Sports
Almost indispensable KJP
by Rex Clementine
No one is indispensable, it is said. Even Moses after guiding the Israelites for 40 years through the desert couldn’t enter the Promised Land. Justin Langer had won Australia’s first-ever ICC Men’s T-20 World Cup and more importantly the Ashes, but even he could not overstay his welcome. Phil Jackson had won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls but wouldn’t get an extension beyond a certain point. So, no one is indispensable.
However, there comes a time when you are faced with life’s toughest challenges, you have got to fall back on your tried and tested men. The guys who will bail you out invariably. That is exactly what happened at Eden Park on Sunday as we were treated to a thrilling contest in Auckland as Sri Lanka won their first contest on tour.
Sri Lanka had been hopeless in New Zealand. Bowled out for 76 runs to blow away their only hopes of automatic qualification for this year’s showpiece cricketing event in India – the World Cup – it looked as if the team will come back home struggling to beat the Kiwis even once. Kusal Janith Perera returns to the side after shoulder surgery and proves what the team had been lacking.
One of Sri Lanka’s most successful openers in shorter formats of the game, KJP is pushed to number three as Sri Lanka refuse a left-hand – right-hand combination. He walks in to face the second ball of the innings after Pathum Nissanka falls for a first-ball duck and bats so well to give the team a target which the bowlers can defend.
Known as someone who puts bowling to the sword from ball one, KJP was well aware that his team had been facing issues of not batting out the full quote of overs in the 50-over format. So, he didn’t want similar things happening in the T-20 format and changed his style batting through the innings.
KJP’s strike rate of 117 was quite slow by his standards especially when Dhananjaya de Silva maintains a strike rate of 150. But it did the trick for the team as he batted around others rotating the strike well. This is what the ODI team has been lacking and KJP’s return augurs well for the qualifiers.
KJP is a largely misunderstood man. He was in the midst of a crisis after being handed the opening batsman’s role for Sri Lanka’s successful campaign in the ICC World T-20 in 2014. It shouldn’t have been an issue, but a senior had been demoted and had a bone to pick. This was very early in his career, and he began to be a bit of an introvert from there on playing his cards close to his chest, not the ideal thing in a team game.
In and out of the Test side, KJP’s greatest knock came in Durban in 2019 when he starred in the nation’s greatest Test win in history and that set up a historic series win in South Africa. Soon, he was out of the Test side too.
Two years later, he was appointed captain, by default. A host of seniors had been axed and the selectors launched their ill-advised youth policy. KJP was the senior most and ended up doing a job that he never wanted. A contract dispute saw him being in the center of controversy again. Some of his bosses proved to be unforgiving.
KJP had developed a shoulder injury but played through pain during the T-20 World Cup of 2021 in UAE. He was also keeping wickets. You always wonder how costly was that David Warner drop. Would Australia gone onto win the trophy is a question that we can discus until the cows come home. But the fact of the matter is that KJP is better off playing as a specialist batter. How come guys who have years of experience in international cricket fail to understand this is a question that you keep asking constantly.
By end of 2021, his shoulder injury had gone from bad to worse. Eventually, he had to undergo surgery in the UK and was out of action for 18 months. At one point he was in doubt about whether to undergo surgery or not but some sound advice from his childhood hero Sanath Jayasuriya, whom he met accidentally during the funeral of former Board Chairman Vijaya Malalasekara made him rethink. Malalasekara incidentally was instrumental in spotting KJP’s talent and giving him a full scholarship to Royal.
There’s perhaps not much cricket left in KJP, maybe less than five years. But Sri Lankan fans will be hoping that he will be doing more feats like Durban for the team is in desperate need of them.
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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