Young guns draw hope from old master

AUSTRALIA are natural favourites for the World Cup. Not only are they the form team but they are also course and distance winners. They arrived in India yesterday after another triumphant season in which they won two Test series and the one-day World Series at a canter.

The likelihood that they will forfeit a potential two Group A points because of a refusal to play in Sri Lanka after the bomb there 11 days ago that killed more than 80 people has not markedly altered their status in the betting.

Nine years ago, somewhat less well regarded, they went to the sub-continent as outsiders and returned from the five-week tournament as champions, a victory that marked the start of the long journey to their present pre- eminence.

So confident are they now in the quality and depth of their talent that they have omitted from the squad a player who was both central to the 1987 win and not long ago was rated as the best one-day batsman in the world. Dean Jones is still, as they say, scoring runs for fun in domestic competition. In the Sheffield Shield this season he has more than 700, at an average of more than 60; in three one-day innings he has another 170. He did not make the final 14.

"I was a little disappointed and thought I'd done enough to win a place but they've gone for youth," he said last week. "I think we could very well win, but at the same time some problems may arise for the young players. It's a harsh environment. Stomach ailments can easily crop up and some of them won't have experience of the pitches there. It will be a test for them playing spin bowling."

Jones, who will return to England as captain of Derbyshire this summer, said that Australia's last World Cup on the sub-continent was significantly helped both by their tour to India the previous year and by a two week training camp in Madras immediately before the competition.

"The tour unquestionably helped us to get used to the conditions and it was so important to learn to be able to play against spin. We knew what to expect and were prepared for it. The time in Madras was the hardest preparation I can remember, but it made us ready."

This time Australia may just reap at least some benefit from their tour of Pakistan 16 months ago (10 of their 14 players took part in that) but they have not been through a tough fortnight of acclimatisation in Madras - their final preparations were conducted in Brisbane last week. Confident they may be, but there was a hint of tetchiness in the camp. With the wrangle over the Sri Lanka match continuing, the players were being positively discouraged from comment by their management.

The squad is undoubtedly fit, though there may be the odd question mark over Steve Waugh who has suffered variously from groin, hamstring and back injuries this summer and has played no one-day cricket. In addition, the cavalier opening batsman Michael Slater has been struggling desperately for form of late. But despite the inexperience of some players - Shane Lee, for instance, an all-rounder who bowls medium pace and bats right- handed has been barely heard of in Britain - weaknesses are hard to spot.

They have picked their trusty seam bowlers (Craig McDermott was the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 18 in 1987) but Shane Warne's spin will obviously be influential as will the left arm chinamen and googlies of Michael Bevan, which have been increasingly employed of late.

Jones recalls that last time in India their fitness proved crucial: "Of the Test-playing nations we scored fewer fours than any of the others in the whole tournament. But we also got more singles than any of them. It was a deliberate strategy and I'll be interested to see if they go for the same one this time."

Still, in leaving out Jones even the Australians may have over-reached themselves. He can be rampant against spin bowling of whatever quality and is a proven top-class performer in the sub-continent. At 35 he has not entirely given up hope of an international return, but England may yet be able to make more use of him than Australia.

"I'm genuinely looking forward to coming to Derbyshire," he said, "What great people they seem. And as I'm captain I'd see it as part of my duty to nurture players through to the England Test team. I expect to be talking to people such as Ray Illingworth and Mike Atherton." It may be a pity that he can't start the job now.