History follows India, Sri Lanka

RAHUL Dravid and Mahela Jayawardene hope to step out of history’s shadow at the World Cup.

India have not won the tournament since 1983 and this time round it is Dravid’s turn as skipper to attempt to break that long wait for a second title. The pressure has been increased by Kapil Dev, the captain of that 1983 side, claiming that the 2007 squad is better than the one which memorably seized the trophy 24 years ago.”I think you can’t really compare teams, it’s a different time, a different era, and that was a great team that won the competition,” said Dravid.MCC graduates set for World Cup role IT may not seem as if there is much of a link between Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground, and the ninth Cricket World Cup.But six players who’ve come through MCC’s longstanding Young Cricketers scheme will be representing five different countries at the sport’s showpiece event in the Caribbean.Those who’ve followed a similar path to that trodden by such cricket greats as the late Denis Compton and Ian Botham to make it to the West Indies are England wicket-keeper Paul Nixon, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor, the Irish duo of Will Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien, the Netherlands’s Daan van Bunge and Bermuda’s Steve Outeridge.Spin kings to twist and turn JUST about the one thing captains at the World Cup seem to be agreed on is that pitches will generally be slow and assist spin bowlers.Last week both England skipper Michael Vaughan and Australia captain Ricky Ponting talked up the tournament prospects of their frontline left-arm spinners, Monty Panesar and Brad Hogg respectively.England are now in St Lucia, where they begin their World Cup programme proper against fellow Group C giants New Zealand at the island’s Beausejour ground on Friday.And according to groundsman Kent Crafton, who has been at Beausejour since the venue opened five years ago, the teams here can look forward to good one-day cricket wickets rather than slow turners.TV Fixture Schedule Today, March 14 Australia vs Scotland: 16h00, SS2 Kenya vs Canada: 16h00, SS5, SABC 3 Thursday, March 15 Bermuda vs Sri Lanka: 16h00, SS2 Ireland vs Zimbabwe: 16h00, SS5, SABC3The pressure has been increased by Kapil Dev, the captain of that 1983 side, claiming that the 2007 squad is better than the one which memorably seized the trophy 24 years ago.”I think you can’t really compare teams, it’s a different time, a different era, and that was a great team that won the competition,” said Dravid.MCC graduates set for World Cup role IT may not seem as if there is much of a link between Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground, and the ninth Cricket World Cup.But six players who’ve come through MCC’s longstanding Young Cricketers scheme will be representing five different countries at the sport’s showpiece event in the Caribbean.Those who’ve followed a similar path to that trodden by such cricket greats as the late Denis Compton and Ian Botham to make it to the West Indies are England wicket-keeper Paul Nixon, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor, the Irish duo of Will Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien, the Netherlands’s Daan van Bunge and Bermuda’s Steve Outeridge.Spin kings to twist and turn JUST about the one thing captains at the World Cup seem to be agreed on is that pitches will generally be slow and assist spin bowlers.Last week both England skipper Michael Vaughan and Australia captain Ricky Ponting talked up the tournament prospects of their frontline left-arm spinners, Monty Panesar and Brad Hogg respectively.England are now in St Lucia, where they begin their World Cup programme proper against fellow Group C giants New Zealand at the island’s Beausejour ground on Friday.And according to groundsman Kent Crafton, who has been at Beausejour since the venue opened five years ago, the teams here can look forward to good one-day cricket wickets rather than slow turners.TV Fixture Schedule Today, March 14 Australia vs Scotland: 16h00, SS2 Kenya vs Canada: 16h00, SS5, SABC 3 Thursday, March 15 Bermuda vs Sri Lanka: 16h00, SS2 Ireland vs Zimbabwe: 16h00, SS5, SABC3