Sports
Kusal Mendis has turned a corner
by Rex Clementine
We are very quick to learn from the big brother. Sri Lanka’s first game of this ICC Cricket World Cup in Delhi was played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, named after their former Finance Minister. Sri Lanka’s last game was played in Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium while their next game in Lucknow will be played at Athal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium, both Prime Ministers of India. The final of the World Cup of course will be played in Ahmedabad at Narendra Modi Stadium, the current PM.
MCG was boasting all this while that they could host 110,000 fans for a game. But now Ahmedabad can host 138,000 fans and it is the world’s biggest stadium. Narendra Modi Stadium will be the place to be on the 19th of November, but the chances of us making there are slim.
We have also named Test cricket grounds after two of our former leaders – R. Premadasa and Mahinda Rajapaksa. India by the way has nine grounds named after Jawaharlal Nehru, their first Prime Minister.
Strange that in our part of the world we don’t name cricket grounds after players. India at least has named stands after their former greats. There is Gautam Gambhir Stand, Bishan Singh Bedi Stand and Mohinder Amarnath Stand in Delhi while Hyderabad has Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS Laxman stands. We also should follow suit and name some stands after our greats. At least we should have a stand named after late Gamini Dissanayake if not a ground after him.
Sunil Gavaskar has a stand in his beloved Bombay. But he doesn’t seem to fancy the idea. The reason being that many people in his hometown think that simply because there’s a stand named after him in Wankhede, he gets free tickets for the game. If that’s the plight of Mr. Gavaskar, one of the true greats of the game, imagine the plight of poor reporters who get bombarded with calls during match days requesting for tickets.
Lucknow where Sri Lanka will play Australia and Netherlands is one of India’s new cricket grounds. Some fans are worried that after Sri Lanka’s poor campaign in the World Cup so far, they might struggle in rest of the games and even the Dutch could expose some of the chink of their armour.
Some others claim that the Dutch were not at full strength during the World Cup qualifiers and with five of their players returning from County Cricket, they will be hard to beat. However, Sri Lanka should cruise past them. If the Australia – South Africa game is any indication, the Lucknow venue is not a patch of Delhi or Hyderabad, which were belters. It is more like Madras and there will be some assistance for spin. Sri Lanka should beat the Dutch and could beat the Aussies as well as conditions are expected to suit them.
The biggest plus point in this World Cup has been the form of Kusal Mendis. The stunning knocks that he made against two good bowling attacks gives you the assurance that this World Cup will mark his journey towards becoming one of the greats of the sport.
Kumar Sangakkara’s batting feats are hard to match leave alone breaking them. On Tuesday, Mendis scored the fastest hundred in World Cups by a Sri Lankan off just 65 balls, five deliveries fewer than Sanga.
From his school days there was little doubt that he was going to be the future of Sri Lankan cricket. There has been the occasional stunner but consistency has been missing. Babar Azam and Kusal Mendis are the same age; 28. Babar is averaging 47 in Tests and 57 in ODIs while Kusal’s average is lingering around 30s.
But becoming a father seems to have helped him to settle down. He’s become more responsible now and rash strokes have been cut down drastically and are only played when he is set.Wicketkeeping has probably helped him too as he sees the ball better. He is also contributing to the team by means of setting fields and these are all good signs.
Still a few doubts remain though. Why he didn’t turn up for the national anthem before the start of the game against South Africa in Delhi and was cramps a good enough reason to be away from the whole fielding innings against Pakistan in Hyderabad pose interesting questions. But we should give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future!
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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