There have been some fantastic matches in cricket over the years, Australia's nail biting semi final victory against South Africa in the 99 world cup, England's fightback and ultimate failure against Sri Lanka in the 2007 world cup and the entirety of the 2005 ashes series immediately spring to mind. But little has come close to the match between India and England yesterday.
I mentioned at the start of the tournament that I fully expected India to beat England, but the eternal optimist in me thought that England could upset the odd's and pull off an unexpected victory. Little did I know of the drama that would unfold.
India's batting as expected made England's bowler toil, with the exception of Tim Bresnan, all went for big runs. Jimmy Anderson taking the majority of the punishment going for a 91 runs off 9.5 overs. It is hard to believe that this is the same Jimmy who caused so much trouble and was one of the stand out performers in the recently finished Ashes series. Since the end of that series he has been a shadow of himself. It remains to be seen if Andy Flower has the bottle to drop a clearly out of form player.
India scored 338 runs. A total which included a barely believable 98th century in international cricket for Sachin Tendulkar. That last sentence is worth re-reading, 98 centuries is a remarkable achievement. Sachin will score a few more and whatever total he eventually finishes on is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
So as Strauss and Pietersen took to the field as with all England fans a feeling of impending doom descended upon me. Little did I know. From the moment KP was caught by Patel in the most surreal of circumstances you just knew that it was going to be a game that would have several twists and turns. Bell and Strauss came together in the 16th over with the score at 111/2. The next 26 overs were a joy to behold as England's two premier batsmen scored runs at will, mixing the ability to pick off a boundary an over with sensibly ran singles it looked like it would become a cakewalk for England. But in the space of an hour England somehow managed to contrive to win, lose and ultimately tie the match.
In the 42nd over England took the batting power play needing 59 runs from 42 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Carrying on in the manner they had been batting would have seen them home comfortably. But some bad shot selections coupled with a master class of death bowling by Zaheer Khan saw England stumble to 310/7 with two overs remaining. 29 runs needed from 12 balls, the feeling of impending doom had returned with ardor.
The penultimate over was bowled by Chawla, both Swann and Bresnan managed to hit sixes over cow corner to reduce the deficit to 14 runs until Bresnan was bowled off the final ball of the over trying to repeat the trick. Step forward Ajmal Shahzad, a man who would not of been playing if Stuart Broad had not gone down with a bout of Dehli belly. Shahzad unbelievably smashed his first ball down the ground for 6, a single and a scrambled 2 left England needing 2 off the final ball. Patel managed to get the final ball in the blockhold, Swann slapped a cover drive and scampered through for a single to tie the game.
It's difficult to sum up the emotions I felt, let alone those of the players. England should never of lost this game from a dominating position 10 overs from the end and with 2 overs left there is no way in the world India should have conceded the 28 runs that they did. I'm not entirely sure who will be more disappointed with the final result. One has to say that England in the end got themselves out of jail, showing a determination and belief that has been so sadly lacking in the past. Maybe, just maybe they could go on and win the tournament. But thats a long way off at this stage.
As a friend of mine commented, anyone who thinks cricket is boring should be made to sit down and watch this game.
In other news, Sri Lanka aren't as good as I suspected, although the return of a fully fit Malinga may alter that. Australia are looking annoyingly good (please God, not again), Kenya are possibly the worst team ever to turn up at a world cup, South Africa's lower order are just looking for the chance to choke once more, Pakistan will capitulate in humorous fashion at some stage and the West Indies outside chances left at the same time that Dwayne Bravo's knee gave way.
Whatever happens in the remainder of the tournament it's unlikely to come close to yesterdays match
No comments:
Post a Comment