Not much happening. You can imagine my frustration considering Bangladesh and Ireland are playing matches planned for India and Pak. Obviously the crowds have dwindled and the turnout for most of the matches is low. Considering the wise men in the organizing committee hiked up the ticket prices, what to do you expect? Now some players are suggesting ticket "fire sales" so there is a better turnout at the stadium and the matches look a little more interesting than they really are.
The first thriller of the tournament was this match between SL and SA. SL chose to bat first and although their top order stumbled did pretty well to reach 206/6 at the end of the 48th over. Langeveldt then took 3 wickets in the 49th over and ensured there were no heroics by SL in the last couple of overs. Smith and Kallis mocked the SL bowling and were rushing to a win when Murali took 2 wickets in an over to suddenly halt the SA juggernaut. No one expected what was in store though. Malinga came back with the old ball and took 4 wickets in 4 balls. He almost took the 5th wicket with his 5th ball and almost took SL to victory. However, the SA tail enders hung in there for a few more balls and made it home by 1 wicket and 10 balls. Malinga became the first bowler in history to accomplish this feat. Almost all the papers and columnists tagged the SA team as “chokers” and how they almost lost. There is no “almost.” There is a winner and a loser. (Ok, there are draws and ties but then this statement wouldn’t sound that emphatic.) Its funny how this tag has stuck to the SA team. They may have won so many tournaments after they famously choked against Aus in the WC 99 semifinal but the tag stuck. Read “A step closer to burying the choker tag”
There was another thriller – a terrific match between Eng and SL. England finally showed some spine and put up a good fight against SL. SL held their nerve and showed why they are in the running for the championship. It was an interesting contest between Murali and Peitersen. Peitersen played like only he can and tried muscling his way to an English victory. Murali kept his cool and finally got his man. Finally SL made it home by 2 runs.
The first thriller of the tournament was this match between SL and SA. SL chose to bat first and although their top order stumbled did pretty well to reach 206/6 at the end of the 48th over. Langeveldt then took 3 wickets in the 49th over and ensured there were no heroics by SL in the last couple of overs. Smith and Kallis mocked the SL bowling and were rushing to a win when Murali took 2 wickets in an over to suddenly halt the SA juggernaut. No one expected what was in store though. Malinga came back with the old ball and took 4 wickets in 4 balls. He almost took the 5th wicket with his 5th ball and almost took SL to victory. However, the SA tail enders hung in there for a few more balls and made it home by 1 wicket and 10 balls. Malinga became the first bowler in history to accomplish this feat. Almost all the papers and columnists tagged the SA team as “chokers” and how they almost lost. There is no “almost.” There is a winner and a loser. (Ok, there are draws and ties but then this statement wouldn’t sound that emphatic.) Its funny how this tag has stuck to the SA team. They may have won so many tournaments after they famously choked against Aus in the WC 99 semifinal but the tag stuck. Read “A step closer to burying the choker tag”
There was another thriller – a terrific match between Eng and SL. England finally showed some spine and put up a good fight against SL. SL held their nerve and showed why they are in the running for the championship. It was an interesting contest between Murali and Peitersen. Peitersen played like only he can and tried muscling his way to an English victory. Murali kept his cool and finally got his man. Finally SL made it home by 2 runs.
The sad part though is that there were probably 3000 odd fans in the stadium to witness these thrillers.
