Until 5 pm, the only cricketers in action yesterday were the Aussies, playing golf at KGC. That spoke volumes for the way the day was turning out to be. Cricket took a backseat as overnight drizzle rendered the Bangabandhu Stadium quite inhospitable. And when our own three-ball, with only Manzoor Ahmed and yours truly under the umbrellas got caught in the rain on the 12th hole, things were looking increasingly dicey. Apprehensions of the match being reduced to a shoot-out raised their ugly heads.
Why a cricket match should be decided by someone trying to knock down an inanimate object boggles the mind somewhat. That's a question that must soon be answered at some point in the near future. A player's skills ought to be pitted against an equally adept opponent, capable either of defending or attacking, and thereby influencing an outcome or a decision.
In the end a semi-final that lived up to its billing did set the pulse racing for a packed house. South Africa raced to 240 in 39 overs. A stuttering start and Darryl Cullinan not being able to carry on from where he left off still saw the Sri Lankans on a right royal chase for the leather. Jacques Kallis, an imposing figure in his own right, make his presence felt with a blitzkrieg hundred. Arjuna Ranatunga used four spinners and Kallis hit them to all parts of the ground and beyond.
Hansie Cronje pattered around, not quite his normal controlled self, making a scratchy 20 odd. Kallis it was who shouldered the innings and posted South Africa's daunting challenge to Arjuna's men. In any match played on a reduced format, fielding is the key to keep matters under control. For some strange reason the Sri Lankans were woefully short of ideas in the field. The slippery outfield could be made the villain, but the Sri Lankans perhaps paid heavily for some shoddy work themselves.
South Africa were faced with worst nightmare staring them in the face, immediately after the innings ended. Remember the 1992 World Cup where they were asked to score 23 runs off one ball, after the calculations were made when the rain came then? It was a shame that after two clinical performances in this tournament whilst batting, Hansie Cronje should be faced with the prospect of being done in by the rules, and not by cricket.
The tournament, which had been going on like clockwork until now, faced its first major hiccup, and this semi-final struggled to remain alive as a cricket match through the major part of the day. The weekend crowd gathered for this match, all 40,000 or more, were a great testimony to the good-natured behaviour of the Bangladeshi cricket lover. Whatever the outcome was, all across the world the images of a patient, expectant multitude willing a cricket match to breathe till late in the night did indeed have its own message. Cricket rules OK, in Dhaka.