Preamble Hello. Group B of this World Cup has provided huge excitement, and has come thrillingly close to justifying the competition format, but Group A has gone precisely as nature (or the ICC) intended.Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand are going to qualify for the quarter-finals, so matches like today's between Australia and Sri Lanka are simply about jockeying for position (finish in the top two and you are likely to avoid India and South Africa in the next round) and finding form ahead of next year's quarter-finals.
This is a rematch of the 2007 World Cup final - when Adam Gilchrist played one of the great forgotten innings - and offers a nice contrast between the muscularity and pace of the Aussies and the wristiness and spin of the Sri Lankans.
Sri Lanka have won the toss and will bat first and win by 44 runs.
Sri Lanka Dilshan, Tharanga, Sangakkara (c/wk), Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Silva, Mathews, Herath, Malinga, Mendis, Muralitharan.
Australia Watson, Haddin (wk), Ponting (c), Clarke, D Hussey, White, Smith, Johnson, Krezja, Lee, Tait.
How are you all? Any good stories from last night? I'm into the whole vicarious rock 'n' roll living at the moment.
1st over: Sri Lanka 2-0 (Tharanga 2, Dilshan 0) The in-form Brett Lee starts with a good over to Upul Tharanga, conceding just a couple past backward point. "I find scary, but also quite risible, the notion that Bangladesh fans stoned the West Indian team bus believing it to be Bangladesh's," says Ravi Nair. "I imagine future headlines: "Jimmy Anderson burnt at the stake as Indian fans mistake him for golden duck Sehwag", and such like. Australia to win this easily methinks. You?" Sri Lanka.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-1 (Dilshan c White b Tait 4) Shaun Tait 1-0 Tillakaratne Dilshan. A feisty little contest between those two lasts just four balls. Dilshan edges Tait's first ball for four, prompting a bit of big boys' language from Tait. Then Dilshan pulls away just as Tait is about to bowl his second delivery, which prompts even more big boys' language from Ricky Ponting and a long chat between Dilshan and the umpire Ian Gould. And then Tait strikes! His fourth ball was full and in the slot outside off stump; Dilshan threw everything at it and edges to second slip.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 7-1 (Tharanga 2, Sangakkara 1) "Let me get in early with the Charlie Sheen quotes before it starts getting crowded," says Shanka Kalyanaraman. "Australia need a #winning strategy to counter the Lankan #tigerblood. You have to #earnyourself these games if you want to #chooseyourvice and win the World Cup."
3rd over: Sri Lanka 19-1 (Tharanga 3, Sangakkara 11) Sangakkara drives Lee through the covers for three, times four down the ground and then whips three through midwicket. He has started beautifully and has 11 from five balls. As ever, so much will depend on him and Mahela Jayawardene. "I suspect OBO might have been here already," says Simon Rogers, "but I don't think enough people in the world are taking the etc out of Mark Nicholas and Shane Warne for this ad." It is a thing of rare comic beauty.
4th over: Sri Lanka 22-1 (Tharanga 4, Sangakkara 13) Tait beats Sangakkara for pace, drawing an inside edge that goes wide of leg stump. Three singles from a lively over. "Crazy Friday nights," begins Ben Dunn. "I shared a bottle of Nero D'Avola, then played Tom and Jerry Top Trumps with the kids, followed by a bit of hide and seek. Later I tried to download some American TV programmes but found them all to be on a mid-season break, so I went to bed. I am Rock and Roll. I may copy and paste this into my Facebook profile to impress all those females I don't actually know but have accepted as friends because their photos are hot."
- The match has been abandoned. Shame really, as the match was shaping up nicely. So both sides now have five points and, barring a never-to-be-forgotten fiasco, are in the quarter-finals. Thanks for your emails; see you at 3am for South Africa v England.
No comments:
Post a Comment