I remember watching Brian Lara in the early 1990s and being as captivated as several others were. He had everything; talent, technique and temperament. Bowlers did not know where to land the ball when up against him. He bore the brunt of the expectations of West Indian supporters for a number of years, and I think he did his best. His performances had slipped a bit of late, and I think it was the right time to go.
The spotlight now shifts from the King of the Caribbean to the knockout stage of the competition. I believe Sri Lanka will start today’s semifinal against New Zealand as favorites. Mahela Jayawardene’s team is a band of contributors, all of whom have played their assigned roles to perfection in the tournament so far. Of course, New Zealand’s success can be attributed to precisely the same reason, in that Stephen Fleming’s men do not subscribe to the policy of ‘leaving it to the others.’
But Sri Lanka in my opinion are just a wee bit ahead. They will be helped by the fact that a few members of the side know what it feels to win a World Cup final. New Zealand have been a consistent side since the first World Cup in 1975, but they have never got beyond the semifinals.
The bigger a side, the better it performs in crunch games. Both sides were expected to reach the semifinals in any case. They need to capitalize on every single opportunity offered to them once the match gets under way.
Although New Zealand will be an underdog of sorts, the Sri Lankans will be under greater pressure. Remember, when a cricket team from Asia takes the field, it is much more than eleven opponents that it has to contend with. Cricket fans in this part of the world aren’t particularly known for accepting poor performances philosophically. On the other hand, if New Zealand lose, their supporters will surely be disappointed, but they won’t take too long to move on.
There might well be no need to have a toss. I think New Zealand will prefer to bowl first, for the wicket will be relatively fresh and assist the pacemen in the initial overs.
Shane Bond will be fit and raring to go, and he will welcome the opportunity to bowl first up. New Zealand will aim to strike early and restrict the Lankans to a gettable score. If they manage to do that, then they will be able to adopt a cautious approach against the slow bowlers in the second half.
The wicket will help the slow bowlers later on, which is why Sri Lanka will look to bat first. Jayasuriya and of course Muralitharan will be relied upon to choke the batsmen in the middle overs.
The ‘Murali factor’ will weigh on the minds of the New Zealand batsmen. But it is certainly not impossible to thwart him. During my tenure as coach of the Pakistani team, I told the boys to ensure that they didn’t get out to the off-spinner, and focus instead on survival. It was an elementary logic: It is very, very easy to milk a spinner, regardless of how good or great he is, for 3-4 runs an over in one-day cricket.
If a bowler like Murali finishes with figures of 0-40 instead of say 2-60, it is a tremendous achievement for an opposing side.
The other bowlers are bound to feel the heat if their mainstay fails to strike. Vaas, Malinga and Jayasuriya, to name just three, are competent performers in their own right, but they are human, and will definitely not be in the best frame of mind if Murali does not take wickets.
Both sides have played a lot of cricket against each other. Each team knows what the other is capable of. The team that executes its plans more effectively will come out on top.
