Sports
Little known World Cup snippets
by Rex Clementine
The Cricket World Cup is just around the corner and the national cricket team has enjoyed both unprecedented success and unexpected lows over the previous 12 editions of the competition. One-time champions, Sri Lanka were also runners-up on two occasions and semi-finalists on one other time.
Their campaigns in 1999, where as defending champions they were knocked out in the first round and the 1987 tournament where they failed to win a single game remain disappointments.
Some records like the Upul Tharanga – T.M. Dilshan partnership for the first wicket worth 282 runs still stands and so do the ten-wicket drubbing that Sri Lanka handed England in the 2011 quarter-final, Chaminda Vaas’ hat-trick in the first three balls in Pietermaritzburg and Kumar Sangakkara’s feat for most dismissals.
These are well documented stories but today we will take a look at some narratives that have hardly received the attention of the public.
The 2015 World Cup schedule was so tough that on one day Sri Lanka were playing in New Zealand and the next day they were in Australia before flying back to New Zealand and then back to Australia again.
Having won their game against Bangladesh at MCG, the team was rushing back to the team hotel to pack their bags to catch an early morning flight to Wellington across the Tasman sea.
Man of the Match T.M. Dilshan attended the press briefing and he was asked how tough it was for his team to constantly travel between the countries while some other teams didn’t have such demanding schedules. The task was made tougher given the strict quarantine laws in both countries.
As Dilshan was about to answer, team manager Michael de Zoysa (bless him), interrupted and said, “I know it’s tough, but we don’t care because we play England next. England is a bye.’
When England batted first and made 309, it looked as if Michael had to eat his words, but his boys made a mockery of the run chase reaching the target with nine wickets and plenty of balls to spare.
During the 1996 World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya had ended the career of a few bowlers – Manoj Prabhakar of India and England’s Richard Illingworth and Dermot Reeve never played again.
India were so obsessed with Jayasuriya that their entire team meeting ahead of the semi-final was how to stop Jayasuriya. In the end, Jayasuriya was dismissed in the third ball, but Aravinda de Silva counterattacked to take the game away from India.
In the finals of that tournament, as Asanka Gurusinghe and Aravinda de Silva were building a nice partnership, a drinks break was coming along and coach Dav Whatmore called up 12th man Ravindra Pushpakumara and wanted some vital information passed onto the two batters. As if Whatmore’s advice weren’t enough, all the senior players too chipped in urging the 12th man to say various things to the two batters.
Pushpa listened attentively but as he walked onto the field he thought for himself the run chase is going so smooth and why would he interrupt it. So, the only thing he said to the batters was, ‘well played aiya’ and returned to the dressing room without passing on any message.
Sir Garry Sobers was Sri Lanka’s coach during the 1983 campaign. The team was training at Headingley and Ashantha de Mel was swinging the ball to deadly effect and not many were able to put bat to ball.
Amused by the batters’ struggle, Sir Garry, who was nearly 50 at that point, asked for a single pad, a pair of gloves and started smashing de Mel all over. He wasn’t even using a bat. He had taken out a stump! The players were marvelling his skills even at that age.
Another West Indies genius Brian Lara was caught behind in the 2003 World Cup encounter in Cape Town, but umpire David Shepherd turned the appeal down. The umpires then told the Sri Lankan fielders that it is Lara and they should know better that he walks if he nicks it.
During the drinks break when the Sri Lankans told Lara what Shepherd had said, he explained how it works. ‘I do walk yes, but I don’t walk when I am the captain maan.’
Sidath Wettimuny in his international career hit only one six. It came in a World Cup fixture against England in 1983 at Taunton. His girlfriend was coming to see the game. Sidath had told her that the moment he spotted her, he will be hitting a six towards her. Ian Botham was bowling and Sidath took a chance and for once the man who put a lot of emphasis on batting with a straight bat didn’t mind taking a chance with a cross batted heave towards mid-wicket. Things people do for love!
The inaugural World Cup in 1975 was a baptism by fire for the new kids on the block. They had been hammered by West Indies by nine wickets and Pakistan by 192 runs but against Australia they put up a far better show.
Chasing 329 to win in 60 overs, Sri Lanka were well placed with Duleep Mendis and Sunil Wettimuny being involved in a decent partnership. Ian Chappell, the Australian captain then called up his main weapon Jeff Thomson and both batters had to retire hurt after being hit by the quickest bowler at that time.
As Mendis was recovering from the nasty blow to his head in a London hospital, a policeman visited him in the ward and asked, ‘Excuse me sir. Do you want to press charges against this Thomson.’
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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