Sports
Umpiring is a tough job and Dharmasena struggling to keep pace
Rex Clementine in Galle
Cricket’s finest writer Christopher Martin-Jenkins went onto become the President of MCC. It was he who invited Kumar Sangakkara to deliver the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s and it remains the best annual Home of Cricket speech ever. CMJ had a superb sense of humour to drive home some harsh truths about the sport. His take on umpires was interesting. He once wrote, ‘I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes.’
There’s nothing wrong with Kumar Dharmasena’s eye-sight but he must be the first person to admit that he’s going through his leanest patch as an official. Several of his decisions have come under the spotlight particularly two of those that determined the outcome of two series.
Dinesh Chandimal was on 30 when he nicked Mitchell Starc to the keeper. The only guy who didn’t hear the nick was Dharmasena and of course Chandimal, who tricked the umpire by shaking his head. Australia could have reviewed but they had burned all their reviews just before that and had to bite the bullet.
Chandimal just didn’t stop after scoring a hundred but he went onto get a double ton and while doing so rubbed salt into Aussie wounds. His onslaught of Starc, whom he hit for three sixes out of the ground to reach the milestone was the last straw. You could see the pain in the Aussie faces. They were graceful to shake hands with the batsman for this was Chandimal at his best. Nothing from Starc though. He certainly has an axe to grind with both Chandimal and Dharmasena, the former for not walking and the latter for being incompetent.
Take nothing away from Chandimal though. After the let off he batted superbly and was a treat to watch, particularly that last wicket stand of 49 runs in which Kasun Rajitha contributed zero.
If Sri Lanka were laughing ear to ear in the Australia Test, they were reminded that this game is a great leveler in the next Test match against Pakistan. They were feeling the pinch on this occasion as Dharmasena turned down a leg before wicket shout of Abdullah Shafique. He was on four and went onto score a match winning 160 not out as Pakistan chased down a 342, a new record in Galle.
Shafique’s was an umpire’s call though and Sri Lanka had not much reason to grumble. Anyway Shafique was dropped thrice during his innings. So, Sri Lanka had themselves more than Dharmasena to blame. However, with Dimuth Karunaratne copping an almost similar dismissal in the second innings, you felt that the umpire was lacking consistency.
There were many other decisions that Dharmasena had got wrong. During the four Tests in Galle, four different umpires officiated along with Dharmasena who being the local umpire stood in all four games. Nitin Menon, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough and Marias Erasmus had decent games and Dharmasena’s errors were being exposed badly especially when the other umpire wasn’t getting many decisions wrong. Wonder whether fatigue had taken to Dharmasena?
It’s been a great run for Kumar Dharmasena as an elite panel umpire. He was a banker at HNB when his former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga as Board Chairman fast-tracked him as an international umpire. There was a howl of protest by the umpiring fraternity and the matter went up to Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge. Arjuna stood his ground backing his former team mate. His argument was that in a bid to encourage former Test cricketers into umpiring you had to give them incentives. Fair point.
But when the same Ranatunga, who was in Galle to witness the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka, fears that his man is losing the plot then Mr. Dharmasena will have to do some soul searching.
We all remember West Indies winning the T-20 World Cup in 2016 after Carlos Brathwaite smashed Ben Stokes out of the park in that maniac last over. Not many remember that Dharmasena had saved the Windies thanks to his attention to minute details. That was his highest point in umpiring. The lowest point came three years later at Lord’s when he messed up the final.
All umpires make mistakes but Dharmasena is making them regularly. It’s been a great ride to see him making tremendous progress as one of world’s top umpires. But his recent blunders are too glaring. Umpires like Ruchira Palliyaguru and Ravindra Wimalasiri are waiting on the wings for an opportunity.
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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