It was fun and games in the heat yesterday, as the second day of the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup got underway in sweltering conditions in Harare and Bloemfontein, and the second day confirmed that it would appear to be a pretty batsman-friendly World Cup. In the three games played so far there have been four centuries, and only one side has been bowled out.
So here’s a wrap-up of games two and three, and some thoughts on the early stage of the competition.
Game 2: Zimbabwe vs Namibia, Harare, day
Zimbabwe got their World Cup campaign off to a good start at Harare, beating Namibia by 86 runs in a rain-affected game. They would have beaten them by a lot more if the rain and the ridiculous Duckworth-Lewis method hadn’t come into play.
Zim lost the toss and Namibia put them in to bat, and it wasn’t long before their inexperienced bowlers were getting pasted all over the ground by Craig Wishart.
After 20 overs the Zimbabweans were 100/0, but soon afterwards a notably uncomfortable Mark Vermeulen went out for 39. Andy Flower came in at three sporting a black armband in solidarity with ”the death of democracy in Zimbabwe”, and smacked 39 off 29 balls before getting out caught behind. He went out with the score on 174/2, which brought brother Grant to the wicket, and from there it went totally pear-shaped for Namibia.
Wishart reached his century with a four, and became the second Zimbabwean (after Andy Flower) to score a century in his first World Cup match. With Grant Flower lofting it all over the park on the other end, Wishart went past the highest score ever by a Zimbabwean in a One Day International — 145 by Andy Flower. He went on to end with 172*, which makes him the leading run-scorer of the first three games of the World Cup, and his partnership with Andy Flower (116* off 117 balls) is a third-wicket partnership record for Zimbabwe.
Somewhere along the way to posting the highest score ever by a Zimbabwean side — 340/2 (their previous best was 325/6 against Kenya in 1998) — Grant Flower got himself a belligerent fifty, but by then everyone was past caring.
When Namibia went in to bat there were storm clouds brewing, and with such a mammoth total to chase the Namibians would have to get a-cracking. But Riaan Walters fished at the first ball of the innings, a wide-ish, harmless delivery outside the off stump — and lost his wicket when Tatenda Taibu took the catch behind the stumps.
To their credit the Namibians didn’t hang their heads, and continued to attempt to hit just about everything, in particular JB Swanepoel, who smashed Heath Streak over his head for six and then almost hit a four to complete an eventful first over. He smacked Streak around a bit more, getting another six and a four, before Streak worked him out with a shorter ball. Burger made 26 off 18 balls in a reasonable World Cup debut, but that was about the highlight of it all for Namibia.
Danie Keulder played well for 27, and opener Stephan Swanepoel got 23, but rain interfered for the first time with the score on 74/2 after 16 overs. After a delay of 50 minutes play resumed, and then fate struck. It began raining after 25 overs and one ball, and play didn’t resume again, giving Zimbabwe the win. If the rain had started two balls earlier the result would have been a draw and Namibia would have got a point in their first ever World Cup match, as a result can only be declared after a minimum of 25 overs have been bowled at the team batting second.
So no dream for Namibia, but a dream start for Zimbabwe, who have already effectively beaten England as well, should the English forfeit their opener in Harare (and quite frankly I’m sick of the whole affair and it’s boring me to tears). I suspect England will play it, despite the frenzy created by The Media yesterday when it was widely and mistakenly reported that the ECB had formally called off the game.
Back to the game, and Namibia will go away shell-shocked from their first ever World Cup game with the promise of far worse to come, while Zimbabwe starts looking like a genuine contender for Super Sixes, despite some shoddy fielding and indifferent bowling. If they can keep up the good form in the batting, however, they could well provide a nervous upset or two at their stomping ground.
Game 3: Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, Bloemfontein, day
This was the big game of the day, particularly for New Zealand, who have forfeited their game against Kenya, and unfortunately nerves got the better of them and they succumbed to an inspired Sri Lankan team. Inspired in the form of Sanath Jayasuriya, who became the third centurion of the World Cup by scoring 120 off 125 balls, and who simply picked up from where he left off in the VB Series in Australia, where he scored two hundreds and a 99.
Having won the toss and elected to field, the Black Caps were forced to watch Jayasuriya at his temperamental best, their bowlers as effective as a troupe of ballerinas, as he hammered them to all parts of the ground on the way to helping his side to a good 272, although it could have been far more if the notoriously unstable middle order had managed to get it together. But the total proved to be 47 runs too many for the Kiwis, whose batting woes of late seem to have followed them here, and the mountain they now have to climb is very arduous indeed.
Although Marvan Atapattu got out cheaply (6), Hashan Tillakeratne and Jayasuriya stayed together for a record second-wicket stand in World Cups for Sri Lanka (170), and by the time Jayasuriya got out in the 34th over the game was all but won, with the total on 193. Tillakeratne hung around and was unbeaten, while Nathan Astle picked up the quick wickets of Jayasuriya, de Silva (12) and Sangakkara (13) on a slow pitch that assisted his gentle pace.
Astle himself was sorely needed for the Kiwi run chase, but ended up a cheap victim of a runout in the very first over. Captain Stephen Fleming followed for 1, and Craig McMillan (3) edged through to the keeper, and when Lou Vincent was caught in the covers leaving New Zealand on 94/5, the task became impossible. Scott Styris was the lone ranger, batting through the innings, but too slowly at first, and with regular wickets falling – and enormous pressure from the four Sri Lankan turners – he found himself staring down almost ten runs to the over going into the final ten.
He went after it in style, scoring his first ever ODI century, and then went on to make it the second highest score ever for a New Zealander in one day cricket in getting 141. But he ran out of partners and time, and the Sri Lankans tightened the screws well with frequent bowling changes from Jayasuriya, not allowing any rythm for the batsmen. Styris was caught in the deep by Chaminda Vaas off Russel Arnold, giving him figures of 3/47, with all the other spinners cashing in as well, and a pair by Pulasthi Gunaratne.
The Sri Lankans looked dangerous — genuine contenders — while you can pretty much write off New Zealand (they can’t lose to West Indies or South Africa now). The Sri Lankans showed that with a good start and a big enough total they can defend pretty efficiently, and now I’m looking forward to seeing them chase.
Tillakeratne proved he can play an anchor role, allowing the hitters to work around him, and Aravinda and Sangakkara have yet to fire, as does Marvan Atapattu. Muralitharan, Aravinda and Jayasuriya play an effective, frustratingly difficult-to-get-away spell in the middle, and Chaminda Vaas is a scrooge with plenty of swing in South African conditions.
I think Sri Lanka will go through with ease on the basis of this performance, and their final game against South Africa is taking ever-greater significance. I’ll be keeping a stern eye on both of their progress in the weeks to come.
Summary
A good day for the batters, who collectively made 941 runs between the two games, but the best bowling results went the way of the spinners on a soft Bloemfontein pitch. The weather affected more runs being scored in Harare, but there wouldn’t have been too many more anyway.
Three hundreds were scored, meaning that between them Jayasuriya, Styris and Wishart scored 40% of all the runs scored on Day 2. Which in turn says that sides are relying on someone to score big, and that someone is doing just that in the form of the above three, and Brian Lara the day before.
So far it’s a World Cup filled with runs, and a number of controversial incidents already, from leniency with wides to incorrect decisions having a huge influence (Jayasuriya was given not out yesterday when he had just 14, and the replays showed that he clearly hit the ball. The game could have had a very different result had the decision gone the rightful way.)
But hey – that’s cricket.
Cheers
The Twelfth Man