In Sri Lanka there is still the sense of a World Cup waiting to happen. England's crackpot campaign has brought excitement and unpredictability to the tournament every time they have taken the field, but the beneficiaries of that have been crowds in India and Bangladesh. In Colombo they are now aching for their slice of England in the quarter-finals.Sri Lanka are destined for second place in their group after a 112-run victory over New Zealand. The fear lingers that India will contrive to finish third and they will have to travel to face them in Ahmedabad in the last eight under the "India Is Richer So Gets Its Own Way" clause. Their dream is that England will finish third and that Andrew Strauss's band of merry men, viewed almost universally in Colombo as the perfect party opposition, will be heading for a quarter-final in Colombo next Saturday.
Even Sri Lanka's happiest World Cup night so far, as Muttiah Muralitharan hobbled in with a strained hamstring to take four for 25 and make a mockery of New Zealand's hopes of chasing 266, took place in Mumbai and had to be followed on big screens dotted around Colombo, the biggest of them arranged by Yes FM, Sri Lanka's leading English-speaking radio station.
As the crowd at the Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club ground swelled to 7,000 after the week's work was over, Shaq, the channel's head, a man influential enough to get by with just one name, captured the prevailing mood. "We did this for Pakistan and [we] lost. We did it for Australia and the rain made it a big disappointment. We wanted a big night tonight. But next we want England – the entertainers," he said.
It would be an exaggeration to suggest that Murali had a spring in his step after he had suffered a leg injury while batting, but four wickets in the sort of dewy conditions to have Graeme Swann chewing his bowling rag in frustration, suggested that devilry remains in what will be his farewell international tournament. "It is going to be my last World Cup and I want to finish well – it is only a little injury," said Murali.
The group stages of the World Cup in Sri Lanka might have been largely desultory, although perhaps not so desultory as to warrant a Sleeping Dogs rating of four, which is extreme even by Sri Lankan standards, and which could be seen on the boundary edge at a nearby domestic match at Thurstan College.
Mahesh, 12th man for Wattala Antonians, concurred that England would be Sri Lanka's favoured quarter-final opposition. He was probably not a man influential enough to get by on one name, but time was rushing on and spelling the rest would have taken half the night.
"I would rather we played England," he said. "England would be better. No Kevin Pietersen, no [Stuart] Broad, [Paul] Collingwood not in form, only Swann a danger. I think we have a good chance to win."
Sri Lanka's batting nerves against New Zealand had been eased by a judicious century by their captain, Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara dared to take the batting powerplay early, with the match in the balance, and then played well enough to settle it, repeatedly carving Tim Southee through the offside to take Sri Lanka past the figure of 229, the highest successful chase in Mumbai. In the Cricket Club Cafe, a traditional refuge for cricket fans in Colombo, it seemed time to order the Sanga Fish Platter to mark the occasion.
The mood had been more restive early on. It had taken a while before Sri Lanka exerted their superiority. Kiwi commentators spoke of a relaid surface and the fact that the history of low chasing scores no longer mattered; Canada, after all, had scored 261 for nine batting second in losing by 97 runs to New Zealand only five days earlier.
"Spongy pitch," said Sanga's sidekick, Mahela Jayawardene. "Scoring will be difficult." And so it proved. Back in Colombo, as his wickets tally rose and music blared from the Yes FM speakers, Murali's charitable work for the Foundation of Goodness was being promoted on the boundary edge. In Mumbai, though, there was no charity in sight for the Kiwis.
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