As South Africa learned in 1992, 1996 and 1999, the knockout stages of the World Cup allow for no mistakes, no second chances and no coming back. Australia’s barnstorming run through the 2003 tournament will count for absolutely nothing if they lose concentration in the first of the semi-finals against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park today.
Form and recent history suggest that Australia need only remember to set their alarm clocks today to ensure a place in Sunday’s final. For the most part they have looked invincible and when they have wobbled, they have found match-winners from among those not necessarily considered first choice players — Andrew Symonds at the Wanderers and Andy Bichel in successive matches at St George’s Park.
Through the first two rounds of this World Cup Australia have looked the most complete, best organised and most ruthless side in the tournament. They have played some outstanding cricket and even when they have faltered they have had the character and toughness to prevail. They seem the most complete one-day side of recent times, perhaps of all time, and, in truth, only India, who have run into form at the right time, would seem to have a sniff of staying with them.
In other words, wouldn’t it make sense for Sri Lanka to acknowledge the inevitable, offer a concession and allow Australia to go straight to the Wanderers? Perhaps not, and possibly the single most convincing reason for Sanath Jayasuriya’s side to approach the semi-final with at least some hope, if not quite overwhelming confidence, lies in the St George’s Park pitch.
The closest Australia have been run in the tournament was at St George’s Park by England and then New Zealand. After the England game Australian captain Ricky Ponting had a go at the pitch which, in the context of most of the pitches prepared for the tournament, was unusual enough in itself. Ponting’s vice-captain Adam Gilchrist has also had something to say about the pitches to further suggest that Australia feel slightly uncomfortable in Port Elizabeth.
There’s been some consternation behind the scenes with a few hopeful-sounding assurances that it’s being attended to, but it’s hard to believe the surface used for the semi-final will be markedly difference from the relatively slow tracks that Australia have experienced.
One of the myths propagated about one-day cricket is that it be played exclusively on hard, fast pitches that favour batsmen, the rationale being that the customer pays to watch boundary after boundary. This may often be the case, but it’s also true that slow pitches and low-scoring pitches frequently produce tighter, more absorbing contests. And this is what Sri Lanka will be hoping for today.
If the pitch is again slowish, if the wind does blow towards the scoreboard, if Sri Lanka bat first and it dusts up a little in the afternoon, then the 1996 champions may feel a little more confident about their chances.
After starting well, the Sri Lankans have been horribly inconsistent during the tournament, but if conditions suit them, they might prove more doughty opponents than their performance against India at the Wanderers last Monday might suggest. Above all, if there’s some spin in the surface, Sri Lanka are the best equipped team at the World Cup to take advantage of it.
The trump card is obviously Muttiah Muralitharan, but Jayasuriya will also be able to use himself (an injured left thumb didn’t stop him taking three wickets against Zimbabwe on Saturday), Aravinda de Silva and Russell Arnold.
All of which, of course, presupposes that Sri Lanka are able to score enough runs to make a match of it. They’ve been dogged by inconsistency with the ball, with Mahela Jayawardene’s horrible lack of form the most obvious example but in Jayasuriya, De Silva and Marvan Atapattu they have a trio of top order players perfectly capable of winning one-day matches.
Even so, Australia will be odds on favourites to win their 12th straight World Cup match. After the capitulation against India at the Wanderers last week, Sri Lanka’s Australian coach Dav Whatmore was asked how he proposed to lift a well-beaten team’s flagging more. ”The players got themselves into it,” he replied. ”The players will have to get themselves out of it.” Quite.