Cricket: Nasser's notebook

It's a great feeling to be virtually certain of a place in the Super Six stages of the World Cup, but there's no way that we'll be going into our final qualifying game with India harbouring thoughts that it's not an important game.

Apart from the fact that the two points whoever wins the game may be taking into the next stage could be vital, there will be tremendous pride at stake.

Of course the Indian side are packed with talent throughout . . . I've seen many people rating Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest batsman in the world today and I wouldn't disagree with that.

In fact you'd have to put him up with all-time greats such as Don Bradman, Viv Richards and Sir Garfield Sobers. His recent World Cup innings against Kenya was phenomenal.

Having said that, myself and the England lads will be delighted if the crowds at Edgbaston are robbed of the chance of seeing him in action. If he goes first ball we'll be more than happy.

However, it would be dangerous and stupid to think that getting rid of Tendulkar cheaply will give us certain victory over India.

As I said before, they are packed with talent throughout and we'll certainly have to be on top of our game if we are to beat them.

I've heard one or two suggestions that, due to the fact we've not lost too many wickets in our games apart from South Africa, we should start tinkering with the order to give players lower down some batting practise.

I have to say I've never been in favour of that sort of thing. Players who haven't been enjoying much time at the crease in games are getting plenty of net sessions and to start messing about with batting orders at such a vital stage of a major tournament could have disastrous consequences.

Caution was my watchword here against Zimbabwe - but I relished my 57 not out

Tough times

From the time I was called into the World Cup squad I knew that this was going to be a difficult first season for me to be Essex captain.

The World Cup being over here, plus a Test series straight after, means I could be away from the county for a large part of the summer.

This is only a one-off and normally it would be for a far shorter spell while Tests are being played.

All this doesn't make it any easier for me or the players back at Essex when I'm not there.

I'm in close contact with cricket manager Keith Fletcher and my vice-captain Ronnie Irani, and both are doing a great job.

They tell me that we're battling hard and showing good spirit in our matches, but once again we've suffered two defeats in the past week - in the Championship and National League.

Stuart Law hit tons in each innings of our last Championship match, Paul Prichard has been among the runs and Ronnie himself is in decent nick.

However, generally we haven't been getting enough runs and it obviously needs one or two of our senior batsmen to show more responsibility in their game and dig in and get some runs.

We're not getting thrashed the way we were towards the end of last season, but losing still just isn't good enough, and it's only hard work and application that will get us back on the winning trail.

Youngsters such as Ricky Anderson and Tim Walton were in the squad for the game which started at Gloucester yesterday and we're hoping for good things from them both in the future.

I know there are Essex supporters who think that, at a time when the County are not winning, I should be there giving m leadership.

However, I can't be playing for England on a Tuesday at Trent Bridge and then down at Gloucester batting for Essex the next day. I'm afraid it just wouldn't be allowed.

As I said, this year is a one-off and obviously I do worry about the Essex situation and I'm just as determined now as when I took on the captain's job that we show huge improvements this season.

I sprinted for safety

I see that the Australians are getting really upset about the problem of crowds invading the pitch at the end of World Cup games.

I can't say I blame them.To be honest this is something which has built-up over here only over the last six months or so, but it does have its worrying aspects.

Most of the time it's youngsters who run onto the pitch and very often their target is to grab a stump as a souvenir.

I certainly don't think there's usually anything sinister about it. There's no suggestion that anyone is coming on to attack players or anything like that.

More worrying from my point of view is the possibility of a player trying to get off the field tripping over and falling awkwardly. At the very worst for a professional cricketer that could lead to a career-threatening injury.

I know that, as soon as I hit the winning run against Zimbabwe, I just kept going and got back to the pavilion in double quick time.

When I previously carried my bat against Kenya I almost got knocked over accidentally by a youngster as I left the field and that put the wind up me as to what could happen.

It's certainly a worrying situation and I would never advocate fans having to be fenced in at English grounds.

But all the same it is a concern to players, and I'm sure it's a problem uppermost in the minds of the authorities, who will badly want to sort it out.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.