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A rain cloud over the World Cup
By Huw Richards
The suspension of play in the opening match of the World Cup's Super Eight between West Indies and Australia in Antigua after Australia had run up the formidable total of 322 raised the threat of the competition's first abandonment.
The match was due to continue Wednesday, when showers early and scattered thunderstorms later were forecast. West Indies needed to complete a minimum of 20 overs before a result could be calculated under the Duckworth-Lewis formula used to decide the outcome of truncated matches.
If this is not possible, each team receives one point, against the two awarded for a victory. This would bring back bad memories for West Indies, which failed to progress to the later stages in South Africa in 2003 because its match against Bangladesh was abandoned.
The Duckworth-Lewis formula, devised by two British statisticians, uses statistical averages based on thousands of previous matches to calculate a team's likely score on the basis of how many runs it has scored and how many overs and wickets it has left, a principle similar to that used in actuarial tables.
While criticized for opacity, it has proved much fairer and more successful than earlier formulas, which produced nonsenses like a South African team which seemed to be heading for a tight finish with England in the 1992 semifinal finding that it was required to score 22 from a single ball after a brief delay.
The rain did not come in time to stop Australian batsman Matthew Hayden from continuing his one-man rewriting of the one-day international record books. His innings of 158 against West Indies was not only his third score of more than 100 in five innings, but his third record. He displaced team-mate Andrew Symonds, who scored 143 not out against Pakistan in 2003, for the highest score by an Australian in a World Cup match.
The innings continued a remarkable comeback by a 35-year old whose one-day career looked to be finished when he was dropped from Australia's team after its matches in England in July 2005.
His form since his recall last September, and in particular in the last few weeks, is reminiscent of his displays in five-day tests in 2002 and 2003 when he was the most prolific scorer in the game and briefly held the record for the highest ever individual innings in tests.
Hayden's previous innings, 101 against South Africa on Saturday, was the fastest century in a World Cup match. He reached three figures off 66 balls compared to the 67 taken by Canada's John Davison against West Indies, in 2003.
In Australia's last match before the World Cup, against New Zealand in Hamilton, Hayden scored 181 not out, the highest by an Australian in any one-day international. As West Indies contemplated chasing 323, it could take comfort in the fact that Australia still lost that game, failing to defend a total of 346.
New Zealand's record is held by opening batsman Lou Vincent, with 172 against Zimbabwe. Vincent will not get a chance to beat his own mark in the West Indies after being ruled out with a broken wrist.
The Kiwis had to wait for approval from the World Cup technical committee before they were allowed to bring in replacement, Hamish Marshall, who may go straight into the team for New Zealand's opening Super Eights match against West Indies in Antigua because another batsman, Ross Taylor, has a hamstring strain.
Though still unbeaten, the New Zealanders seem peculiarly accident-prone at this World Cup. No other team has had to replace a player since the tournament started, but Vincent is the second Kiwi to go, following all-rounder Daryl Tuffey, replaced by Chris Martin after an injury to his right arm.
Quick bowler Mark Gillespie missed the pool stage with a viral infection. All-rounder Jason Oram contemplated having a finger amputated before the cup when his participation was in doubt.
New Zealand has however so far avoided the mishap it most fears, any injury to its fastest bowler, Shane Bond, who has missed more internationals than he has played. Bond did, though, inflict Vincent's injury while bowling to him in the nets.
Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan spin bowler, has been named Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2007 edition of the authoritative annual reference work, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. He was chosen by the editor Matthew Engel after canvassing the opinion of a panel, including this correspondent, who were asked who would be the first name on their team-sheet for a World XI to play Mars.
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