User:Prasad.swaminathan

Mate, the contest is all but over (Written before the Finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup)

The first couple of overs by “Thrill-a-minute” Malinga to Peter Fulton & Ross Taylor sufficiently indicated of a Sri Lankan win in the first semifinal of the dreary 2007 ICC World Cup – which indeed happened in due course. Poor blokes Fulton and Taylor had no clue on the origin or trajectory of the ball. All they knew was that the ball was whizzing past their blade every now and then and all they could manage was a wry grin after each delivery as if to indicate: Mate, the contest is all but over. The subsequent hurried parade of the Kiwis to the pavilion – undone by the accuracy of Vass and wiliness of Muralitharan in addition to Malinga’s ego-bruising spell – was all but a formality to complete the rout.

This is not the first time the Kiwis have been blatantly clueless to genuine fast-swing bowling. In fact, only recently, they had a dose of the hostility showered by Malinga and his friends in a 2-Test and 5-ODI bilateral series just prior to the World Cup in which no quarter was given by either side and everything was equally shared. Much before that, a few years back, Mohamed Sami of Pakistan burst into the scene with a 5-wicket haul – attained mostly through clean bowleds and LBWs – during a bilateral series in New Zealand. And if I remember correctly, all the Kiwi batsmen were batting on one leg while lifting their other allowing Sami’s fast canons to wreck the woodwork behind them. How Sami has all but forgotten his guiles now is altogether a sad story.

Coming back to the 2007 World Cup Semifinal, the Sri Lankan innings was a classic demonstration on the value of old-fashioned one-day batting – that of getting your feet in before putting on the skates for a manic dash at the end. All the dashers and bashers of pyjama cricket need to take a bow before Mahela for his scholarly lesson on the art of building an innings, perfect reading of the much-hyped pitch conditions, careful assessment of the match situation and the importance of putting a heavy price on your wicket.

Of course, Sri Lanka had the Lady Luck smiling on them after a dreadful swipe by Jayasuriya threatened to open the sluice gates of their batting order. Upul Tharanga was the main benefactor with many of his ungainly shots fetching him rich dividends when Kumara Sangakarra was still struggling to put wood on leather. Sri Lanka struggled past those difficult times with Mahela’s cool-headedness and Tharanga’s fluky efforts. Of course, Mahela in the company of Chamara Silva and Dilshan – both undone by shameful umpiring decisions made by those touted to be best in the business – launched a calculated assault to post a formidable total, which took away the zip and spirit of the Kiwis already drained by the searing barometer.

Then came the outburst from Malinga and company, which simply blew the Kiwis to smithereens while driving the Lankan Lions into another World Cup final, which in all probability is likely to be a repeat of the 1996 Lahore summit clash. Already there is a sense of déjà vu as the Lankan flair is pitted against the Aussie juggernaut.