Andy Capostagno Cricket
Against all odds, the Mini World Cup in Bangladesh is set to be a huge success and the development committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC) headed up by our own Ali Bacher should pat themselves on the back. Before proceedings began there were questions and worries aplenty.
Why, if it was a development project, were Kenya and Bangladesh not invited? Kenya, after all, have already been granted full one-day international status and Bangladesh are next on the list to be upgraded to full Test status. They are also the hosts. But the quality of the cricket played in the first few days of the tournament suggests that participation for either country would only have produced a demoralising one- sided result, the very thing that an eight-day straight knockout competition can do without.
Even Zimbabwe and New Zealand, the two sides who were compelled to play off for the last quarter-final spot, managed to serve up an encounter that reminded a few of us cynics exactly why most of the watching public regards one- day cricket as the apotheosis of the game.
Across the border in Karachi, the crowds were conspicuous by their absence as Australia strangled their way to a 1-0 Test series win against Pakistan. In Dhaka, a match between two teams who have never played in Bangladesh attracted a delirious mass of humanity, who couldn’t care less that Chris Harris is a half- brother to Zinzan Brooke, but who will carry the memory of his last- ball, match-winning boundary to their graves.
In the poorest nations on earth, sport has the ability to lift the public chin a few inches and in a city such as Dhaka, which was very nearly washed away by monsoons a few months ago, the sight of men in brightly coloured clothes chasing around a bone-hard field must, to the inhabitants, seem slightly surreal.
The weather gods have smiled on Dhaka at exactly the right time, bearing in mind that teams such as England and Zimbabwe, who arrived early to prepare for the tournament, were forbidden the use of the stadium for practice, for fear that the recently sodden outfield would not last out the week.
There were fears also that under- strength teams would cheapen the tournament, but in reality only England and South Africa, of the nine nations participating, can be said to be genuinely under-strength. So it was a happy coincidence that the two should have met in the first quarter-final last Sunday.
It was a match full of interest, with South Africa opting for three spinners, leaving their only genuine new ball practitioners, Steve Elworthy and Makhaya Ntini, in the dressing room. The decision to open the bowling with the off-spin of Symcox was thus forced to an extent and although he picked up an early wicket, some bold strokeplay from Mark Ealham forced Hansie Cronje into a rethink.
A fine spell of medium pace from Jacques Kallis brought South Africa back into the game, but the run-a-ball partnership from Neil Fairbrother and Adam Hollioake took it away again. It is at times like these when Cronje likes to catch the eye of Allan Donald who seldom fails to break, or at least slow down, partnerships. But Donald, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener were all at home and the absence of a genuine strike bowler nearly cost South Africa the game.
Much thought will need to be given to today’s (October 30) semi-final with Sri Lanka, the world champions. The real value of spinners on wickets such as those in Dhaka is to bowl in the second half of the innings when the ball is soft and the batsmen do not get full value for their strokes.
Against Sri Lanka, South Africa should open with Allan Dawson and Elworthy, the latter having the priceless ability to swing the ball away from the right-handers and into the left- handers, a major asset against the phenomenal Sanath Jayasuriya, a batsman who thrives on width outside the off-stump, but who is less fluent than most left-handers off his legs.
But whatever line-up they select, South Africa’s main problem will be that they are up against the best- balanced team in the tournament. Against New Zealand on Tuesday a fit- again Chaminda Vaas bowled beautifully with the new ball and then the spinners, four of them, set to work on choking the Kiwi middle order. A fifth, Aravinda de Silva, was not asked to turn his arm over.
When they batted, a scoreboard reading five for three so upset captain Arjuna Ranatunga, that he compiled 90 not out to win the game. Sri Lanka can play one-day cricket. They laugh at collapses and thrash away.
Under Cronje, South Africa are capable of something similar, although it is achieved somewhat more phlegmatically. It will take a lot of skill and no little luck for Sri Lanka to be beaten, but if it happens the final will be a piece of cake by comparison.