A mouth-watering clash between two teams which have dominated world cricket in different eras takes place today at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium in Antigua.
Defending World Cup champions Australia faces hosts the West Indies in a match as eagerly anticipated as the World Cup final itself which is exactly one month away.
The two teams though at first glance appearing to be quite different actually have a lot in common.
They each dominated world cricket at different junctures of its history, the West Indies during the heady days of the ’80s under Clive Lloyd and Sir Sivian Richards the Australians, first under the now retired Steve Waugh, and then under present captain Ricky Ponting.
In captains Ponting and Brian Lara they have two of the finest batsmen of the contemporary game each eager to leave his own stamp on this competition in more ways than one.
The two teams have each won the World Cup competition more than any other team, the Australians thrice, the West Indies twice and looking to even that particular score.
And, while Australia lead the head-to-head clash by a score of 9-5 in matches dating back to 2003, the last 10 matches have been split equally between the two teams.
Victories over Australia in the group stages of the Champions Trophy tournament in November of 2006 and the DLF Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September of last year have given the West Indies team the belief that the `Invincible Aussies’ are invincible no more.
And even though the West Indies went under to the Aussies in the finals of both competitions by the margins of 127 runs (DLF Cup) and by eight wickets under the Duckworth Lewis method, (Champions Trophy) the Aus-tralians recent showing against New Zealand in the tournament leading up to the World Cup would have given the West Indies renewed hope.
Happy Hunting ground
Antigua, venue for today’s encounter has been a happy hunting ground for Lara and his West Indies team.
It was in Antigua, that Lara set the new mark for the highest individual test score of 375 and then, when that mark was broken by Matthew Hayden, Lara returned to set the bench mark higher still at 400 and remained not out to boot.
Hayden on the other hand has not let the loss of that particular record affect him and he took the opportunity in the team’s previous match against South Africa to establish another record that of the fastest ever World Cup century. Both teams have formidable opening batsmen with Australia having Hayden and Adam Gilchrist and the West Indies Shiv Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle.
There seems to be little to separate the middle-order batsmen of the two sides with Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey and Andrew Symonds of Australia comparing favourably with Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo for the West Indies.
It therefore means that the bowlers, more specifically the faster bowlers, might be required to tilt the balance.
In Glenn McGrath, the Australians have a seasoned campaigner who will be supported by the pacy Shaun Taitt and Nathan Bracken who has taken 15 wickets in eight games against the West Indies.
The West Indies have found their best opening combination of recent times in Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell. The two will be supported by the experienced Corey Collymore or Ian Bradshaw.
An added incentive to win today’s game is the two points for the winning team which should strengthen that team’s chances of reaching the semi-finals.
Teams: West Indies (from) Brian Lara, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Corey Collymore, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Denish Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith and Jerome Taylor.
Coach Bennett King.
Australia (from) Ricky Ponting, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clark, Adam Gilchrist, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Mike Hussey Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Mc Grath, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Taitt and Shane Watson.
Coach John Buchanan.