Pace without fire in World Cup

Is the Caribbean pageant in danger of losing out on the game’s most talismanic breed, the fast bowler? And will this World Cup, as Bob Simpson believes, turn out to be 'boring' because bat will pulverise ball?
The Champions Trophy in India was a welcome aberration to One-day cricket’s general trend of grand totals and profligate bowling. And though some key West Indian pitches have been relaid, the general feeling is that the tracks will be similar, slow and low, not exactly amenable to out-and-out quicks.For starters, it will be a question of adjustment.
Even so, the sheer spate of misfortune which seems to have struck the pace community is unparalled in World Cup history. Every other contender is struggling to get their pacers fit in time, either due to injuries, lack of form, or problems of a more insidious nature: namely, the dope cloud which hangs over Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif. Will this World Cup be the same without these gentlemen?
The general feeling within the fraternity is that the sheer spate of ODIs--read greedy administrators--is to blame. Jacques Kallis had, just before the Champions Trophy, predicted while criticising the heavy scheduling that teams would have to grapple with unfortunate breakdowns just before the World Cup. No one paid him any heed, and now look what’s happened: Brett Lee has a front foot ankle-tendon injury which takes weeks to heal, and even if he plays, he might not trust the ankle so much. Glenn McGrath, on his last legs, has been playing too much and looks distinctly below par.
None of Pakistan’s frontline pacers are fit: Shoaib’s left knee is perennially dodgy, Asif has been bowled to the ground and his elbow problem has flared up again, and the extent of Umar Gul’s ankle injury has been the subject of much speculation.
Closer home, Munaf Patel is yet to recover from a long-drawn injury drama in SA, and no one is willing to take a call on whether Irfan Pathan--whose bowling has shockingly fallen away--is simply injured, or out of form, or both. England, too, is keeping its fingers crossed: James Anderson has a hush-hush back problem and fellow seamer Jon Lewis’ ankle is not in perfect shape. And then there are the small niggles which don’t even merit mention. It’s a veritable encyclopedia of the walking wounded, and only goes to show exactly how macho pacers too need tender management: something for the backroom staff to ponder upon.
But is it just that? Isn’t it also true that there are no great pace batteries among the top eight teams anymore, fit or otherwise? And how will they fare in the Caribbean, where sizes of the grounds will vary, and some will be more than amenable to lusty six-hitting? Batsmen might stand up and hit through the line because the pitches won’t offer the kind of true bounce faster bowlers crave. Some former Indian pacers feel that bowling just short of driving length, within the stumps, and using variations like the slower ball (enter Dwayne Bravo) and yorker (Shaun Tait, pull your socks up) might be the way to go. The outfields will be unhurried, and the Powerplays will acquire immense significance. All this can work to a canny pacer’s advantage, but are there enough of them to go around?
This is where the likes of McGrath, Shane Bond--whose 5/23 in the first game of the Chappell-Hadlee series is the ideal build-up to his second World Cup--Flintoff, Shaun Pollock and his backup duo of Ntini and Kallis, and Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas must stand up and make their presence felt. And don’t forget the hosts: Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore and Ian Bradshaw have the best idea of prevalent conditions, and will have a slight advantage even in matches played on freshly-laid pitches.
For, without Lee--who is one of the best ODI bowlers around, but still hittable--the Aussies seem to have acquired an unhealthy tendency of failing to defend the biggest possible totals. Like some other teams, their attack wears an unsettled look: Shane Watson has control and variation but, like Ajit Agarkar, needs to be more consistent, Bracken isn’t aggressive enough, and Tait strays too often down the leg side. If Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Brendon McCullum and Craig McMillan can whack them around, why can’t Afridi, Dhoni or Pietersen?
England had an enviable seam attack for close to two years but Troy Cooley’s departure seems to have put paid to that: now they must make do with their trio of improving quicks in Anderson, Liam Plunkett--with 12 wickets in the CB series--and Sajid Mahmood.
Zaheer’s form bodes well for India, who will start their campaign in Trinidad with him, Munaf and Agarkar. And waiting in the wings is the ebullient Sreesanth, who might be a wayward bet at times. Sadly, Pakistan’s Rana Naved doesn’t inspire confidence anymore, and even their standbys are suspect: Sami has a bad back while Shahid Nazir hasn’t played an ODI for seven years.
So will cricket’s traditional bullies get their comeuppance, or can they browbeat oppositions into submission? For certain there is nobody with the class of Wasim Akram, the World Cup’s highest wicket-taker, save maybe Pollock, whose pace has withered but whose sharpness has not.
The quicks must plot how to bowl sides out, and increase their variety in the death. If they fire, it will make the competition infinitely more exciting. As of now, it’s anybody’s guess which of them will be fit in time. Certainly, the World Cup won’t be the same without the likes of Lee and Akhtar at their fastest.