Super Sunday lived up to its name as we had two good games after the damp squib at Colombo. The South Africa versus England game produced a very thrilling contest as England clinched the game by a small margin of six runs. India beat Ireland by five wickets but it wasn’t without any fight from the Irish. There weren’t too many runs on display today which was good to see after three hundred plus batsmen dominated games.
SOUTH AFRICA VS ENGLAND.
The track at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium has traditionally been a turner. We have seen the spinners do very well on it whenever there has been a game there. That turner produced an absolute cracker as the narrow margin suggests.
England won the toss and batted which was a good decision but when they lost both openers to the left arm spin of Peterson in the first over things looked bad. I had mentioned in the previous post that South Africa should open the bowling with Peterson as Kevin Pietersen is not very comfortable against left arm spinners. I expected the ploy to work against KP but I certainly did not expect Peterson to pick up three top order players in quick succession. I was really happy with the way they got the wicket of Strauss. They had the man at long on and got Peterson to bowl from around the wicket. Had he bowled from over the wicket Strauss would have hit it a lot straighter and got a boundary. Overall, it was a very good bowling performance by the South Africans not to forget Imran Tahir’s clean up job of the tail. There was only one mistake they made as pointed out by commentators. When England were struggling to play spinners at 15 for 3, they got Steyn and Morkel to bowl in tandem. This in a way released the pressure a little bit a Bopara and Trott found it easier to pick up singles.
The England batting struggled on this slow surface and when they got to 171, it looked like South Africa would get it comfortable. The England batting has been performing really well in the tournament and I would call this one an aberration as the track was completely spinner friendly on which Tahir and Peterson made merry. It was good to see the Trott-Bopara partnership as they assessed the situation well and played according to what the South African bowlers sent down at them. Trott once again displayed his consistency but the success of Bopara is something the England team management would be happy about. He was called in to replace Collingwood and has played a very crucial knock. This knock may have just changed England’s fortunes in the tournament as it got them a victory to get back on track.
The South African batting was doing well till about 124 for 3. The wickets then started to fall in a heap and I just could not keep the 2nd ODI of the India-South Africa series earlier this year, out of my mind. The story lines of both games are very similar and it just highlights a small concern for South Africa. Before the game I felt that the South African middle order hasn’t been tested too much in their two previous games. A few wickets here and there would put pressure on them which is what happened. From 124 for 3 they slipped to 127 for 7. On a better wicket they probably would have got home but the England bowlers really tested them. The spinners Yardy and Swann did a good job getting two vital wickets but Broad, Bresnan and Anderson were simply impressive. The pitch was slow but they got the ball to move just a touch which really got them wickets and sealed the game for England. I was particularly impressed with the way Anderson bowled. Coming off three below par performances is always tough and when you have just 171 on the board it becomes even tougher to bowl. He held his nerve and answered those people who felt he should be dropped, including myself. This win may just get England back on track and they may peak at the right time. Their batting has been good and now their bowling seems to come back to form. We may someday talk about the importance of Bopara's knock and Broad's spell. Expect them to do very well from now.
INDIA VS IRELAND.
Just after the toss there were two surprises. Firstly, Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first and secondly, he chose to play the same team that played England. I could still understand his decision to bat second but I couldn’t fathom why he chose to persist with Chawla.
The decision to bowl first was a surprise but in hindsight I felt it was a good one. The track was different from the previous ones at Bangalore as it was dry and assisted the spinners. It also gave India the opportunity to chase against a weaker team which would give them a work out before facing the big sides against whom they may have to chase. Secondly, one really cannot predict a safe score at Bangalore keeping the two previous games in mind. It may have been a different surface but one cannot really predict after you have seen over six hundred plus runs scored on both occasions in the two previous games.
I really couldn’t understand why Dhoni persisted with the same bowling line-up. If Nehra and Ashwin are required to play later in the tournament this was the right time to give them some good match practice. They had to be played in these two games (this one and the one against Netherland at Delhi on 9th) just to test the combination. Yusuf Pathan’s batting may have justified the theory of playing seven batsmen but I still feel the bowling needs to be strengthened a little. If Dhoni wants to persist with this combination then he has to replace Chawla with Ashwin. Piyush Chawla hasn’t looked good in the two games and it would be a better idea to replace him with Ashwin who according to me would be a surprise package. The reason I say this is that he hasn’t been seen by many batsmen in World Cricket. They may have seen him or played him in the IPL or the Champions League but he is yet to be picked by them. He has many variations in his armory which includes the carom ball, the doosra to name a few.
One has to give credit to Ireland despite the loss. The fought hard right till the end which shows their spirit. They may not qualify for the next round but have won the respect of quite a lot of cricket fans. They have put up a very strong case for them to be considered a part of the World Cup if the number of participating teams is reduced the next time.
Not much to write about the game tomorrow as Canada take on Kenya at Delhi. It is difficult to pick a winner but I think Canada can win on their batting strength. Till next time, Cheers.
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