Premium

This is an archive article published on May 15, 1999

Lanka’s damp begining in the rain

LONDON, May 14: Sure enough, it rained at Lord's to kick off what threatens to be a wet and frustrating World Cup. Maybe as a result, def...

LONDON, May 14: Sure enough, it rained at Lord’s to kick off what threatens to be a wet and frustrating World Cup. Maybe as a result, defending champions Sri Lanka choked and spluttered to 204 in 48.4 overs against the hosts England, being bowled out three balls after an early lunch was taken because of a drizzle.

Barely four overs had been bowled when the players were rushed off the field as though they were wearing see through clothes. Sri Lanka packed seven batsmen to counter England’s four-man seam attack, but the reckless abandon with which they batted when play resumed after a brief break called for twice the number.

Mahanama, vastly underutilised in recent times and eclipsed by the arrivistes, opened with Jayasuriya, suggesting that Sri Lanka were going in for what can best be called a hot-cold opening pair instead of a hot-hot combo. But after weathering the steam of Darren Gough and the waywardness of Ian Austin to put on 40, the orthodox opener got his wires crossed and essayed shot at Mullallyhe wouldn’t want his children to see. Herein, one already began to see the essential difference between the last World Cup and this one. When these two sides last met in the sub-continent, the Lankans smashed English bowlers for 123 in the first 15.

Here they plodded to 54 for two as Gough bowled fast and true, and Alan Mullally, England’s bowling find of the season, made quick inroads with three quick wickets obtained with a testing line and cunning movement. At 65 for 5, Asita D’Silva, a World Bank executive and a Sri Lankan supporter who flew in this morning from Washington, was beginning to wonder if it was worth the $ 600 airticket and the 60 quick match ticket.

But the Sri Lankan skipper, surely the Buddha of cricket, stood benignly amid the ruins, and with the help of wicketkeeper Kalluwitharana, nudged and poked the Lanka innings out of terminal decline.

In a caustic article in a London paper, the Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has twitted Ranatunga, rubbishing his batsmanship and hison-field demeanor. Baloney.

Watching him navigate the Lankan innings under such dicey circumstances, one can easily say the General’s career, now seeing its fifth World Cup, may still outlast Warne’s.

Story continues below this ad

Lord’s is really where the cricketing greats like to showcase their class, but the compactly built Kallu, bold and plebian in his approach, pays no attention to orthodoxy or style. He blasted his way out of trouble, as if he was completely unaware of his teams pitiful plight, with a range of extravagant strokes that scattered the English fieldsmen like startled chitterlings. He may as well have been playing a club game in Colombo instead of a tetchy inaugural game at Lord’s.

He made 50 at almost run a ball and baled Sri Lanka to a more respectable 149 with more than 15 overs to go when the portly Lord Ranatunga, whose amble between the wicket for singles present one of the more delightful sights in cricket, departed unexpectedly with a loose cut shot.The recovery was significant but not substantial.

Sansthe guiding force, Kallu went soon after and the Lanka innings went into disarray. A few bold strokes by the tailenders carried them to 204. But at least Lanka have something to bowl at.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka versus England Group A league match at Lord’s

Story continues below this ad

England won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat first

Sri Lanka

Sanath Jayasuriya c Hick b Mullally 29 (52 balls; 4×4)

(Could not take his bat away from a rising outswinger)

Roshan Mahanama c Hick b Mullally 16 (30b; 2×4)

(Top edged an ungainly hoist, second slip ran back 10-15 yards for the catch)

Marvan Atapattu c Thorpe b Austin 3 (9b)

(Slashed at one outside the off stump)

Hashan Tillekaratne c Stewart b Ealham 0 (12b)

(A faint edge to keeper while trying to leg glance)

Aravinda de Silva c Thorpe b Mullally 0 (6b)

(Leaden footed to an angled outswinger)

Arjuna Ranatunga c Hussain b Ealham 32 (42b; 2×4)

(Cut hard but taken well low down at point)

Romesh Kaluwitharana c Stewart b Mullally 57 (66b;7×4)

(lost patience, casually snicked one moving away to keeper)

Chaminda Vaas not out 12 (27b)

Eric Upashanta c Thorpe b Hollioake 11 (25b; 1×4)

Story continues below this ad

(An uppish on drive in short mid-wicket fielder’s hands)

Pramodya Wickramasinghe c Stewart b Austin 11 (18b;1×4)

(Caught behind while trying to steer to third man)

Muthiah Muralitharan b Gough 12 (8b; 2×4)

(moved inside out for slog over covers but missed a fast, straight yorker)

Extras:(lb 9, w 9, nb 3): 19

Total(all out in 48.4 overs): 204

Fall of wickets:1-42 (Mahanama, 11 overs), 2-50 (Atapattu, 13.1), 3-63 (Jayasuriya, 16.4), 4-63 (Tillekaratne, 17.1), 5-65 (Aravinda, 18.4), 6-149 (Ranatunga, 34 overs), 7-155 (Kalu, 36.5), 8-174 (Upashantha, 43.5), 9-190 (Wickeramasinghe, 47.2)

Bowling:

Gough 8.4-0-50-1

Austin 9-1-25-2

Mullally 10-1-37-4

Ealham 10-0-31-2

Hick 3-0-19-0

Adam Hollioake 6-0-21-0

Flintoff 2-0-12-0

To win England need 205 in 50 overs (4.10 runs per over)