We have witnessed the completion of the second week of the world cup and seen something like 16 matches, and already ‘the cup that counts has lived up to its expectations. Run chases of 300 plus, minnows challenging and even toppling the Test Nations, and to cap it all a tied game involving a host nation. What more could you ask for a start of a Cricket World Cup?
 For me and for all Sri Lankans it was a disappointment losing to Pakistan last Saturday. I thought we did reasonably well to restrict the Pakistanis to around 277 after they got off to a good start. Our spinners Muralitharan and Rangana Herath bowled extremely well to give away just 81 runs between their twenty overs.
More often than not our spinners have done this for us and this has been one of our strengths in the Limited over game. Unfortunately our opening bowlers on that day Nuwan Kulasekera and Thisara Perera were not up to the mark giving away 126 runs in 19 overs. Furthermore the duo was also unable to get an early breakthrough and put the pressure on the top order batsmen- an element that is very important in one day cricket today. This allowed the Pakistanis to freely accumulate runs at the beginning of the innings.
Chasing 277 was not going to be an easy task and it needed a long innings from at least one of our top order batsman. Upul Tharanga appeared to be gearing up for that role before he mistimed a drive to be snapped up at extra cover. Tharanga should look up to the England Captain Andrew Strauss and the manner he accumulates his runs. Strauss hardly plays a slog shot despite batting while the power play is on. Instead he picks the gaps, relies on timing and judiciously accumulates his runs at a surprisingly healthy strike rate. Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar is no different.
Both Tendulkar and Strauss hit run a ball centuries that laid the foundation for healthy totals. The England captain was not in the Limited over’s team about two years ago. However today, Strauss has demonstrated that to be successful in one day cricket you need not make an attempt to constantly hit over the top or slog your way right from the word go. It’s a case of picking the gaps, timing and planning out your innings. The roles played by Strauss and Tendulkar should be an eye opener for our batsman especially the openers Tharanga and Dilshan.
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| Mahela walking back to the pavillion... bowled by an Akthar ‘snorter’. |
Chamara Silva top scored for us but appeared to consume a lot of deliveries in the initial stages. When he walked in Sri Lanka had lost three wickets and had their backs to the wall. There was a need for consolidating the innings in order to ensure that the home team stays in contention. Consolidation was done but the time taken or the deliveries used up were on the high side. In situations like this you need to constantly rotate the strike by picking up the singles.
It may be a prudent move to push Angelo Matthews up the order to number five as he appears to be striking the ball well and also has the ability to rotate the strikes. At a time when the opposition attempts to dry up the runs you need batsman who have a range of shots and who have a cool head to keep the scoreboard ticking. Angelo has both these traits and should be the ideal foil for such situations.
I was indeed shocked to hear the stories about Mahela Jayewardene and Thilan Samaraweera regarding their dismissals. Having shared the dressing room with Mahela and Thilan for years I can always stand by their honesty and integrity at all times. Mahela got a peach of delivery from Shoaib Akhtar which was bowled at over 145 km/per hour. It is a shot that Mahela generally plays with ease, however due to the sheer pace Mahela was undone. Mahela is very strong character. He has matured as a cricketer and is experienced enough to shed all this talk and concentrate on the task ahead. He needs to be at his best physically as well as mentally if Sri Lanka is to go the distance in this World Cup.
It was only a matter of time before Lasith Malinga returned to action and made his mark at the World Cup. The Cricket World may have seen Malinga’s slinging yorkers before but I do not think that anyone would have seen Malinga bowl so many yorkers one after the other that was effective. The Kenyan batsmen were clueless but in my opinion I think some of the best batsman in World Cricket today would have experienced similar problems.
A hat-trick in any form of cricket is commendable. To get it on a World Cup Stage is great. To repeat the feat in consecutive World Cups is incredible and something that could be performed only through exceptional talent. I remember the WC 2003 when I picked up a hat-trick in South Africa against Bangladesh. It was an awesome feeling and I still cherish that moment when Mahela held on to the catch at slips to complete my hat-trick. Malinga has done a lot of work in the past to master this delivery and today he is reaping the rewards.
It is nice to note that Sangakkara is making use of Malinga in the most appropriate manner-using him in short spells. Against stronger oppositions Malinga is certain to bowl when the batting power play is taken. Between these short spells Malinga will also be very useful with the old ball as he has the ability to reverse swing. Skipper Sangakkara is fully aware of Malinga’s armory and it will be an interesting battle when some of the better known batsmen face up to Malinga.
Last week I commented on the sides batting second and their ability to score over 300 runs and win. It’s heartening to note and nice to watch teams chasing over 300 runs and where 100 over’s is producing over 650 runs. The England –India clash produced just that after the host set the Englishman 338 runs to win. I thought Strauss stroked a magnificent century to set up the run chase. Full credit go to the England captain for a very courageous and sensible innings.
At the same time I must stress the fact however that Strauss made a terrible mistake when he called for the batting power play when England were scoring at nearly 6-7 runs an over at a time when the required run rate was lower. The power play produced just 25 runs and saw three wickets fall which eventually forced England to settle for a draw. As I mentioned last week Captains need to assess the situations very well before calling for the batting power play as otherwise it could prove detrimental to the batting side. |
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