AUSTRALIA’S crushing victory over Sri Lanka in the World Cup final underlined that England would have needed to clone three more Kevin Pietersens to have competed effectively in this tournament. In other words England had no chance whatsoever of winning.

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For Hayden and Gilchrist read Vaughan and Joyce or Strauss, for Ponting read Bell – strike a light. For Symonds read Pietersen, and that's better. When the ECB start employing a cloning scientist at Lord’s, we might have a chance. It is true that the presence of Marcus Trescothick would have made a difference to upper order power, but the team sent out to the Caribbean was one of Blackadder’s futile gestures. Only the system and Ireland’s amazing upset over Pakistan kept England within reach of the semi-finals for so long.

Australia always scored at well over six runs an over in the tournament and never lost more than six wickets. That lifted so much pressure off the bowlers. The Aussies were under the cosh in the field at times – even England managed that – but Ricky Ponting’s men pressed on knowing events would turn.

Peter Moores, the new England coach, has a massive task to turn the one-day results around. The first step must be for his players to gain more experience at county level. It is quite possible the Twenty20 world championship in South Africa in September will arrive with our players still virtual novices at the 20-overs format. Another humiliation looms.

GLENN McGrath retires from international cricket at the age of 37 with a fine record in the ICC rankings. Measured by the best rating achieved, the Australian finishes fifth among all-time Test bowlers, a retrospective list headed by Sydney Barnes and George Lohmann, two England seamers from the ‘golden age’.

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McGrath was given his highest computer rating of 914 points during the Ashes series against England in 2001. Barnes, in a 13-year career from 1901, only played 27 Tests, but he took 189 wickets at an average of 16.43 and achieved the highest rating of any bowler in history of 932 points in February 1914.

Barnes bowled fast-medium, with wicked cutters for variety. Barnes lived to a great age, though Lohmann, his predecessor in the England attack, died of tuberculosis at the age of 36 in 1901. The computer rankings have proved very effective, taking into account the standard of opposition and state of the match without relying solely on statistics.
 
In 124 Tests, McGrath took 563 wickets at 21.64, with only his former team-mate Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (674) have remained ahead of him.
In one-day games McGrath finished fifth in the all-time rankings headed by Joel Garner, the tall West Indian.

All-time Test rankings: 1 S Barnes, 2 G Lohmann, 3 Imran Khan, 4, M Muralitharan, 5 G McGrath, 6 C Ambrose, A Lock, 8 I Botham, 9 M Marshall, 10 R Hadlee, Waqar Younis, S Pollock.
All-time one-day rankings: 1 J Garner, 2 R Hadlee, 3 S Pollock, 4 M Muralitharan, 5 G McGrath, 6 E Chatfield, 7 M Marshall, D Lillee, 9 C Ambrose, 10 M Holding.
World Cup all-time wicket-takers: 71 McGrath, 55 Wasim Akram, 53 Muralitharan, 49 Vaas, 44 Srinath, 38 Donald. World Cup 2007: 26 McGrath, 23 Muralitharan, Tait, 21 Hogg, 18 Malinga, 16 Vettori, 10 Bracken.

IRELAND, those World Cup celebrities, play a big four-day match at Leicester next month when they meet Canada in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

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The Intercontinental Cup seems to be one of the successes of the ICC as a competition designed to expose players outside the Test nations to long-form cricket. Ireland, as holders, have benefited most and have carried their hardened experience into one-dayers, most notably in the Caribbean.

The final takes place at Grace Road on May 22-25. Ireland, who declined an offer of open-top bus treatment in Dublin for their World Cup wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh, start as favorites. In the previous final in 2005 they beat Namibia, though improving Canada should provide stronger opposition.
 
The new format in the Intercontinental Cup has meant sides playing a minimum of three four-day matches. This increases to seven four-day matches this year and 2008, when a full round-robin format is planned.
 
In the 2006 event Canada finished on top of Group B having got off to a flying start. Outright victories over Kenya and Bermuda at the Maple Leaf ground, near Toronto, in late July and early August were enough to ensure top spot. Centuries for John Davidson (165), Ian Billcliff (126) and Abdool Samad (119), all in the first innings, set up a stylish nine-wicket win over Bermuda. The Kenyans were defeated by only 25 runs, thanks in no small way to an undefeated 91 by Qaiser Ali in the first innings and a classy 136 by Geoff Barnett in the second. Canada’s opening bowling partnership of Umar Bhatti and Henry Osinde were also instrumental in their success.
 
