Finals: More of the same

Sports really is a great leveller. It levels not only the players, but of late, fans as well. I’ve often wondered why Bradman never got those four runs, or Tendulkar his Lord’s hundred. Why the Great Sachin got his contrived hundredth hundred against Bangladesh in a losing cause. Why Sri Lanka hasn’t won a final in four attempts is also one of those questions. Then you also have to ask yourself in a similar tenterhook situation why Murali did get that final wicket for 800, and why Arjuna did actually win the World Cup with his motley crew. 

There is some cricketing karma somewhere. And I think teams get what they deserve. It’s been a remarkable achievement to make four finals, and in that regard Sri Lanka have been superb. But reaching those finals has meant that we always paper over the cracks without making a fair assesment of ourselves. Always making an excuse as to why we lost, rather than respecting the opposition. That has changed a little with the Windies beating us yesterday. But rather than point fingers at players who didn’t perform well on the day, we need to look at things objectively. Dispassionately.

In all the finals we’ve been to we have been pretty much thrashed. The gulf between the champions and ourselves has been frightening. And apart from 2007 when we were actually a good team, playing well, we haven’t set the world alight to reach the finals of the last few tournaments. So the first thing to do is accept that we need to improve.

The Sri Lanka team manager put up what I thought was too bombastic a post for Saturday, on the eve of the final, criticising those who had said that we were in a weak group etc etc. Too much, too early. We WERE in a weak group. That doesn’t mean we can’t win the tournament. We beat Zimbabwe comfortably. Got thrashed by South Africa. Tied with New Zealand and beat a fairly hapless England. And West Indies. 

The Pakistan semi final, which I reviewed previously, was purely won on the luck of the coin. I will maintain to my dying day that if we batted second we would have lost that semi. But we didn’t lose the toss, and we won. That doesn’t make us a good team. It makes us a team that had luck on our side on that day. And we need to realise that. And tell the groundsman to prepare a pitch that won’t decide the game. We need players deciding the game. Because luck has this terrible knack of running out.

Even in 2011, our only real win was the superb defeat of New Zealand in India. The semi final against the same opposition (one of the weaker teams in cricket) was impossible to call until the last couple of overs. We did thrash England who play spin as well as our Central Bank manages the economy. But those were two performances. Enough to win and be called world champions? Probably not.

We are flat track bullies. Not even flat track, we are dirt track bullies. And until we realise that we cannot continue in that fashion, these disappointments will remain part of our cricketing legacy. 

Mahela was visibly concerned when he lost the toss yesterday. He could have put pressure on Sammy by perhaps bringing in the weather and saying that D/L means that batting second is best. It would have put some pressure on the Windies to score big. But instead, he betrayed the team’s insecurity by admitting he would have liked to bat first, showing how important a facet that was in this game. 

Sri Lanka bowled well at the top. But a guy who was hitting Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummings a hundred yards two days before, doesn’t suddenly scratch around to Mathews and Kulasekera unless something is upsetting his rhythm. And the ball hitting the splice of the bat more than once in the first couple of overs off a good length was exactly the problem. Akila Dananjaya came on and turned the ball square. Mendis, unnoticed, took 4 for 12. That’s great for Sri Lanka. But it’s poor for cricket, and much poorer for the team batting second. This is why I was very circumspect in my tweets and FB statuses during the game, because things were definitely not as rosy as people imagined them to be.

I’ve been accused of various things, from negativity to unpatriotism. None of which I enjoy. But the truth is the truth, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to be afraid to assess a performance objectively. It’s frustrating though, when nobody ever listens. 

Kapu should have been in the squad. Said so when the squad was announced. But the naysayers held sway and including him would have been a PR disaster for SLC. Real shame. He has the x factor that Samuels had yesterday. 

What of Marlon Samuels? And Chris Gayle? And Pollard, and Sammy? They are big intimidating bastards. That’s all. Marlon didn’t middle all those balls that went for six. I thought several of those wouldn’t have the legs because they went so high. But they cleared the ropes by a distance. We don’t see that sort of power from guys on the subcontinent, except maybe Afridi or Dhoni. We certainly don’t have that hitting power except maybe to some extent Thisara Perera. But he’s not a guy who will do for us what Samuels did yesterday. We don’t have those guys. Because we don’t manufacture them. The Windies are built naturally strong. We aren’t. But as a professional sportsman we should a) either be strengthening or b) preparing pitches that allow our wristy players to time the ball with some precision. We can’t not do both. If we do, we’re screwed. 

It’s going to be a shit day. Which just got a little shitter. 

I’ll review the game in more detail as soon as I can.