Now That Was a Cricket Match

Say what you like, Test cricket purists, against the brash young upstart that is Twenty20 cricket, but I dare you to argue that the first round of the Super Eights stage at the ICC World T20 wasn’t an absolute thriller.

The first match, between host Sri Lanka and New Zealand, was a particular gem. It was so close that it had to be decided in a “super over” as the scores were tied at 174 from the allotted 20 overs – only the second draw in World T20 history after the one between India and Pakistan in Durban in 2007, which was decided on a bowl-out (India won.) The super over is cricket’s equivalent of a penalty shoot-out in soccer, and just as nail-biting.

Sri Lanka batted first, scoring 13 runs. When New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum came to the crease, the tension was unbearable. Even Sri Lanka’s wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, of all people, was fluffing his lines, letting the ball squeak through his legs for what could have been crucial byes and then dropping a chance off danger man McCullum.

Luckily for him, Sri Lanka emerged victorious. That was largely thanks to the cool head and hands of Tillakaratne Dilshan who took a priceless catch on the boundary as Guptill went for a match-winning six off Lasith Malinga. New Zealand needed to beat Sri Lanka’s 13-run super over total, but ended with just seven.

As predicted, the games at this tournament have suddenly become a lot tighter now that the first round is out of the way and Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are back home. This is the time for the big boys to play, and there’s not much to choose between them.

As the match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand unfolded, cricketers from the West Indies and England teams sat watching on the sidelines. They were up next in this double-header in Kandy – what a treat for the folks in this hill capital. The second match could hardly live up to its predecessor, but even if it didn’t go down to the wire, there was still the opportunity to see Chris Gayle play.

He didn’t let anyone down, scoring 58 runs off 35 balls. Perhaps surprisingly though, his opening partner Johnson Charles stole the show with his innings of 84 runs from 56 balls. Between them, the West Indies openers scored seven sixes and 16 fours. More thrilling cricket.

Chasing a total of 179, reigning champion England got off to the worst possible start, losing Craig Kieswetter and Luke Wright in the first over. All hope was pretty much lost, until Eoin Morgan came blazing in at number five, with Alex Hales hanging in at number two.

Morgan scored a scintillating 71 runs from just 36 balls, while Hales ended with 68 from 51. The two were at the crease in the final over with 23 runs required – not impossible, but a very, very tall order. It proved too much, as the bowler Marlon Samuels held his nerve to dismiss Hales and leave England 15 runs short.

After the group stages passed by without surprises or upsets, this first day of the Super Eights proved that this tournament is still difficult to call. Whoever wins will need a dose of luck and calm heads at the tensest of moments (good news for India given captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ability to perform under pressure).

Group 2 of the Super Eights stage gets underway in Colombo on Friday, and it is another mouthwatering prospect. Pakistan takes on South Africa followed by India against Australia. It’s still not quite a knockout stage, as the teams have to play everyone else in their group, but a loss puts a team perilously close to the exit. The expressions on the faces of players in Kandy on Thursday show that these teams will be fighting tooth and nail to stay on this T20 rollercoaster ride.