Canada stumbled in their final game of the group stage with a seven-wicket defeat by Holland in Pretoria, thanks mostly to the influence of the Essex all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate. He took match figures of 9-112, including 6-20 in the first innings, and scored 259 in the first innings and 31 not out in the second.
 
On the other side of the draw, it always looked like it would be between 2005 winners Ireland and the 2004 champions Scotland. Their match in Aberdeen was a rain-affected draw, but with Scotland taking more points, it was always going to be difficult for Ireland to top the table.
 
Both sides beat Namibia, but Scotland left the door open for Ireland by failing to overcome the United Arab Emirates at Sharjah Stadium in January. Ireland’s outright victory over the UAE in Abu Dhabi the following month took them to the final. Eoin Morgan became the first Ireland batsman to make a double century, and Ireland’s bowlers did superbly well in getting the 20 UAE wickets needed for victory.
 
The ICC president Percy Sonn said: “The ICC Intercontinental Cup is an excellent opportunity for the Associate players to improve as all-round cricketers. They tend to play a lot of one-day cricket. So I think it is important that they be given the chance to learn the skills needed for the longer form of the game as well.”
 

By Gayle Alleyne in St Lucia

EHSAN Mani, the former ICC president, has described ICC Cricket World Cup as “absolutely wonderful”, noting that the exposure which this tournament has generated for the sport should help push cricket’s global development.
 

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Speaking as he watched yesterday’s semi-final in Saint Lucia, he said that the ICC – cricket’s world-governing organisation – was “consciously trying to grow cricket around the world”. He said the biggest medium to projecting this message had been the television and media exposure which the game had in countries such as China.
 
The spectacle of this event in the Caribbean shown to billions of people worldwide has been “amazing” and could increase interest in the sport, added the Pakistani, who stepped down from the ICC’s top post last July.
 
In addition, Mani said the legacy of CWC 2007 for the region would be the magnificent stadia built or almost completely refurbished for the showpiece tournament. “We see the superb infrastructure which probably wouldn’t have happened but for the Cricket World Cup. This has put the West Indies on the map in the cricket world,” he declared.
 
The executive d of the previous World Cup in South Africa, Dr Ali Bacher, concurred with Mani. “The main legacy will be that of the grounds. I’ve been to the West Indies on many occasions and it staggered me that, with ordinary grounds and practice facilities, you have produced all these brilliant world-class cricketers through the years.
 
“This is going to be the legacy – these beautiful, new cricket grounds. I’ve been to Kensington Oval in Barbados and it’s a beautiful. Grenada is lovely and here in Saint Lucia as well,” said Bacher, who witnessed his Proteas wilt against the Australians.
 
Another legacy, he noted, will be the indelible memories that fans take home from their Cricket World Cup experience. “The Caribbean is the most beautiful part of the world,” Bacher said. “I love being in the Caribbean. People here are friendly and very hospitable. It’s a great part of the world and visitors have had a fantastic time.

“Every South African will go back enthralled by the people, the warmth and the lovely countries. It’s a tourist destination par excellence and I’ll be back again.”
 
Kenneth Gordon, chairman of the West Indies Cricket Board, said a lot of compliments had been paid to another aspect of the World Cup’s legacy – the volunteers, who had worked diligently at matches in the nine host venues. “They have been excellent,” he said.

CHARLIE SAYS: Quite right for Ken Gordon to mention the volunteers. These marvellous people take a day off work to help the cause. From personal experience in St Lucia I can say they are smartly turned out, extremely efficient and friendly.

THE World Cup final on Saturday will be Glenn McGrath’s final match for Australia. He walked away from Test cricket after the 5-0 Ashes victory last winter, but he allowed himself some lingering limelight in the one-day arena.

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This extraordinary seam-bowler goes into his farewell game against Sri Lanka in Barbados with the most wickets in a World Cup tournament, achieved at the age of 37. Only last October he was being written off by some journalists – in my case through wishful thinking.

McGrath went into the ICC Champions Trophy in India last October as an unknown quantity, because he had spent almost a year out of the game resting an ankle injury and helping his wife Jane through her cancer illness. He lost his new-ball privilege and looked uneasy as a change bowler after so long as the senior man.

A couple of teams, England included, tried to exploit the Australian’s unease with early attacks, walking up the pitch on occasions. He was indeed hit for boundaries, but his captain Ricky Ponting nursed him through, and by the end of the tournament McGrath was running in athletically, hitting the seam with his old accuracy. I watched him against New Zealand in the semi-finals at the magnificent Mohali stadium in Chandigarh when he was effectively bowling 80mph leg-breaks. It hardly was surprising he sliced through the opposition and would continue to do so until this week in the Caribbean.

