading the gap between cover and point on multiple occasions, he sprinted into the 20s at better than a-run-a-ball and South Africa were soon trundling along at well above the asking rate. 

West Indies desperately needed another breakthrough and the talismanic Dwayne Bravo might have been just the man to provide it but in his third over a painful knee injury put an end to his contribution to his team's defence. Attempting to change direction mid-follow through and cut off a drive from Smith, Bravo swivelled awkwardly and immediately fell to the ground, clutching his knee. The physiotherapist was called for and Bravo was helped from the field and taken to hospital for scans. The extent of the damage will not be known until the results of those tests are in. 

South Africa marched confidently on in his absence, de Villiers bringing up a 54-ball fifty with a massive blow over wide long-on in the 22nd over and Smith providing steady support until he missed a straight one from Kieron Pollard and had his middle stump flattened five runs short of a half-century of his own. His departure sparked wild celebrations, and at 139 for 3 in the 29th over there was still a chance the chase could get tricky. There was barely a hint of nerves from Duminy and de Villiers, however, and after a short break for rain they eased South Africa home with minimum fuss, de Villiers reaching his ton from just 97 balls. 

The chase might have been rather more challenging had West Indies' batsmen been able to make more of the solid platform laid by Darren Bravo and Dwayne Smith, who helped their team weather the early departure of Chris Gayle with a 111-run partnership. Dwayne Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul showed some fight with a 58-run stand of their own but there was precious little support from the rest of the line-up. 

The thoroughness of South Africa's gameplans and their willingness to utilise unorthodox tactics was in evidence first in their decision to include no less than three frontline spinners in Johan Botha, Tahir and Robin Peterson and then when, for the first time in his career, Botha opened the bowling and soon snared Gayle with an edge to slip. 

Bravo set the early tone with a couple of deftly glanced boundaries off Steyn and brought up a 55-ball 50 in the 16th over, his third in ODIs, and celebrating the milestone with a remarkable one-handed smite over long-on off Tahir. The century stand was brought up off 117 deliveries in the 20th over, and with West Indies starting to seize the initiative Smith turned to Botha. 

Again the offspinner provided the breakthrough, slipping one past an uncertain flick to pin Bravo in front of middle and dismiss him for 73 despite a slightly desperate referral from the batsman. Tahir then took centre stage, holding a a simple caught-and-bowled chance off Smith for his first international wicket and removing Ramnaresh Sarwan before he had time to settle 

Just as the elder Bravo and Chanderpaul were starting to flow a brainless piece of running put paid to their fightback. A reverse-sweep from Chanderpaul went straight to the man at short third man but inexplicably a run was called for and Bravo was easily run out for 40, the score 178 for 5 in the 38th over.

West Indies unravelled with alarming speed thereafter, their innings sliding swiftly into mediocrity after Chanderpaul, who had upped the tempo with a couple of thumping strikes, chipped Tahir straight to Peterson at long-off. Kieron Pollard's arrival at the crease caused an immediate ripple of excitement among a decent crowd of spectators, but Steyn returned to dismiss him for a golden duck with a skidding inswinger that struck the pad in front of middle and leg. Tahir had his fourth wicket when a wild swipe from wicketkeeper Devon Thomas ended up in JP Duminy's hands, running back from extra cover, and the tail proved no match for Steyn's pace and accuracy as the innings was wrapped up soon afterwards.

Kenya sink without trace in massive chase

Kenya again appeared totally out of their depth and posed no challenge to Pakistan at Hambantota, Collins Obuya's death-or-glory 47 being the only highlight for them as Shahid Afridi helped himself to 5 for 16 in a massive 205-run win, Pakistan's biggest win in World Cups and the eighth largest overall. 

Four of Pakistan's batsmen cashed in to raise half-centuries and set up a total of 317 for 7 after a brief wobble against the new ball and Kenya made little effort to mount a serious challenge in their pursuit, rather looking to a lay a solid platform in the hope of batting out their full quota of overs. That ultimately proved a futile effort, too, although their innings did at least last until the 34th over - longer than their entire match against New Zealand three days ago. 

