Sports
Australia; a friend indeed
by Rex Clementine
We have been fortunate to witness some of the great fast bowlers on show in our shores in Test match cricket in the last 40 years. Sir Richard Hadlee, Dennis Lillee, Bob Willis, Kapil Dev, Allan Donald and Wasim Akram have all had their moments in our backyard, but no fast bowler has had the impact that Mitchell Starc had when Australia toured here in 2016. On tracks that were tailor-made for spin, Starc took 24 wickets in three Tests, the most by a fast bowler in a Test series in Sri Lanka. It was great to see the man who inspired many young aspiring Sri Lankan fast bowlers appealing to the world to support Sri Lankan communities that are severely affected by the economic crisis. He was joined by one of the modern day greats of the game – Steve Smith.
Australia’s role in supporting Sri Lankan cricket over the last four decades has been outstanding. The 9thMay attack on peaceful protestors at the Galle Face that triggered civil unrest across the nation put Australia’s six week tour of the island in serious doubt. But to the credit of Cricket Australia and the Australian government, they not only sent down the team, but stuck to the original schedule too although many suspected that Colombo’s games will be shifted to outstations.
Tickets to Colombo games on Tuesday and Wednesday went on sale last Saturday and were sold out by 2:30 pm same day, even to the surprise of SLC. Our country has gone through tough times bringing misery to the general public and it is cricket that brings them some solace. Now that Australia have come, there is certainty that the country will not face cricketing isolation and there’s hope for the Asia Cup taking place in August without being shifted to Dubai. That will be a shot in the arm for the economy with the epic India-Pakistan clash bringing fans across the world to Colombo to witness war without bullets.
Australia has been one of Sri Lankan cricket’s greatest allies. Our nation’s application for Test status had been turned down a few times and when Gamini Dissanayake wanted to put out a fresh bid in 1981, he invited Australian Cricket Board bosses Fred Bennett and David Richards for a tour of the island during which they visited and inspected various cricket facilities. Quite impressed by the standard of cricket in the country, particularly at the schools, Bennett assured Australia’s support for Sri Lanka’s bid. The veteran’s cricket acumen was pretty good having dedicated half a century of his life to the sport from the lowest levels at Balmain District to the highest echelons of Jolimont Street.
To show Australia’s solidarity to Sri Lanka’s bid, Kim Hughes’ side played an unofficial Test match in Colombo on their way to England for the 1981 Ashes.
At the ICC meeting in June 1981, Australia, one of the founding members of ICC with veto power, supported Sri Lanka’s bid. England by the way abstained from voting and Sri Lanka’s bid went through.
Once Sri Lanka were in the big league, the opportunities that Australia provided to help the nation develop into a strong force was immense. Local curators were trained down under by Arthur Mailey. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s several Sri Lankan teams played the World Series cricket better known as Benson & Hedges Series and these were welcome breaks. Australia also played a three match Test series against Sri Lanka, a decade before England did so.
Due to the civil unrest in Sri Lanka, there was little cricket played at home between 1987 to 1992. In early 1990s, the cricket board was headed by a Royal-Thomian combination of Ian Pieris and S. Skandakumar. It was to Australia this pair turned to to end Sri Lanka’s cricketing isolation and they readily agreed and Alan Border’s side visited in 1992 and the legend of Shane Warne was born. That paved the way for every cricketing nation to visit the island including West Indies and South Africa who made their inaugural visits to the country in 1993.
When ambitious Ana Punchihewa became the Board President in 1994, he launched a project where he wanted to make the country the best cricket playing nation by the year 2000. His first move was to hire a qualified foreign coach. He asked the Australian board for recommendations and was given several names with special emphasis on one Davenell Frederick Whatmore, the Head Coach of Victoria. Punchihewa grabbed the idea but soon got cold feet after realizing that the Sri Lankan board had a bank balance of Rs. 300,000. Whatmore was going to cost them US$ 100,000 annually.
Alan Crompton, who passed away in April this year was the Chairman of the Australian board at that point and he informed his Sri Lankan counterpart to hire Whatmore and Australia would sort his payment out. It was done subtly. Sri Lanka were set to tour Australia in 1995 and the guarantee fee for the tour had been set as US$ 100,000. The amount was doubled and an advance was paid resulting in Whatmore coming in. The rest as they say is history.
The excellent relationships were soured at one point in 2010 when Australia mooted the idea to nominate former Prime Minister John Howard as the Vice-President of the ICC. The plan was for Howard to go onto become the ICC President. It was a superb initiative as Howard was the most senior world figure ever considered for the role. But the Sri Lankan board put a spoke in the wheel crashing the move. The excuses that SLC were dishing out were lame ones. It is a well kept secret that our cricket bosses were merely a cat’s paw to the powerful BCCI, who feared a world figure at ICC like the plague.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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