Notebook Anxious Zimbabwe wonders if it will qualify Click here for more on this story Posted: Saturday June 12, 1999 04:02 PM   By the end of the India vs. New Zealand match, Alistair Campbell may not have any fingernails left. Craig Prentis/Allsport LONDON (AP) -- Skipper Alistair Campbell faces an "anxious two days" to see if Zimbabwe will advance to the World Cup semifinals for the first time. After qualifying for the second round with maximum points, Zimbabwe slumped to two losses and a tie in its Super Six matches. Zimbabwe is in third place in the standings with five points, one point behind joint leaders Pakistan and South Africa -- both already guaranteed of a semifinal spot. Zimbabwe's entry into the final four now hinges on the outcome of the two remaining Super Six games this weekend: India vs. New Zealand on Saturday and Australia vs. South Africa on Sunday. If New Zealand wins and Australia wins, Zimbabwe will drop to fifth place and be eliminated from the tournament. But if New Zealand loses, the Zimbabweans will be assured of a semifinal place. "I'm going to have an anxious time over the next two days," said Campbell after Zimbabwe crashed to a 148-run loss against Pakistan at The Oval Friday. "But these things happen." "I'll be sitting in front of the television throughout," he said. Zimbabwe came through the preliminary league with impressive wins over India and South Africa but failed to maintain the momentum in its Super Six matches. Campbell would not say if Zimbabwe had earned its place among the top four teams but said: "Well, you've got to keep going ... play games and look for some positive results." Golden-boy tarnished LONDON (AP) -- Australian leg spinner Shane Warne broke his self-imposed media ban Saturday to defend his bowling against growing criticism. Warne, who conceded 104 runs and took a solitary wicket in 15.2 overs against India and Zimbabwe, listed excuses for his figures in a column he wrote for Saturday's The Times newspaper. "The Indians can play spin in their sleep," he said. Warne also said the other leading spin bowlers in the tournament had taken a similar punishment from the Indian batsman. "[Pakistan's] Saqlain Mushtaq went for 67 from 10 overs against them and [Sri Lanka's Muttiah] Muralitharan cost 60. I'm not the only one to suffer," he said. "Against Zimbabwe, I came on in the 10th over after they had made a good start. Stephen Waugh thought I might be able to buy a wicket with only two men in the deep. It was a good gamble, but it didn't come off." Warne wrote that he was happy with is cricket in general throughout the World Cup. "Let's just put my form into context. Even between 1992 and 1996, my golden years, I copped the odd [hard] time in one-day cricket. I know there are more golden years ahead." Twose mental rehearsal NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) -- Mental rehearsal -- such a big part of modern sport -- dominated New Zealand batsman Roger Twose's time on the eve of Saturday's critical Super Six match against India. The problem for Twose though was that all his mental energy wasn't being expended on cricket. Twose, 31, sat a three-hour exam on Friday for a business management paper as part of his degree course at Masse University. New Zealand's team manager John Graham, a former school headmaster, was the invigilator as the left-handed Twose took the test in a Nottingham hotel room. One lucky bird NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) -- New Zealand opener Matthew Horne nearly became the third cricketer at the World Cup to kill a pigeon with a full blooded cover drive during a match Saturday against India. The boisterous crowd fell silent as Horne's shot off Debashish Mohanty knocked out one of the many pigeons pecking on the ground. But the stadium erupted into applause as the bird recovered and flew away. The Indian fielders joined the spectators in applauding the bird as it took off. Two other pigeons were not so lucky during India's match with Australia on June 4 at the Oval in London. One was killed by a throw from the outfield by Australian fielder Paul Reiffel, whose nickname is pigeon, and the other by a blazing shot by Indian batsman Ajay Jadeja. This is not the first time that birds have become cricketing casualty. In 1936, during India's tour of England, Indian medium pacer Jahangir Khan delivered a ball that struck a sparrow in its flight. The sparrow died and Jahangir came to be known as 'cricket's sparrow killer'. The stuffed carcass of the sparrow is on display at the Lord's Museum in London. Khan's son Majid Khan followed his father into test cricket and led Pakistan.   Related information Stories Notebook: Punyesh predictions; seven more for Murali Notebook: Batsmen take Warne apart; Flower power Notebook: Dismissing Klusener, MCC members protest Notebook: Klusener; ticket scalpers Multimedia Click here for the latest audio and video Search our site Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call 1-888-53-CNNSI. Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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