South Africa overcame some dubious umpiring decisions to crush the Sri Lankans on Wednesday, but an in-form England could be a different proposition. Neil Manthorpe reports
Neil Manthorp Cricket
For the first time in three weeks, South Africa discovered what it means to be favourites. It means you have to be a lot better, and a lot stronger, than your opponents, not just a bit better. When the question was asked of them on Wednesday, their response was brutal, and Sri Lanka’s fate – with apologies to the squeamish – was as finite as a pigeon being sucked into a jet engine.
Three unfortunate umpiring decisions while batting, one normal, one bad and one very ugly indeed meant no South African cricket team had ever taken to the field with more fire in their bellies, the result of a furious anger that was controlled with discipline to the point of military precision.
Not an ounce of emotion went astray and not a single delivery was wasted in the job of laying waste to the defending champions’ World Cup aspirations this time around. It was as chilling an execution as it is possible to see in one-day cricket. At the halfway point, during the lunch break, Hansie Cronje cleared the dressing room of all but his players and delivered a short but passionate talk. Team manager Goolam Raja, looking stern rather than worried, had just one comment from the dressing room balcony with the team preparing behind him: “We will win this – believe me.”
Shaun Pollock bowled the first over against Sanath Jayasuriya with metronomic control but Jacques Kallis betrayed the team’s adrenalin with a second over vigorous enough in pace to beat Romesh Kaluwitherana four times. He also took longer between deliveries than ever before, revealing the crux of Cronje’s instructions – to treat every ball as though it were the last of the match with the cup depending on it.
In mitigation of the disappointing batting, the toss was worth between 20 and 30 runs on a pitch notorious for lavish seam movement in the morning and easier batting in the afternoon. In such circumstances you need a decent contribution from Lady Luck and not a series of bizarre decisions from the umpires.
Steve Bucknor obviously heard a noise of some sort before raising the finger to Herschelle Gibbs (he missed it by some way), but it was third umpire Ken Palmer who rose to embarrassing prominence with his verdicts against Pollock and Daryll Cullinan.
Any decision that requires eight television replays must be considered doubtful, although there appeared to be no doubt at all to everybody in the press box after just two replays that Pollock had driven the ball from Muttiah Muralitheran into the ground before it ricocheted from Arjuna Ranatunga’s shin into the bowler’s hands. Even the appeal was lukewarm, but Palmer – who was withdrawn from England’s international panel in 1994 because of advancing years – thought otherwise. Weird.
Equally strange was the red light that sent Cullinan on his way. Chaminda Vaas skilfully caught the lofted drive at long off before back-pedalling out of control towards the boundary. Before crossing the rope he threw the ball into the air where it landed back in the field of play. Despite a set of laws to shame every sport ever invented (apart from golf), there remains room for “interpretation” in many of them. Judge for yourself, but rest assured that nine out of 10 umpires would have said “not out”.
Law 32 part (ii) reads: “The catch shall be considered to have been fairly made if: a) the fieldsman is within the field of play throughout the act of making the catch. b) The act of making the catch shall start from the time when the fieldsman first handles the ball and shall end when he both retains complete control of the further disposal of the ball and remains within the field of play.”
If Cullinan had stayed though, perhaps we would not have seen Lance Klusener’s astonishing assault that yet again brought him an unbeaten 50 at better than a run a ball. South African support has been much in evidence at the first two matches and, at both Hove and Northampton, a section of the crowd has chanted “Zulu” at great volume and with great enthusiasm on several occasions.
“I gave a South African guy a ticket because he was desperate to get in,” beamed Klusener after Wednesday’s match. “I saw him revving the crowd up at one point and getting them to chant my name … If he does that again he can have another ticket, and another …” Cronje’s captaincy on Wednesday was as brilliant as it was brave. Yes, risks needed to be taken and yes, the players had to respond to the gambles taken, such as three slips and a 7-2 off-side field, but Cronje still had to take the initiative.
“The captain always looks good when the players perform as they did; it was a case of `over to you, boys’ when I set the field and they responded brilliantly,” Cronje said. So did Cronje, in one of his best days in the one-day job.
So now England, where the Oval will provide a seething backdrop to a game that will probably decide who finishes top of Group A. England are understandably buoyant after two resounding wins and Alec Stewart has done nothing to play down the encounter: “It’ll be like our cup final and I expect to have 17 000 people roaring us on. South Africa have justified their billing as favourites and they’re playing some brilliant cricket at the moment; but so are we and they are only human,” he said on Wednesday.
At the other end of Group A, Zimbabwe’s heart-stopping win over India has left millions of people on the subcontinent praying for a miracle. It is impossible to imagine the grief felt by Indians when their team fails – especially on the big stage – but do not doubt for one moment that hundreds of that country’s population will literally have nothing to live for if they depart the tournament at the first stage, and they will take their own lives. I have even seen that passion first hand, but I cannot comprehend it. While Zimbabweans celebrate they will have no idea of the suffering they caused; and it is best that way.
The facts facing South Africa are simple now. If they beat England, and Zimbabwe, they will be sure to enter the Super Six stage with a maximum haul of six points, whoever qualifies with them. That would leave them needing just one victory out of three Super Six matches to guarantee a semi-final place with eight points. Things are looking good.