Kenya's slide began in earnest when Afridi brought himself on and, in his third over, tempted Steve Tikolo down the pitch only for the ball to rush straight on to rattle the stumps. Kenya were 73 for 3 in the 23rd over when Tikolo was dismissed, without any real hope of chasing more than 300 but at least looking steady enough to last the full 50 after the top order had showed at least a little grit. There was no such offering from the middle, however, as the remaining seven wickets fell for just 39 runs in just over ten overs.

Afridi was the chief wrecking ball, quickly ending a bustling innings from Tanmay Mishra and making short work of Jimmy Kamande and Thomas Odoyo as he unfurled a mixed bag of legbreaks, sliders and quicker ones as the ball began to bite and spit off the surface. Amid the carnage, Obuya opened up to smite three enormous sixes but was caught on the boundary attempting a fourth to give Afridi the best figures by a Pakistan bowler in a World Cup, beating Wasim Akram's 5 for 28 against Namibia in Kimberley at the 2003 tournament. Once he went, the end was mercifully quick in coming. 

Ultimately they flattered to deceive, but against expectations Kenya had actually bossed the opening exchanges of the match, Thomas Odoyo and Elijah Otieno showing admirable control with the new ball. Otieno provided the first breakthrough when Hafeez tried to force a length delivery into the leg side but hit it uppishly and Seren Waters, at straight midwicket, leapt to his left and managed to cling onto a juggled catch mere inches from the turf. In the very next over Shehzad, who had scratched around for 17 balls that yielded just a single run, chipped a leading edge to give Jimmy Kamande a simple catch at mid-off and Pakistan were in some serious strife. 

The pressure soon began to lift, however, Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan quickly settling and Nehemiah Odhiambo suffering a shambolic start to his spell as 16 runs came from a first over that included three no-balls. Kamran proved the more fluent of the two early in his innings but Younis provided sensible support and, as the spinners came on, plenty of ones and twos were taken to keep the score ticking over. 

Kamran eased past 50, from 62 balls, and looked set for  plenty more before he charged down the wicket to left-arm spinner Shem Ngoche and was easily stumped. Kenya were buzzing once more with the breakthrough, but despite giving a far a far better account of themselves than they had against New Zealand at Chennai they lacked the necessary firepower to land the killer blow.

Misbah-ul-Haq opened his World Cup account with a massive six off Tikolo and rushed into the 20s at better than a-run-a-ball to complement the more circumspect Younis, who showed the value of steady accumulation before he was dismissed lbw for exactly 50 despite an optimistic review. 

Misbah and Umar Akmal were barely troubled as they set about compiling a 118 runs for the fifth wicket, their partnership exploding into life as the Batting Powerplay was called for in the 44th over immediately after Misbah had reached fifty on his World Cup debut. Umar thrashed 20 off a weary Otieno's seventh over and soon sprinted to the fourth fifty of the innings as the score passed 250 in the 46th over. With Pakistan now swinging from the hip at just about everything, Kenya picked up regular wickets but threatened to unravel completely in the face of an all-out assault. 

Odoyo removed Umar and Afridi from consecutive deliveries to find himself on a hat-trick in the 49th over but speared the next ball acres down the leg side and repeated the blunder later in the same over as battle fatigue set in. Extras, with 46, very nearly became the fifth half-century maker of the innings as Kenya had the ignominious honour of equalling the record for most wides in a one-day international, and there was a visible sense of relief as they finally completed their stint in the field.

Their efforts with the bat quickly put their failures with the ball in the shade, however, and Kenya will need a complete overhaul if they are to challenge anyone in this tournament. At the other end of the spectrum, Pakistan will be pleased with a generally slick and professional performance that has set their campaign off on an overwhelmingly positive note.