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Sri Lanka through to semis

Saturday, March 15 2003

15 March, Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, East London


Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. For Zimbabwe, the game was academic - apart from the healthy prize money on offer. For Sri Lanka, though, it was a 'must' game as victory would see them through to the semi-final and a date with Australia. Both teams made three changes from their previous game in the tournament - for Sri Lanka, Avishka Gunawardene, Pulasthi Gunaratne and Hashan Tillakaratne came in at the expense of Prabath Nissanka, Jehan Mubarak and Mahela Jayawardene, whereas Zimbabwe chose Travis Friend, Stuart Matsikenyeri and Sean Ervine in place of Alistair Campbell, Dion Ebrahim and Henry Olonga.

Marvan Atapattu got off the mark with a neat turn off his hips down to fine leg and the Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya followed suit one ball later. In his first over, Heath Streak banged the ball in just short of a length but there seemed little evidence of any lateral movement. Andy Blignaut shared the new ball with Streak and likewise the batsmen had little difficulty pushing singles to the mainly short of a length stuff. As soon as Blignaut pitched the ball near Atapattu's legs though, the batsman whipped the ball through midwicket for the first boundary of the match. An over-adjustment the following delivery presented another free hit to the same batsman - this time, Atapattu slashed the ball over point for another four.

Although there appeared little life in the wicket, Blignaut did extract some swing from the conditions and troubled Atapattu with one delivery in particular, the batsman being extremely fortunate not to drag the ball on to his stumps. All in all, it was a very circumspect approach from both Sri Lankan batsmen, so much so that by the end of the 8th over the score had only moved on to 25 and Sanath Jayasuriya had not thrown his bat in familiar fashion. Jayasuriya finally lost patience and in trying to a hook a ball much too close to him was very fortunate to spoon the ball just short of Hondo at mid on. Three balls later, the Sri Lankan skipper finally succeeded in cutting a short ball from Streak to the extra cover boundary.

Blignaut strayed on to Jayasuriya's pads and he needed no second invitation to clip the ball past square leg for four but in general, both batsmen were still struggling to come to terms with the lack of pace in the wicket. It was no surprise when Jayasuriya departed, trying to force the pace. Heath Streak extracted a little movement and ballooning bounce, Jayasuriya (22) tried to drive and only succeeded in edging a simple catch to Tatenda Taibu behind the stumps with the total on 41 in the 13th over.

Avishka Gunawardene got off the mark in streaky fashion, edging a brace through the slips as Streak continued to bowl economically. At the other end, Atapattu clubbed a rare bad ball from Blignaut for four through the covers, and the half century was hoisted in the 14th over courtesy of a pushed single by Gunawardene. Travis Friend came on at the start of the 16th over and the change very nearly brought the fall of the second wicket. Marvan Atapattu edged low and hard to Taibu, but the Zimbabwean spilled a difficult diving catch. Streak gave way to the bustling Douglas Hondo and for the most part, the Zimbabwean bowlers were keeping things extremely tight with both batsmen looking to maintain the scoring in singles.

A wayward over by Hondo helped to accelerate the scoring rate over four runs per over as Atapattu helped himself to a rare four past fine leg. The gentle spin of Grant Flower was introduced at the Snake End in place of Friend, but still the partnership continued to blossom, prompting the fourth bowling change in five overs when Marillier came on at the equally exotically named Buffalo Park Drive end. A short ball from Flower was cut away by Atapattu to bring up the fifty partnership at almost a run a ball as Sri Lanka continued to progress well.

A wristy dab down to third man by Atapattu brought the hundred up in the 24th over as both Sri Lankans continued to make batting look very simple against an innocuous attack, although still the bulk of the scoring was coming in singles. An exception to this was when Douglas Marillier bowled a rank long hop to Gunawardene who clipped the ball through the backward point region and shortly after Marvan Atapattu pushed a single to long off to elevate his personal score to a thoroughly well-constructed fifty. After 28 overs, Sri Lanka had progressed steadily if largely unspectacularly to 120-1.

With the score on 124, the second wicket fell. Marillier held one back a little and Gunawardene (41), in attempting to force the ball through mid on only succeeded in prodding the ball back to the bowler who took a regulation catch. This brought Aravinda de Silva to the wicket, and he immediately survived a loud appeal for caught behind from the first delivery he faced. For the next three overs, both batsmen continued to rotate the strike in singles until Atapattu came down the wicket to Grant Flower and lofted the ball over cover for four.

