Miscellaneous

Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev on Thursday said an overdose of cricket was bound to affect the performance of the team and there was a need to cut down on the number of matches being played in a year. "It looks to me that hotels have now become the homes of the players and homes have become their hotels," he told reporters here. Kapil, who is the brand ambassador for Pune-based Kinetic Engineering, said the performance of any team would be affected due to too much of cricket. "It is important that everyone should look for quality and not quantity. Sometimes quantity tells on the quality of matches," he said. Stressing that the Indian team was "doing very well" now under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, he said, though it would not be easy, "India has a fair chance of winning the next World Cup. There is a lot of time between now and the World Cup, scheduled for next year, and South African pitches offer a lot of bounce, he said. Ten years ago this month Zimbabwe played their first Test and confounded their critics by having the better of a drawn match against a strong Indian side. Captain David Houghton scored his country's first Test century as India were made to toil in Harare. Houghton, who is now head of Zimbabwe's academy, has fond memories of how his side proved the doubters wrong. "We felt that the rest of the world did not want us in Test cricket," he recalls. Houghton feels that Zimbabwe were far better prepared for Test cricket then Bangladesh are now. India were easy victors by nine wickets when Bangladesh played their first Test two years ago. They were roundly thrashed by Zimbabwe in their next two Tests and face South Africa having yet to record a win in 13 matches. "Bangladesh don't look like they are ready at this stage to be entering the Test arena. They just don't have the players to come up with a plan against South Africa. The difference between the talent in the two sides is like chalk and cheese.

Ashes series

England's cricketers have been urged to make a good start to their tour of Australia and ensure that the Ashes series stays alive until the fourth and fifth Tests at Christmas. The England squad headed off to Australia on Thursday hoping to win the Ashes for the first time in 15 years against the team ranked number one in the world. And chairman of selectors David Graveney has told his players that they must be on top form from the first Test, which starts in Brisbane on 7 November. Graveney said: "We do have a habit of starting slowly in Test series. It's as if we're not quite sure of our own ability and we're a bit cautious about sorting out the opposition. Ian Healy has dismissed England's chances of winning this summer's Ashes series. He former Australian vice-captain acknowledges the strides England have made under captain Nasser Hussain, but believes the tourists won't be a genuine threat until the next series on home soil in 2005. England have noticeably improved in recent years under the joint guidance of Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher, winning four consecutive series for the first time since 1979 and introducing a host of exciting youngsters onto the scene. But Healy still rates Steve Waugh's side a shoo-in for the forthcoming Ashes series, because he believes England are not yet capable of competing in Australian conditions. "I can't see it being any better for England than the last series," he said. "England may get a Test match, but I don't see the tale of the Ashes changing. Former West Indies captain Garfield Sobers believes England will give Australia a sterner test than most people expect in the Ashes series starting next month. But the world record-breaking all rounder stopped short of predicting that Nasser Hussain's team will beat the world champions, saying the best they can hope for is to give the Australians a real contest. "Don't be too surprised if they really give the Australians a bit of a fight," Sobers told the National Press Club on Thursday. "England this year will give Australia problems, (but) I'm not saying they will win." Sobers, 66, said he had been impressed by England's batsmen during the recent northern hemisphere summer, saying they were playing more confidently and aggressively. "I have watched them in England and I think they are a different team," he said. "To me, they seem now to put bat to ball, instead of putting pad to ball. I think that is a great improvement." Sobers, in Australia to promote his latest book, also forecast a rapid improvement in the fortunes of Caribbean cricket. Glenn Mcgrath believes outspoken English opener Michael Vaughan could be on a "hiding to nothing" after declaring he wanted to be the Australian spearhead's No.1 target this summer. Speaking ahead of England's arrival in Perth today, Vaughan said he wasn't intimidated by McGrath's reputation and would be "disappointed" if he wasn't the speedster's primary focus in the five-Test series. "I am happy for him to say that," was McGrath's reply. "When I do that I find it actually puts more pressure on me to actually go out there and perform. "That's the way I'd rather play. I like that pressure - it'll be interesting to see how he handles that pressure.

Bangladesh in South Africa

South Africa play their inaugural Test against Bangladesh at Buffalo Park on Friday. The Southeast Asian nation has recorded losses in 12 of the 13 Tests they have played. And South Africa is the strongest team they will have faced since their introduction at the top level in November 2000. The trend seems unlikely to change in the first of two Tests against a South African side eager to reinforce their number two ranking in the world Test championship. South Africa was categorically dismissed by Australia in the 2001/02 season in which they lost five successive Tests to the world's strongest team.

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