Cricket World Cup: A guide for dummies

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni earns $35 million a year. Photo / AP

• Australia must be rip-roaring favourites. They have a great history, the final is in Melbourne and closest challengers South Africa are worse World Cup chokers than the All Blacks.

• The outside prospects include Sri Lanka. Yet they won in 1996, have played in the last two finals, produce extraordinary cricketers ... and people still don't take them seriously enough. What does a little dot in the ocean next to India have to do to get respect around here?

• Australia and New Zealand are guaranteed home quarter-finals -- the Black Caps will play in Wellington. If the hosts meet in the semifinals, the higher group performer gets home advantage. If they meet in the final it's played in Melbourne, of course.

• The first country to win the World Cup wasn't a country at all. The West Indies, a grouping of 15 countries, beat Australia at Lords in 1975 and mopped up England at the same venue four years later. Attempts to turn this Caribbean region into one country fell apart 50 years ago and the West Indies name -- a colonial hangover -- lives on via the cricket team.

• The 1970s World Series Cricket breakaway replaced the traditional whites with coloured uniforms which became increasingly standard for one-day cricket and mandatory by 2001. Establishment types initially tried to denigrate the WSC by referring to it as the "pyjama game". New Zealand's beige uniforms of the 1980s were so bad they became Kiwi shtick.

• But when it comes to balls, one day cricket uses white rather than the usual red because they give batsmen a great view against a black sight screen. A different ball will be used from each end in the World Cup -- this keeps them harder and cleaner. The official supplier is Kookaburra, whose balls have been slammed in recent times for going out of shape.

• Records are made to be broken ... but this one won't be. Australia were undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches during which they claimed the 1999, 2003 and 2007 trophies.

• The runs target will be adjusted in games shortened by rain (or anything else) using the Duckworth-Lewis system. It works a lot better than a previous method which led to chaos in a 1992 World Cup semifinal when a bit of rain left South Africa, who were reasonably well placed for victory, needing 21 runs from one delivery against England. Even England couldn't stuff that up.

• Who is the richest player in the tournament you ask? According to the latest guesswork, Indian's MS Dhoni earns $35 million a year and is worth more than $100 million. Indian cricket is awash with money and Dhoni is more awash with it than a lot of players put together.

• And who is the fastest bowler? Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) and Adam Milne (New Zealand) are quick by reputation although extreme pace can come and go due to form, injury, advancing years, etc, etc. Young Aussie Pat Cummins is a scary tearaway on the rise. Steyn and Malinga unleashed their fastest deliveries in one-day games against New Zealand.

• The ICC reckons two out of three ain't bad when it comes to the decision review system. The ball tracker (for lbw) and Snicko (directional microphones for bat contact) are retained but Hot Spot (which uses infra-red to check if the ball has touched the bat for catches and lbw) is dumped for cost reasons. Each team is allowed one unsuccessful challenge per innings, which leads to interesting scenarios around internal team dynamics and hierarchies. Superstars might be able to take more challenge risks.

• There are two powerplays per innings. The opening 10-over one is mandatory -- only two fielders can be placed outside the 30-yard circle and there must be two close catchers. The second, of five overs, must be called by the batting team by the 36th over and limits the number of fielders outside the 30-yard zone to three. All exciting stuff.

• Cricket's finest anomaly -- leg before wicket (lbw) decisions. The ball-tracking review spits out different results for the same delivery, depending on whether the original decision was 'out' or 'not out'. Huh?

• Strangest sight. Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan fast bowler, delivers the ball sidearm like he's an old rugby player doing one of those infamous coathanger tackles. Nobody has ever bowled like this before.

• What is a decent target? Batting performances are so extreme these days that anything is possible. Stand by for high scoring games.

• What if it rains? What here, in New Zealand? Come on -- it's a big cricket tournament. Of course it will rain. Reserve days come into play from the quarter-finals stage.

• Match fixing. Now there's a subject. Either hear no, see no, speak no evil, or be realistic. It will be bubbling away somewhere, although more likely in the form of spot fixing, where players deliberately underperform in little tasks that make big money. Bet on that.

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