Australia won the Trophy convincingly in Bombay, and McGrath was predicting a 5-0 Ashes win, damn him. And, to him, only Australia would win the World Cup. Even the man himself might not have suspected he would enter the final with an unprecedented 25 wickets. Close behind him on 23 wickets are team-mate Shaun Tait and, an opponent in the final, Muttiah Muralitharan.

McGrath has taken 70 wickets in his World Cup career, spanning 38 matches. That is far more than anyone else, though it must be to his advantage to belong to such a successful side. England’s best bowler in history is Ian Botham, with 30 in 22 games. Even Wasim Akram, the great Pakistani, took only 55 wickets in as many games as McGrath.

THE experiment in English one-day domestic cricket of allowing players to appeal against umpires’ decisions starts at Taunton on Sunday when Somerset play the holders Sussex in a Friends Provident Trophy group match. The idea of umpires having their honest opinions challenged by television replay made many people in the game uneasy, but human frailty was cruelly exposed in the World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Jamaica on Tuesday.

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The umpires Rudi Koertzen and Simon Taufel made an absolute rickets of four lbw decisions between them, the only four given in the game. Silva’s thick deflection off the bat was missed – though Bond’s passionate appeal suggested otherwise – the Oram ball that removed Dilshan was missing leg stump by a couple of feet, Taylor fell swinging at a Vaas delivery across him that would sailed past off stump, Vettori missed a Muri doosra that might, just might, have clipped his off stump – no benefit of doubt for him.

These four gaffes by two of the world’s best umpires were ‘confirmed’ by Hawk-Eye, by no means 100 per cent reliable, but even to the naked eye on television the decisions looked wrong, dubious at best. The mistakes did not affect the result of the match, but maybe players should be allowed to expose injustice.

Hawk-Eye will not be used in the Friends Provident Trophy group matches so that the third umpire will have to rely on foreshortened television image – dangerous in itself. One suspects that replays will have to be 150 per cent conclusive, to borrow football-speak, for an umpire to embarrass one of his own.

The ICC are keeping a close eye on the experiment – the ECB concede that experiment is all it can be – and are to discuss progress during the general meeting at Lord’s in June. Perhaps video justice beyond mere line calls, as now, will be meted out in the next World Cup. Appeals to the third umpire will be limited to two rejections per side per innings. The ECB have confirmed that Law 23.3 on dead ball following dismissal (or not) will have to be suspended in this competition.

THE World Cup attendances have averaged 8,500 per match, including the opening ceremony, group matches and all the Super Eight phase, the organisers disclosed today. 
 

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The highest crowd was the 22,452 at Kensington Oval in Barbados for the final Super Eight game last Saturday, featuring England and the West Indies. Though the game had no bearing on the tournament, the attraction was the farewell appearance of Brian Lara after 17 years on the international stage.
 
England’s previous match against South Africa, also at Kensington, drew the second-highest attendance with 17,013. The third-highest attendance was 16,574 for West Indies versus Pakistan in their Jamaica group match. The organisers corrected a figure published for India versus Sri Lanka group game in Trinidad, saying the report of 16,000 should have been 10,660.
 
Chris Dehring, the tournament managing director, said: “The Caribbean is well on track to recording the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup – beating the US$22 million in England in 1999 and US$10 million in South Africa in 2003. This is a significant achievement for a cluster of small developing nations, whose combined population is a fraction of that of countries which have customarily hosted the Cricket World Cup.”
 
He added: “People around the world have been spellbound by the images of this event which are being shown across the globe and, as we have moved closer and closer to the business end of the event, the momentum has increased tremendously.”

CHARLIE SAYS: This 8,500 average is half-capacity. Prices set by the ICC were too high for the locals, which drastically reduced interest in lesser games. But from what I experienced in St Lucia, the organisers had much to be proud of.

THE imminent announcement of Bennett King's resingation from the West Indies management will raise the total of departing World Cup coaches to 10 if Tom Moody leaves Sri Lanka as has been indicated. Only South Africa and New Zealand, of the major countries, are not affected by the swing doors.

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King’s exit would seem logical after two extremely difficult years for the Australian, buffeted by off-field problems such as the mobile phone endorsements row and the on-going feud between the Board and the players organisation.