Immediately following the second drinks break, the Sri Lankans started going about their task with a greater sense of urgency. Two elegant, wristy drives by de Silva through the cover region, the first of which brought up the 150 served as a contrast to Atapattu's more 'correct' style of play. One superb late cut by de Silva for four to a fractionally short delivery from Stuart Matsikenyeri was vintage Aravinda.

With the acceleration, however came the risks - and predictably the fall of third wicket as Aravinda de Silva (25) attempted to steer a ball from new bowler Sean Ervine to third man only to edge the ball to Tatenda Taibu who took a smart catch with the total on 175 in the 41st over. Ervine should have picked up another wicket in his next over, having Kumar Sangakkara put down by Douglas Hondo at deep midwicket. The mistake proved to be expensive as the same batsman drove the next delivery for four through extra cover.

The 200 was raised in the 44th over courtest of a straight drive by Atapattu. Sangakkara was particularly severe on Ervine, clubbing him through the covers then straight back over his head - nearly taking Atapattu with it. Another flashing Sangakkara drive prompted the return of Douglas Hondo. Atapattu, meanwhile, was nudging his way along, giving as much of the strike as possible to his more belligerant teammate.

With the overs running out, Sangakkara (35) was now playing a shot a ball. Unfortunately, one too many went straight to Grant Flower at cover when he attempted to pull a full toss from Heath Streak, the fielder taking an excellent tumbling catch, to reduce Sri Lanka to 227-4. Atapattu crashed the final ball of the over through the covers to elevate his personal contribution to 95.

Russel Arnold (1), promoted up the order in search of a few quick boundaries was undone by an excellent off-cutter by Douglas Hondo, the ball looping straight to the the ever-reliable Grant Flower at cover with the total on 233. Chaminda Vaas clubbed a couple to long on then contrived a fortuitious boundary with an outside edge to third man off the bowling of Heath Streak. As the innings entered its final over, Atapattu wanted two runs to move to his tenth century in one-day internationals. A couple of quick singles and he was there. It had been a flawless 125 ball innings - the perfect sheet anchor role.

The innings ended in comical fashion with the intended final delivery from Douglas Hondo being four wides down the leg side, and then the actual final legitimate delivery being hoiked high in the air by Atapattu only for the otherwise immaculate Taibu to fluff the steepling chance. Chaminda Vaas finished undefeated on 11 from 8 deliveries.

Zimbabwe started their reply positively, Craig Wishart stroking the second ball from Chaminda Vaas through the covers for a boundary. Pulasthi Gunaratne shared the new ball and his gentle loosener was carressed to the extra cover boundary by Doug Marillier. Lackadaisical fielding by Gunaratne at mid on presented another boundary to Wishart and at 16-0 off the first two overs, the Zimbabwean reply was well and truly under way.

A sharp single taken by Marillier enticed a throw at the stumps but again the Sri Lankan fielding was appalling, this time lacklustre backing up failing to prevent four overthrows. Another boundary by Wishart, this time a straight drive past the bowler, was immediately followed by a loud appeal for leg before but unfortunately for Vaas it failed to impress the umpire. A bouncer from Gunaratne was paddled over backward point by Marillier for a further boundary and the scoreboard was simply rattling along.

A clever piece of bowling by Gunaratne produced the downfall of Doug Marillier at the start of the 6th over. The bowler held one back a little, Marillier (19) attempted to hit over the top and Sanath Jayasuriya picked up the far from easy chance running round from mid off with the total on 36. The fallacy of bowling without a slip in the early overs was exposed when Wishart edged a fuller delivery from Vaas for four.

Travis Friend almost departed without scoring when he turned a ball from Vaas straight through the hands of Aravinda de Silva at leg slip. Instead, the batsman profited by having four runs credited to his account. The fifty was posted in the ninth over when an overpitched ball from Vaas was smacked straight past the bowler by Friend and two balls later a lovely whipped drive through midwicket brought the Zimbabwean his second boundary of the over.

With the total on 61-1 after just 10 overs, Sri Lanka turned to the spin of Aravinda de Silva in an attempt to stem the flow of runs, but it was at the other end where the next flurry of excitement occurred. First of all, a bouncer by Gunaratne was cracked through midwicket, but the very next ball Travis Friend (21) departed the scene, comprehensively bowled to leave Zimbabwe on 68-2. Andy Flower, playing his farewell innings for his country immediately opened his account, turning Gunaratne through midwicket for an easy two.

