Sports
JFK must be spinning in his grave
Rex Clementine in New York
There’s lot of excitement when you travel to the United States for the first time. You wonder what the free world has to offer you. New York is one of the most populated cities in the world. The city’s airport is named after former President John F. Kennedy. He was just 43 when he became President of United States beating incumbent Vice-President Richard Nixon in a closely contested election in 1960.
Kennedy is known for his charisma, compassion, optimism, efficiency and eloquence. The airport named after him is hardly anything but efficient. The flight to New York from Abu Dhabi is a long one. It takes you 15 hours. You intend to clear immigration quickly, but the queue is a long one. There are only four counters to serve passengers. One of those counters is reserved for wheelchair passengers and another one caters to passengers with young children. The rest of us have to go through the remaining two counters. It takes you a long three and half hours. Outrageous. Is it just one off? You ask locals. The answer is JFK airport is lousy. President Kennedy must be spinning in his grave.
Kennedy was a popular President. He was the first Catholic to become US President. His Presidency, however, was short lived; less than three years. His killing arouses suspicion and there are many conspiracy theories. Some believe Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was behind the assassination while some others believe a foreign government had a hand in his killing.
Many accuse Sri Lankan politicians of nepotism. But Kennedy, for all his charisma, served his family well too. He may not have appointed his brother-in-law as the Chairman of America’s national carrier, but he did appoint his brother as the Attorney General. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) is his name. At the time of his appointment, he was only 35 and according to many, lacked experience in practicing law.
RFK himself ran for Presidency. He was on his way to receive the Democratic Party’s nomination for President after beating incumbent President Johnson in some primaries. RFK was quite popular too and would have won the election, but he was murdered in Los Angeles with just five months remaining for the election.
Currently, his son Robert F. Kennedy (jnr) is running for President as an independent candidate.
There’s a few grumblings about Sri Lanka’s travel arrangements and hotel arrangements for this World Cup. They were left stranded in Miami airport for several hours on their way to New York. The flight delay meant that their practice session prior to the game against South Africa was cancelled.
The team hotel in New York is quite a distance too. It takes one hour and 40 minutes and the players had to wake up at 5:30 so that they could be at the venue on time for the game which started at 10:30 in the morning.
Siddarth Monga, a leading cricket writer from India was upset by Sri Lanka’s plight. When Maheesh Theekshana came for the media interaction after the game he questioned about the challenges faced by the team. Theekshana shot back, ‘do you want me to be honest.’ Then he expressed the team’s disappointment. At the end of the briefing, Team Manager Mahinda Halangoda, a balanced man, was quick to tell the press, ‘Look guys, that’s not the reason why we lost.’
Some teams, however, are very lucky. Look at India. They are staying just 15 minutes away from the ground. They played their warm-up game prior to the World Cup in New York and three of their first-round games of the tournament are also in New York. That is quite a deal. India is in a position to dictate terms to the governing body of the game. The perks they enjoy at times are not just cricket. What Sri Lanka can do is to perhaps assess these itineraries when they are presented. Nothing much can be done about delayed flights, but surely, something can be done to avoid long travels on match days.
South Africa now stretched their unbeaten streak against Sri Lanka in ICC events to seven games starting from 2016.
While the loss was a bitter pill to swallow, you can not take anything away from the Proteas. Their planning was exceptional while execution of those plans were flawless.
You always admire the fast-bowling talents from South Africa. Allan Donald maybe the most decorated South Africa quick, but Sri Lankans will forever love Brett Schultz. This Anrich Nortje is another. He’s not young by any means. He’s 30-years-old and injuries have limited his opportunities in the game. But when fully fit, he’s a treat to watch. He hardly bowled a loose ball on Monday’s encounter and accounted for several big wickets. Sri Lankan batters were trying to take him on, but they were only fighting a losing battle.
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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