Australia, New Zealand confident, West Indies depressed

Watson pulled his calf muscle in the game against Bangladesh last week, but the in-form allrounder is working hard on his fitness and practice. He seems to have no plans to ease his bowling work-load.

''There are always going to be injuries in sport,'' he was quoted as saying in the Aussie press.

''The majority of bowlers get injuries, whether it's in blocks, or over certain times of their career. It's part and parcel of their career. If I was 30 or 31 and things were continually to happen like this, it's probably then a time to worry.'' ''I am only 25,'' he was quoted as sayings. ''It does take a while to develop, for your muscles to build momentum. I absolutely love being an all-rounder. I have always enjoyed being a part of the game, whether it's in the field, bowling or batting.'' A series of accidents and injuries over the last year have kept him on the sidelines more often than not including a dislocated shoulder, a calf problem, food poisoning and a torn hamstring that benched him for the Ashes series.

On the other hand, New Zealand has suddenly become an invincible side as their batting, bowling and fielding have clicked superbly.

Their star fast bowler Shane Bond is slowly turning into a touchstone for his captain, Stephen Fleming. The injury-prone fast bowler has come through the first phase of the 2007 WorldCup unscathed even as all around him injury has created carnage in the Kiwis' ranks, and Fleming is duly thankful to his spearhead.

''He's bowling well at the top, there's no doubt about that. The second spell when I throw him the ball to get a wicket has been a key to us keeping teams down to a low score. The changes of pace, a little bit of reverse swing, the length that he is hitting makes captaincy during that period very easy.'' ''It's all about assessing and adjusting to those conditions and bowling well. If you are bowling consistently in the right areas you are going to have success.'' For Bond, 31, the motivation is to be the world's top fast bowler, injuries permitting.

''It's something that has driven me since my first series in Australia. It's always been my goal to be the number one bowler in the world. The hardest thing is that the wickets are so different here.'' Meanwhile down and out, members of the West Indies cricket team dispersed in different directions after losing their first three matches of the Super Eights round.

They are scheduled to reassemble in Grenada on Friday to resume their World Cup campaign against world's top-ranked one-day side, South Africa.

Defeat in this key game will condemn the Caribbeans to the sidelines and the thinking of the team management is apparently to give the players a chance to rest and recuperate from the battering they have received at the hands of Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka so far.

Accordingly, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell all headed for Jamaica, and Grenadian Devon Smith, along with head coach Bennett King and his staff, flew from Georgetown to Grenada.

According to media reports, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, besides former skipper Clive Lloyd had stayed back in Georgetown while the Trinidadians and Barbadians chose to spend the few days at home ''as temporary relief from the anguish of the heavy, successive losses to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka over the past week''.

''The WICB agreed to the players' request for such an arrangement from the start. It is unusual but, in the present circumstances, might not be as disruptive as it seems. The overall body language in the hat-trick of defeats revealed several younger players clearly traumatised by the turn of events,'' as the Starbroek News puts it.

UNI HSB DH RN1828

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