Sri Lanka messed up a great opportunity to humble the world champs with a display of feeble batting that undid all the good work that their underrated bowlers had done in restricting the Aussies to a gettable score. The consensus was that Australia had a distinct advantage after winning the toss and batting first, but Chaminda Vaas who has had a great World Cup gave the early breakthroughs, and with wickets falling at regular intervals, the Aussies were in danger of being bowled out for less than 200.
Andrew Symonds once again showed the maturity in his game by not going for the big shots but playing for the singles and running hard for the twos and threes and looking for the four with orthodox strokes rather than extravagant ones. The first Australian wicket also showed that perhaps we are seeing an Australian side keen to have a change in the image that they have, when Adam Gilchrist ‘walked’ even when the umpire was not sure that he had got a nick onto his pads and had not raised his finger. The reason this is remarkable is because the Aussies are known as hard cricketers, who believe that the umpire is there to make a decision and so hardly ever ‘walk’. Not that they try to mislead the umpire by rubbing some other part of the body to show that the ball struck that part rather than the bat, but it has almost been a tradition in Australia that batsmen don’t ‘walk’ even when they are past a century, nor does a tailender ‘walk’ against the fastest of bowlers.
Jayasuriya got Aravinda on even before expected as the Aussies started to go after Gunaratne. It was a brilliant move, as Aravinda struck immediately with that Gilchrist wicket, but more crucially it was the turn that he got that would have convinced Jayasuriya that it should be spinners all the way. By picking only two seam bowlers, he had already given the signal that the spinners would do for him and they bowled 32 of the fifty overs. Muralitharan and he himself bowled quite superbly, rarely straying, and the slowness of the pitch meant that the Aussies, brought up on pitches where the ball comes onto the bat, were clearly struggling to get the ball away.
Darren Lehmann is another player who plays most of his cricket in England, and who therefore has the patience to wait for the ball to come to him. He played a crucial role in the middle-order, but it was the late finish by Symonds and Bichel that pushed Australia to that psychologically better-looking score. Bichel has grabbed the chance afforded to him by Gillespie’s injury to make a huge contribution to the team, not only with the ball but with the bat as well. In fact, it was his batting that helped Australia win two matches that seemed lost. He is an unfussy player who doesn’t take too much time to settle down and runs fast between the wickets so that his well-set partner can get most of the strike. Then, to crown his efforts, he bowled a tight spell giving only 18 runs in his ten overs. What a contributor he has been to this champion side.
Sri Lanka got off to a brisk start, but the Aussies struck quickly and ensured that in spite of packing the side with batsmen, the Lankans were not able to build partnerships. The run-out of Aravinda was crucial, for the Lankans could have done with his steadying influence at the crease. Brett Lee, who has been bowling fast and furious, did the damage by getting Atapattu and the middle-order, and it really is a surprise that he and Symonds who have been standout performers in this event are nowhere close to being Men of the Tournament. It’s not just the runs scored and wickets taken, but doing so when that’s important, and that certainly does not show in the rankings if these two are not in the frame. They won’t mind that of course, so long as they are able to lift the cup on Sunday, for that they know is the greatest prize and not individual ones.
Arab News Sports 19 March 2003
