Cricket: McMillan slams World Cup format

11.00am

BLOEMFONTEIN - New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan has called for the "flawed" cricket World Cup format to undergo a complete overhaul.

McMillan was irked that lowly Kenya could potentially deny New Zealand a semifinal place with the weight of points they carried through from pool play.

The Black Caps arrived in Bloemfontein today for their first Super Six match on Saturday against Zimbabwe, who they need to beat along with either Australia or India to book a semifinal spot.

"There's a serious flaw in the system when you've got teams like South Africa, England, Pakistan and the West Indies not going through," McMillan said.

"When a side like Kenya might make the semifinals without winning a Super Six game, then it's fundamentally flawed.

"It's wrong, and it's something that seriously needs to be looked at. The best teams aren't getting through, and we could have been in the position the other teams are in.

"You saw Kenya's performance in the last game against the West Indies. They're not one of the best six sides in the world."

New Zealand begin the Super Six with four points, one for each of their four wins over non-qualifiers. Only Zimbabwe, with 3.5 points, are below them.

Australia, meanwhile, have flown ahead with 12 points, having carried through four apiece from their wins over fellow pool A qualifiers India and Zimbabwe and one each from their other four wins.

Amazingly, Kenya have 10 points, four for their upset of Sri Lanka and four more for their win by default over New Zealand who refused to travel to Nairobi, as well as one each for wins over Canada and Bangladesh.

It means that if New Zealand and Zimbabwe both won just one game apiece in the Super Six, Kenya would qualify for the semifinals along with Australia, India and Sri Lanka.

"Fair play to Kenya, they beat Sri Lanka, but I've got serious misgivings about the whole concept. Even in 1999 there were some problems and I think there has to be a better format," McMillan said.

"I'm sure a lot of people don't want this to happen in the West Indies in 2007."

The fairest format of previous World Cups seemed to be the 1992 tournament in New Zealand and Australia where all nine teams played each other and the top four went through to the semifinals.

World Cup chief executive Ali Bacher today fronted a press conference in Johannesburg to defend the tournament format.

He said it was logistically impossible to have reserve days for pool matches, despite the fact that the two incomplete games ruined the chances of the West Indies, England and Pakistan qualifying.

New Zealand could so easily have been another side heading for home yesterday but thanks to the timely intervention of rain in Durban the match between South Africa and Sri Lanka was declared a tie.

South Africa's exit caused huge grief among cricket fans in the host nation and began all sorts of public inquests into who was to blame, be it captain Shaun Pollock or coach Eric Simons.

McMillan, though, had little sympathy for the Proteas, who New Zealand beat by nine wickets in an epic pool match in Johannesburg.

"South Africa have got no one but themselves to blame. While they say they're hard done by, they didn't beat us or the West Indies and they tied with Sri Lanka so they put themselves under pressure.

"While other sides can feel aggrieved with the system to a point, their fate was in their own hands.

"I feel a little bit sorry for the West Indies, their two points against Bangladesh were crucial. I think they're got a lot more to cry about than a team like South Africa."

Meanwhile, South Africa's Rudi Koertzen and Australia's Daryl Harper were confirmed today as umpires for New Zealand's game against Zimbabwe.

- NZPA

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