RIYADH/JEDDAH/COLUMBUS, 30 April 2007 — While Australian expatriates were overjoyed at their team’s victory in Saturday’s World Cup 2007 finals, their Sri Lankan counterparts were disappointed over their team’s defeat.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and the islanders residing in the Kingdom conceded they had lost to the world’s most professional team, but expressed their happiness and contentment over their team’s splendid performance despite adverse weather conditions.
“I am delighted that our cricketers played so well that they made every citizen living in the island or abroad proud of their exemplary performance,” President Rajapakse told Arab News in a statement from Barbados. Pledging his government’s support to develop cricketing skills among its citizens, he thanked the team, coach and others who were instrumental in taking the team up to the World Cup finals.
Congratulating the Australian team, the country’s ambassador Ian Biggs said: “We really enjoyed watching the finals of the tournament.” Some 6,000 Australians are residing in the Kingdom and were glued to the TV sets.
Sri Lankan Ambassador A.M.J. Sadiq, currently in the Eastern Province, told Arab News Jeddah office on the phone that his countrymen were hopeful of winning the tournament for the second time in its history. “We were hopeful until the going was good with our opening pair, but once Sanath Jayasuriya got out the tide turned against us. There could have been a fighting chance for us if the Australians had set a lower target, say 240 runs. The delayed start due to rain and bad light toward the end seemed to go against us. However, we don’t want to take credit away from the Australians. They gave a professional display in all departments of the game. On our part, we are proud of our fielding, but we failed in this department on occasions. “He said his team had blundered by retaining their fast bowler, Dilhara Fernando, a tournament failure, and not replacing him with all-rounder Farveez Mahroof for the finals. However, Lasith Malinga bowled well, he added.
Alkhobar-based SriLankan Airlines Manager for Saudi Arabia Mohamed Riza Yusoof said: “We are happy that we reached the finals. We would have definitely loved to have clinched the tournament. If we had batted first, maybe the result would have been in our favor.”
Dr. Muhammad Rafiq, a Jeddah-based physician, said: “We were catching up in the game, but the Australians were too good.”
Across the Kingdom, Sri Lankans watched the match on a wide TV screen provided at their international schools. In Riyadh, the gathering was organized by Sri Lankan Expatriates Society in cooperation with the school authorities.
In Jeddah, Sri Lankan Consul General Masihudeen Inamullah arranged a wide screen display to enable his countrymen watch the match at the consulate premises. A school teacher made an improvised auditorium at her residence to enable neighbors, relatives and friends to watch the game live.
Sam Rasdeen, a chartered accountant in a private establishment, said the Sri Lankan team not only fought against Aussies but also against rain and bad weather and bad light toward the end. Anyway, we played the game well and showed the world that we are a team to reckon with,” Rasdeen said.
Accepting that the better team won the match, Zawfir Ziard, chief operations manager of Unique Choice, blamed Dilhara Fernando for the defeat. “He is neither a good bowler nor a good batsman, and he failed to take a catch. Why was he included when his track record in the tournament was bad. During his bowling spell, he gave away 74 runs including one no-ball and four wides although he took one wicket.
Mohammed Jiffrey of Career Maintenance said Sri Lanka were not bad in the blowing and fielding departments, but Australian Gilchrist was simply the best.”
“I am not sad about the defeat, but I felt sorry for our players who tried their best against trying weather conditions,” 11-year old Shaher Hilmy, a Sri Lankan student at Manarat International School, said, adding that being a tiny island with a small population of 22 million, it was great that the team made its ways to the finals in the World Cup.
Farah Aboosally, a senior student at the Sri Lankan International School, said that if it were not for the efforts of Gilchrist, Sri Lanka would have found an easy access to the championship. “However, it looked funny when the batsmen were asked to face the Australian bowlers during the last three overs when the ball itself was not visible due to bad light .
Ainfer Rizvi, school teacher in a Riyadh international school, said: “We had to lose since Australia was a powerful team. We did our best according to our players’ capability and capacity.” She stressed the team proved that people could reach greater heights through hard work, determination, and perseverance.
The result of the cricket World Cup Final was no surprise, yet the small minority of cricket lovers across the United States was greatly disappointed. “We were hoping that the Sri Lankans would put up a better fight. It even looked promising when Jayasuriya and Kumara Sangakkara were batting. Frankly, I got a little tired of seeing the same team win for the third time,” Zaki an ardent cricket fan in Columbus, Ohio, said.
“I paid $199.95 to watch these matches on pay per view to dish network,” said Rafeya, a very angry die hard cricket fan. “The matches were played in the mornings so I would deliberately not hear about the result. I would come home from work and watch the replays that ended at 3:30 a.m. I gave up precious sleep and hard earned money to watch Ireland beat Pakistan. That is the ultimate insult upon injury. I think 2007 World Cup was an assortment of substandard matches at best. The final match between Sri Lanka and Australia was a summary of that; shortened overs, dark skies, rain interruptions. It was not a good World Cup and it ended dismally.”
Arif, a Bangladeshi student at Ohio State University was overjoyed at his country’s success at the World Cup. “It was one of the best cricketing moments for me. Normally, we support Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka because our team never goes beyond the first round. So it was a great feeling to support your own team. My Indian friends think we played spoilers by getting them out of the tournament. But it was a great feeling to beat a team that had Tendulkar and Dravid in it and also South Africa who at the time were ranked number one. Everyone knew the Australians would win the finals so it was a bit boring and one sided.”
This was 18-year-old Stutti Patel’s first real World Cup. “My parents love cricket because they came from India as adults, I thought cricket was too long and boring. But this year I got into the Indian spirit and watched the Indians. Unfortunately they were a big disappointment. I felt sad at my parents’ disappointment. I even prayed that Bermuda would beat Bangladesh so India could stay in the tournament, but it didn’t happen.”
A lot of Indo-Pakistani fans had bought tickets for the match, but when their countries were out of the tournament, a lot of them canceled their trips. Sabra said that only four of their 11-member group went to Barbados. “They were the four who were going without their wives. I don’t know if they enjoyed cricket or weather, but their wives were happy to have them out of their hair for eleven days.”
World Cup 2007 had its highlights, team India’s 413 against Bermuda was the highest team score in a World Cup match, South Africa’s Herchelle Gibbs’ six sixes in an over against the Netherlands was also a record and so was Adam Gilchrist’s 149 in the finals and Glenn McGrath’s tournament tally of 26 wickets. But this World Cup will unfortunately be best remembered for empty stands, weak performances, the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and the retirements of Inzamam, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and Russell Arnold.
Every one hoped that World Cup 2011 will be more hotly contested and evenly balanced…. “I hope the Aussies will be dethroned,” said Rafeya, “and we won’t have to resort to what great West Indian cricketer Sir Vivian Richards said when asked about the best way to combat the Aussies in 2007 — “Food poisoning.”
— Compiled by Mohammed Rasooldeen, K.S. Ramkumar and Sameen Tahir-Khan
