Perhaps it is time for the International Cricket Council to think about giving England a bonus for the sterling promotional work they are doing. There have been five great games in the World Cup so far, and England have featured in four of them. "We're definitely doing our bit to advertise the 50-over format," said Andrew Strauss through a wry grin. "But if I'm honest we'd like games to be a little bit less close than they are."He may think that, but the fans could not possibly agree. Australia's supporters, for example, have endured two whitewashes and a washout in these group stages. England are where the action is, and that is surely why 15,000 or so locals came along to the Chidambaram Stadium to cheer them on against South Africa. England, loathed by so many fans in this part of world for so long, are suddenly the neutral's team of choice.
For a long time it looked as though the rollercoaster had come to the end of the run. Graeme Smith admitted after the match that he had been planning to open the bowling with Robin Peterson's spin all week long, and had had him rehearsing the role in practice. He had cooked the scheme up, he said, explicitly for Kevin Pietersen's benefit. Slow-left-armers have got Pietersen out three times in his six innings on this tour so far. What was once just a glitch now seems to have become a major malfunction. But when Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell fell as well, the squealing brakes of the freight trains pulling into the station behind the stadium seemed a pretty apt accompaniment to England's performance. Peterson had only taken as many as three wickets once before in his ODI career, for 42 runs against Pakistan. Now he had three for four.
Ravi Bopara and Jonathan Trott both earned ovations when they each reached 50. Partly, you guess, this was because they had ensured that everyone was going to get some value for their money as much as for them both playing superbly well in the circumstances. The fleeting cheers for a six hit by Bopara, the only one in the match, soon passed in the hot torpor of the late morning, and the device that is supposed to measure the volume of the crowd noise struggled up towards two out of five like the speedo on a knackered rickshaw.
And then England lost six wickets for 36 runs, undoing all that hard graft. "You're not going to defend 170-odd very often," said Strauss. Almost everyone else had come to the same conclusion. There was one exception, a poor deluded member of the Barmy Army who was belting out the chorus to Journey's Don't Stop Believin' from the top tier of the pavilion stand.
By now the heat was so intense that one lady fainted as she climbed the stairs to the top of the stands. The local fans retreated into the shade and gathered around radio sets to follow India's fortunes against Ireland. Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith batted towards their target, troubled a great deal by Swann, but not much by anyone else. Only mad dogs and Englishmen, it seemed, get out in the midday sun.
Seven wickets in hand and just 53 runs needed. The English journalists worked away at the calculations on exactly what the team would need to do to get to the quarter-finals after this defeat, while crows circled overhead looking for scraps of litter and carrion to pick at. "I thought we would be back at the pool by now," said one of the Barmy Army, glancing at his watch.
And then it all changed. The ball began to reverse swing. James Anderson bowled AB de Villiers and JP Duminy in the space of five deliveries, and Faf du Plessis was run out during the over in between. The Barmies burst into brilliant life, roaring away, living every ball along with the team. "Float it up Gardy!" "Great ball KP!" "Bring up the long-on Straussy!" All of a sudden the seats filled up again, and the stadium's catering and security staff took up viewpoints in the stairways and aisles. For a brief while it looked as though Dale Steyn was going to pull off the Heimlich manouevre on his team. No such luck. England showed enormous skill and strength of character to close the match out. And at the end, their fans were swapping high-fives and hugs with the Indians, revelling in the adrenaline rush of another absurd denouement. Don't Stop Believin' indeed.
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