The departure of several World Cup coaches was planned in advance, most notably John Buchanan standing down for Tim Nielsen. Added to that are Adrian Birrell, handing the Ireland reins to Phil Simmons, and Andy Pick, on loan to Canada from the ECB. Seven men leave in less predictable cirmcumstances, including coaches of all four of the subcontinent teams. Even Bob Woolmer resigned from his Pakistan post before his death.

The six countries apparently retaining their coaches are New Zealand (John Bracewell), South Africa (Mickey Arthur), Zimbabwe (Kevin Curran), Kenya (Roger Harper), Scotland (Peter Drinnen) and Bermuda (Gus Logie). Curran’s future with troubled Zimbabwe seems in doubt.

The resignations list covers England (Duncan Fletcher), India (Greg Chappell), Bangladesh (Dav Whatmore), Pakistan (Bob Woolmer) and Holland (Peter Cantrell). Added to that is likely to be King (West Indies) and probably Moody (Sri Lanka).
  
CHARLIE SAYS: Bennett King is a decent man with excellent credentials for the West Indies job. To guide players from so many far-flung countries into one unit has proved impossible for him while the rest of the cricket-playing world has moved onwards.

DUNCAN Fletcher is to step down as England coach at the end of the World Cup, according to suggestions by the BBC this morning. David Morgan, chairman of the ECB, is to hold a press conference in Barbados later today.

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Fletcher and his beleaguered captain Michael Vaughan played golf yesterday while media frenzy reached its height in the wake of England’s humiliating defeat by South Africa at Bridgetown on Tuesday. There have been calls across the media for Vaughan to resign as one-day captain, and many observers, including this website, believe he is not worth a place as a batsman. Vaughan insisted he wished to continue in charge.

ANYONE hoping England might test South Africa in Barbados will have been appalled, embarrassed, saddened and disgusted at the day’s performance. And for those listening on radio it was apparently even worse.

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Losing by nine wickets with 30 overs to spare in the World Cup is usually a result reserved for the no-hopers, the minnows. No longer can the England and Wales Cricket Board patronise the so-imagined lesser nations, for example by shunning Holland cricket instead of assisting.

A twist in the tail proved to be the post-match comments by Michael Vaughan, one of the best captains England have ever had, but now an imposter as a batsman – certainly in one-day cricket. He actually thought he should continue in the team and for Duncan Fletcher to carry on in charge. He followed a grand piece of self-dillusion with something he could not have believed deep down.

Fletcher and Vaughan have to go. This summer must be Fletcher’s last in charge. Readers of this website will be all too familiar with early misgivings. Marcus Trescothick was a serious loss, but Fletcher insisted through the winter on using orthodox uninspired batsman to carry the upper order. Reluctantly the coach dropped Andrew Strauss, one of the main culprits. Yet Ed Joyce, not fluent against the old ball, was selected on the basis of one innings in Australia ahead of better one-day batsmen such as Owais Shah and Mal Loye.

Vaughan, through 85 one-day internationals, averages a mere 26.43 as an accumulating upper order batsman. Take away Zimbabwe matches and his average dips to 23.7. No other country, no other coach and no other selectors would tolerate that. The argument that his captaincy skill somehow transcends near-permanent failure at the crease is nonsense. Strauss’s average in 77 matches drops to 28.4 when one purple Bangladesh series is deducted. Again, his runs are accumulated off pace bowling.

Though Ian Bell is a fine fielder with a decent mid-30s batting average, there is little personality or flair in him. Stuart Law, the Australian at Lancashire, once referred to Bell as “that timid little man”. A bit rude maybe, but one could see his point about the image of England’s upper batting. Kevin Pietersen should set the tone, but number four is too low among such frail colleagues.

England’s much-publicised drinking and pedalo exploits on the day – when they went to bed – before their next group match against Canada seemed to suggest low respect for Fletcher. England many times before had been allowed to occupy the bar all night – I was among them myself in India – but not so soon before a match.
 
I was called up to take part in a phone-in programme for BBC Asian Network this morning for an hour from 9am. One caller described England’s performance as “absolutely pathetic” which summed up the defeat succinctly. Another caller, with a slip of the tongue, reckoned Vaughan did not have enough pride in the England T-shirt. A few felt England did not try hard enough. That was harsh, because it seemed to me that Vaughan’s men were outclassed. The selection was at fault – it was like playing with nine men.

England’s failure was foreshadowed in October as they clunked and blundered their way through – and out – of the ICC Champions Trophy in India. The same could be said for India themselves. The West Indies, beaten finalists in the Trophy, showed they needed Chris Gayle to fire. And he has not done so in the World Cup.

While England’s batting has been so weak, no useful judgement can be made about the bowling.