A short ball by Gunaratne to Flower got exactly what it deserved as it thudded into the boundary boards at extra cover, but as well as the occasional boundary it was sensible placement and good running between the wickets which helped Zimbabwe to a relatively comfortable 88-2 at the end of the 15th over. As expected, it was at this point that we had our first sight of Muttiah Muralitheran who immediately started to extract extravagant turn from the hitherto placid surface.

With spin at both ends, gradually Sri Lanka started to put a brake on proceedings, at least as far as the ready flow of boundaries was concerned, but still the singles came. Jayasuriya introduced himself into the attack after just the solitary Murali over, and a single by Wishart to midwicket brought up to 100 in the middle of the 18th over. Murali switched to the Buffalo Park End, but it was Jayasuriya and Nelson who struck, clean bowling Craig Wishart (43) with the total on the dreaded 111.

Grant Flower entered the fray alongside his brother, and after a somewhat subdued start pounced on an overpitched ball from Jayasuriya, stroking it past mid off for the first boundary in ten overs. Aravinda was reintroduced, and from his first ball Andy Flower was fortunate that an uppish prod did not go to hand. At the halfway stage in their reply, Zimbabwe were very well placed on 129-3.

The exclusively spin attack which had operated for the previous hour was interrupted by the recall of Chaminda Vaas, whose previous five overs had been plundered for 41 runs. His return, though, was at the personal cost of a solitary single - just what the captain ordered. The pressure imposed by Vaas had an immediate effect at the other end when Aravinda de Silva rapped Andy Flower (38) on the pad with the total on 140 in the 29th over. It clearly seemed to be bat and pad together, but the vociferous enquiry from bowler and wicket keeper alike was answered in the affirmative. It was a pity that an illustrious international career should end on such a dreadful umpiring decision.

Taibu got off the mark in familiar fashion, a nudged single to deep backward point. Meanwhile, with the asking rate now approaching a run a ball, Grant Flower gave de Silva the charge, hitting him over midwicket for a priceless and all-too-rare boundary. Taibu pushed another single behind square on the off side in order to elevate the score to 150 at the end of the 32nd over. Tatenda Taibu (2) lost his wicket at the start of the following over when he played half-forward to a searing off break from Muralitharan. Pitching a foot outside off stump, it turned sharply and clipped the off bail. At 150-5 and behind the asking rate, Zimbabwe were in big trouble.

Dilhara Fernando was introduced into the attack for the first time, and he struck with just his second delivery. With the total on 151, an innocuous full toss to new batsman Andy Blignaut (1) was driven straight to Aravinda de Silva at short cover. The Zimbabweans had become becalmed in mid-innings, so much so that with 15 overs to go, the asking rate was approaching seven runs per over. Right on cue, Sean Ervine started to show greater urgency, neatly pushing Murali fine for a rare boundary. Grant Flower, too, opened his shoulders in the following over, lofting Dilhara Fernando to the long on boundary.

Grant Flower improvised well by playing a classic reverse sweep off the bowling of Muralitheran, but just as Zimbabwe looked as though they were coming to terms with the task in hand, the seventh wichet fell with the score on 178. Chaminda Vaas was recalled and the left hander immediately nipped one back off the seam to get through Sean Ervine's defence for 12. Heath Streak finally laid bat on ball, pushing a single past the bowler and with just ten overs to go, Zimbabwe required an unlikely 78 to win with just three wickets in hand.

Streak (2) holed out to Marvan Atapattu in the deep after Sanath Jayasuriya brought himself back on at the Buffalo Park Drive End with the total on 181, and two balls later the skipper removed Grant Flower (31) with no addition to the score when he picked up a remarkable diving caught and bowled from a full-blooded straight drive. This brought last man Douglas Hondo to the wicket. For Chaminda Vaas, the target was one more wicket to equal the record in a single World Cup, and Hondo (0) duly became that victim when he was bowled off his pads.

Zimbabwe, finally subsiding to 182 all out had bade farewell to World Cup 2003, and in the process had taken New Zealand with them. For Sri Lanka, the focus turned towards Port Elizabeth next Tuesday and a date with the awesome Australian machine with a place in the final at stake.

Zimbabwe 182 all out (Wishart 43, Jayasuriya 3-30, Gunaratne 2-33, Vaas 2-46)
lost to
Sri Lanka 256-5 innings closed (Atapattu 103*, Streak 2-40)
by 74 runs

Posted by Eddie