da brdice： The plays of the day in South Africa v Sri Lanka, Super Eights, Guyana, March 28, 2007
Dileep Premachandran in Guyana28-Mar-2007
Lasith Malinga shook South Africa hard with his four wickets in four balls © Getty Images
Where dem hats?
Charl Langeveldt didn’t get his chance, picking upwickets four and five with the last two balls of his spell, while MuttiahMuralitharan was denied by Justin Kemp deflecting one off the pad to shortleg. Lasith Malinga though got it right, even if it was hat-trickinterruptus. Shaun Pollock was cleaned up by a slower ball – by Malinga’sstandards anyway – and Andrew Hall lobbed the last ball of his eighth overto cover. Chaminda Vaas gave up a single to Kallis in the next over, andafter a toe-touch and stretch, Malinga ran in to spear one outside offstump. Kallis went for it, got the edge, and tried to con the umpire bystanding there. No cigar. Hat-trick for Malinga, and it got even better aball later.Anything coach can do
Chamara Silva’s judgement of a run wasn’t quite the best, but few were prepared for what followed. Herschelle Gibbs picked up the ball and started to sprint to the stumps, with Silva onlyslightly quicker to turn than the QE II. Within range, and with Silvacomfortably adrift of the crease, Gibbs dived into the stumps like a rugbywinger over the try-line. Up in the players’ balcony, a fielding coach waswatching. His name? Jonty Rhodes.Oranges are not the only fruit?
You hear of peaches, but it was a Jaffa that Vaas came up with early in the South African innings. Pitched outside the line of off stump, it had AB de Villiers poking forward hesitantly. He never had a chance. The ball jagged back so sharply that it brushed the pad on its way to clipping the top of middle stump.Bring it on
No matter how awry his direction may be at times, Malinga rarely compromises on pace. His thunderbolts were expected to play a major part in Sri Lanka’s campaign, but thus far it hadn’t quite gone to plan. Having already got some tap from Graeme Smith, he hurled one down at88.2 mph. Another foot further, and it might have been the perfect yorker. As it was, it was right in Smith’s hitting zone, and the ball raced to the sightscreen even before Malinga had uncoiled himself from his follow-through.An edge will do
By the time Malinga stepped up for his final over, it was time to bring out the Imodium in the South African dressing room. And seldom will have an outside edge been celebrated quite like it was when Robin Peterson just about managed to get bat to another expressdelivery. The ball streaked to third man and Peterson demolished thestumps at the bowlers’ end in celebration, leaving Sri Lanka to pondertheir own late collapse.
Race ya to the crease: Herschelle Gibbs dives rugby try-style to run out Chamara Silva © AFP
Plastic eyesore
It’s easy for an outsider to watch on TV and passjudgement on the abysmal crowds at some of these World Cup games. This wasthe first match to be played at a new stadium, and a near-full house mighthave been expected. But when the cheapest seats in the house cost US$25(5000 Guyanese dollars) – those on the grassy mound, which was fairly full- and the next lot cost either US$75 or 100, you can’t really blame theaverage Guyanese for staying away. The three big stands were largely hugeswathes of shiny plastic, and if such eyesores are to be avoided, the ICCand the local organisers need to take a long hard look at prices thatwould put a tout to shame. For the record, 5,220 trooped through thegates.Seen and heard
As the wickets tumbled, the few South African in the stands and the media enclosure looked dazed. Cricket’s consummate chokers have crumbled under pressure before, and there was a certain macabre thrill in witnessing the latest episode. Perhaps it was appropriate that a fringe player hit the winning runs, instead of those who have been there and choked that.