Two matches into this Champions Trophy and we’ve left ourselves with a crucial must-win game today against New Zealand. The win against South Africa – one of the tournament favourites and arguably the best one-day outfit in the world this year – was a superb performance; the defeat against England on Friday night was very frustrating.
We were naturally very happy with how things panned out in the tournament opener. South Africa were tagged the favourites, but we took control very early with a fine start, first by Dilshan and Sanath to get the innings going and then by the brilliant partnership between Dilshan and Sanga, who complemented each other so well.
To be honest, I was surprised South Africa choose to bowl first. We were certainly keen on batting first despite the venue having a history for being a good place to chase. The pitch was dry, looked slow, and with an attack that includes Ajantha, Murali and Lasith chasing was likely to be hard if we posted a solid total. In the end, the conditions suited us perfectly.
There was some debate over when to take the Power Play but after such a good platform the focus was on protecting our early advantage. The danger of taking the batting Power Play early during the middle overs is that it triggers a mini-collapse. It can grab you a stronger hold on the game, but it’s a risk. In this case we were scoring freely anyway so there was no necessity using until late.
We bowled really well to put them under pressure and Ajantha was excellent. Aside from one or two IPL games, it was his first taste of South Africa conditions and he adapted well. I think someone like him enjoys it when the ball skids on. It makes it very difficult for batsmen who are not reading him and for South Africa, who were facing him for the first time, it was a major struggle.
After the win we had our customary team meeting straight after the game to quickly analyse our performance. We’d effectively implemented most of our plans and that was not much to note, except that we were still too loose in the field. We planned for extra fielding practice on Thursday after a welcome day off.
These days after a game there is a lot of attention paid to post-recovery work. We usually have ice baths to wash away the lactic acid from our muscles. This prevents stiffness the next day. Then, the following morning, players will either stretch themselves out in their rooms, go to the gym for a light work-out or go to the masseur to relax your muscles.
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| Thilina Kandamby plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy group match between England and Sri Lanka on September 25, at the Wanderers cricket stadium in Johannesburg. AFP |
It’s also important to relax between matches and the guys disappeared in various directions into the Sandton mall, the huge shopping complex next to the team hotel. Whether watching a film, going shopping, just relaxing in a café or in your room, it is important to switch-off from the cricket to re-charge for the next game. I often play golf but was too tired this time.
We knew the England game would present a different challenge at the Wanderers. If Centurion suited us, Wanderers was tailor-made for England’s seam-focused attack. We expected more pace, bounce and movement and we looked forward to the challenge. We all want to be tested by different conditions and we want to show we have the team to do well now on such pitches.
However, we made a terrible start. England’s new ball bowlers bowled well after winning a useful toss and put us under huge pressure. But it was fantastic to see the middle order respond so well to our precarious position at 17 for 4. Thilan (Samaraweera) showed the adhesive qualities we have come to expect from him and Thilina Kandamby was superb.
Kandamby is growing in confidence all the time and he’s been very impressive. In the last few years he has worked extremely hard on his game and he has matured a great deal. His technique is looking very sound but it is the manner in which he is organising his innings, often under huge pressure, that shows how strong he is mentally.
Angelo (Mathews) is another who has shown a very impressive temperament in the past year and he also played a crucial role lifting us to a defendable total. We’d have liked a few more, perhaps 225 to 240, but considering our early collapse it gave us a good sniff. Unfortunately, despite getting a couple of breakthroughs, we just weren’t able to build up enough pressure on England.
Paul Collingwood was the key man, kick-starting the innings at a time when we were in-charge. One more wicket at that stage and I think we’d have wrapped up the game. But he built up some momentum and then the rest of the English batting showed some grit. We’ll be analysing what went wrong later on Saturday afternoon. With hindsight, we might have done a couple of things differently.However, the key now is focusing on winning against New Zealand. We’ve slipped up and we’ve blown a good chance to book ourselves into the semi-finals. But how you respond to such moments is the key. Good sides have the ability to dig deep and raise their game. I’m confident we’ll learn our lessons and come back strongly.
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