Sri Lanka has beaten New Zealand to take a place in the ICC World Cup final. But the Black Caps put up a creditable, if futile fight.
Once again, the New Zealanders simply did not make enough runs batting first, after a late-innings collapse. 217 was never going to be enough against a strong Sri Lankan batting lineup. So it seemd when Sri Lanka was 160 for one. But the Black Caps fought back, dismissing Dilshan, Jayawardena, Sangakarra and Silva in quick succession leaving Sri Lanka at 185 for five. Try as they might, they couldn't get the one more breakthrough that would have exposed the Sri Lankan tail.
We expected little of the Black Caps at this World Cup, but in the end they should take some pride from their achievements, especially the win against South Africa in the quarter-final. Simon Doull sums it up well; "On the day they just weren't good enough". They were beaten by a better side today, but not before they had caused a few heart flutters to the Sri Lankan players and their adoring fans. Sri Lanka is a deserving finalist.
This match also marks the end of Daniel Vettori's tenure as captain of New Zealand. We'll cover that off at a later date. It may also mean the end of the road for players like Scott Styris and Jacob Oram; time will tell. For now though, they can leave the World Cup beaten but unbowed, and having gone down fighting. As we said yesterday, that's all that we could ask for.
8 comments:
The game was lost on two counts:
1. As always not enough runs - probable 30 short and ideally another 50 after being well placed at the 37 over mark when I had to leave for my eye appt.
2. An inexplicable bowling change. Oram and McKay were strangling Sri Lanka and each had 2 overs to bowl when Ryder was brought into the attack.
Why why why - Dumb dumb dumb
Well having watched both my teams exit to the Sri Lankans, all I can say is that if I never see the abomination that is Malinga's bowling action ever again, it will be too soon.
Quite so James; the ICC might have legislated away the issue of chucking with its absurd 15* rule (the Murali Clause), but Malinga's bowling is dodginess personified. Those low-flying missiles delivered from somewhere around the umpire's chest are nigh-on unplayable.
I don't care how unplayable or not the deliveries are. I'd outlaw it just because of how ugly it looks...it's an offence against good taste to record his figures in Wisden alongside Holding, Khan, Hadlee, Trueman..
JS - I am not sure Imran Khan was the epitome of gracefulness but you could add Lindwall, Statham and Waqar Younis to your list.
pdm @ 07 38, I think it was a calculated gamble as Jake,Andy and Tim were going to finish at 48 Dan threw a curler in hope, rather than face a combination of the Batting PP and two slower bowlers. Piggy had gone at 6 for his two. That said the outcome did look dumb.
I have previously staked a position on the Muriliduran rule as what ever causes his bent arm action it is a retrograde step to legislate to accommodate his undoubted enhancement with the whip action that he achieves. Yes he passed the "tests" and evaluations under the biomechanical assessment but although he is not as lethal as he has aged many of the wicket balls of his career seemed to involve exagerated bending of the arm as it went through the epogee of the delivery rotation. He will always be just another chucker in my book and I wonder if he had been a skinny little ginga from Sydney, slaughtering the batsmen of the sub continent, would the outcome been the same.
As for Malinga IMHO they need a black ball and the Umps to wear a white coat. I know Guppy's backlift made his chances of defending the 'scud missle' that got him were diminished by his elevated backlift but it was a doosey. Tait, Johnston, and Aktar can all come from the Umps chest over the wicket, Tremblet would be above many sight-screens. Have we come to the point where the bowler stays behind the batting crease, a rule that would remove the pitch damage that is such a problem with the spinners.
With S L losing those wickets in the 160s it seemed for a while the impossible dream would go another round but it wasn't to be, do we now root for S L so we could claim the kudos from being beaten by the winner or more likely catch some of sleep that has been sadly missed lately.
ps it would appear that the shining wit from Riverton has little interest in sport or he would have cocked his leg on this post as well and somehow kicked John Key and/or Bill English for some unrelated facet of the meritorious loss.
I didn't know English and Key were playing but that certainly explains the loss :-)
GD - it was a poor call. If they could have strangled the batsmen for four more overs and got the run rate to 8, 10 or 12 for the last for overs they might have had a sniff.
A poor decision.
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