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Dileep Premachandran in Antigua
April 3, 2007
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The joy of six
Mickey Arthur wanted a comprehensive victory, but
the fighting Irish ensured that South Africa would have to strain most
sinews for the two points. The target though was reached in the best
possible fashion, with Ashwell Prince slamming a beautiful six over
long-on. Stodgy batsman with few strokes? Those that watch him come
through the ranks in Cape Town would tell you a very different story.
A wide ... or not?
If Niall O'Brien hadn't reached for it, the
umpire wouldn't have had to think twice before calling a leg-side wide. As
it was, Charl Langeveldt was gifted a wicket, with the attempted glance
ballooning off the back of the bat to Herschelle Gibbs. A gimmie if there
ever was one.
Pie thrower of the day
Langeveldt missed out on the
wicket-off-rubbish-ball award though, when Andrew White's run-a-ball 30
ended with him smacking a Graeme Smith full toss straight to midwicket.
Plucked chicken
Those who waited for the Trent Johnston chicken
dance weren't disappointed. It helped that it came after another
absolutely stunning catch, this time an audacious pluck five inches off
the ground after Smith had walloped one straight back at the bowler.
Are you at Lansdowne Road?
After AB de Villiers slashed at a
fairly wide delivery from Boyd Rankin, William Porterfield briefly
resembled a frozen-fingered wing on a bone-chillingly cold March day at
Lansdowne Road. He fumbled, nearly fumbled again, and then held on. Just
as well too. Rankin's not the sort of guy you should be looking to upset.
And the band played on
Despite all the prohibitions and the
restrictions - you have to get permission from the local organising
committee before musical instruments can be brought inside the stadium -
the band never let up throughout the day. What a shame then that it was
mostly soulless plastic seats that made up the audience. The World Cup a
celebration of the Caribbean way of life? About as true as Hitler being a
philanthropist.
Associate editor Dileep Premachandran gave up the joys of studying thermodynamics and strength of materials with a view to following in the footsteps of his literary heroes. Instead, he wound up at the Free Press Journal in Mumbai, writing on sport and politics before Gentleman gave him a column called Replay. A move to MyIndia.com followed, where he teamed up with Sambit Bal, and he arrived at ESPNCricinfo after having also worked for Cricket Talk and total-cricket.com. Sunil Gavaskar and Greg Chappell were his early cricketing heroes, though attempts to emulate their silken touch had hideous results. He considers himself obscenely fortunate to have watched live the two greatest comebacks in sporting history - India against invincible Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001, and Liverpool's inc-RED-ible resurrection in the 2005 Champions' League final. He lives in Bangalore with his wife, who remains astonishingly tolerant of his sporting obsessions.
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