Well, what an incredible tournament we have had to date. Just as we thought, there have been some incredible individual performances as well as some stunning results. As I talked about in an earlier article, this relatively new form of the game is going to be very interesting indeed. The relative playing strengths of each side and form in the other forms of the game really mean nothing. All teams have equal chance of beating each other on any given day and this has been born out in the early games.
The big result has obviously been the incredible win by Zimbabwe over tournament favorites, Australia. The boys from Zimbabwe, who in recent times, have really struggled to get results and without Test status, really took it to the Aussies. Through some excellent bowling and fielding, they really made the Australians look very vulnerable. The ensuing run chase stuttered and struggled at times but through the steady head of Taylor, saw his team home in a dramatic last over. The scenes after the match were amazing, with most, if not all the Zim boys running onto the field to congratulate the two not out batsmen, and to soak up the incredible feeling of joy at causing one of the great cricketing upsets. I get the feeling there will be more to come!
Australian captain Ricky Ponting didn’t hold back in the post-match press conference, giving his players a much deserved verbal swipe. It will be interesting to see how the Aussies respond to this defeat. Their next game is an all important clash against the old enemy, England who started their tournament in emphatic style with an excellent win over a pumped up Zimbabwe.
The other matches played to date have been enthralling spectacles, particularly the opening game between hosts South Africa (my favorites for the title) and the West Indies. Once again, Chris Gayle showed us all what incredible talent he possesses. His power hitting was an awesome showing which produced the first century of the tournament. The South African reply was typically belligerent. Is there a more dangerous animal than Herschelle Gibbs when confronted with ten runs an over!
Pakistan and New Zealand have had comfortable wins to start their respective tournaments off in the right manner. Another amazing result occurred when minnows Bangladesh upset the West Indies, who are the first casualties of this 20/20 World Cup. Mohammed Ashraful is a young man really starting to get the rest of the cricket world_s attention.
His innings of 64 off just 43 balls, underpinned his sides successful run chase. Some interesting tactics are starting to evolve. A lot of the teams are choosing to chase totals in this form of the game. It makes sense, in that if there is to be any help for the bowlers, it will be first up and over the shorter time period that the game takes, the pitch conditions should only get better.
Overall, the first salvos of the 20/20 World Cup have been extremely interesting and a successful tournament is in the making.
