365WCX_1999MAY14

************** CRICINFO365 WORLD CUP EXTRA **************

Friday, May 14, 1999. World Cup Edition No.1

Welcome to this, the very first edition of CricInfo365 World Cup Extra. CricInfo365 World Cup Extra will provide scores and summaries of the latest games, and breaking news from the tournament. CricInfo365 World Cup Extra will complement the regular edition of CricInfo365 and will be emailed to you on each and every day that World Cup matches are played, within hours of close of play.

We hope you enjoy the additional, World Cup focused coverage that it provides.

IN THIS EDITION:

* The World Cup begins * Match Report: England v Sri Lanka * Muralitharan takes a hiding * Quick Singles: brief news from today's play * Quotes * Full scorecard * Tomorrow's fixtures * What's on CricInfo

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THE WORLD CUP BEGINS

Finally, the wait is over. A little over three years after Sri Lanka's memorable victory over Australia on a steamy night in Lahore, the seventh World Cup began this morning at Lord's in London. Under the same grey skies that have occluded many of the somewhat ironically named warm-up matches during the last week, England and Sri Lanka opened the tournament in front of a packed house at the spiritual home of cricket.

The tournament organisers were believed to be deliberately seeking a less grandiose opening to the tournament than the exuberant display of 1996, and the opening ceremony was certainly low key.

Amidst a spectacular but, set against a cloudy sky, almost invisible opening fireworks ceremony, the flags of the 12 participating nations were unfurled and Prime Minister Tony Blair opened the 1999 World Cup while a flurry of multicoloured balloons were released into a brooding sky. It was an inauspicious start.

However moments later, the English fieldsmen and Sri Lankan batsmen walked onto the field, and the seventh World Cup was underway. The game itself turned out to be a slightly disappointing affair as England won at a canter, but one that nevertheless served to showcase some of the entertaining batting, bowling and fielding that fans the world over have been waiting for.

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ENGLAND v SRI LANKA, LORD'S - Group A

By John Houlihan

England beat defending champions Sri Lanka by a massive eight wickets in the curtain raiser to the 1999 carnival of cricket. Putting Sri Lanka into bat, England bowled the defending champions out for 204 with Allan Mullally the pick of the attack as he picked up four vital wickets. England then cruised to a comfortable victory on the back of 88 from skipper Stewart and an impressive unbeaten from 73 Graeme Hick.

Alec Stewart got his first decision of the day right and won what proved to be a significant toss, inviting Sri Lanka to bat. With Sanath Jayasuriya and surprise choice Roshan Mahanama opening the innings, Darren Gough began proceedings from the Pavilion end and 1999's carnival of cricket began with something of an inauspicious start with a no-ball first up.

Both England opening bowlers troubled the Sri Lankan batsman early on as one would expect in conditions conducive to seam bowling, but they were also unnecessarily profligate. With just 4.5 overs gone, the worst case scenario for the tournament came true and the heavens suddenly opened and the players left the field to await a break in the weather.

When play restarted Gough and Austin continued to carry the English attack and Gough in particular looked in prime form. Initially at least, the Sri Lankans tempered their approach to batting in English conditions and were content to pick of the singles early on.

In the seventh over Mahanama went over the top for the first time, pulling Austin through midwicket and then over backward point for two well struck boundaries. Jayasuriya produced a flowing cover drive off Gough in the eighth and after a reasonably cautious start, the Sri Lankans appeared to be opening up and starting to play their naturally aggressive game.

This prompted a change in the attack with left-armer Alan Mullally replacing Gough from the Pavilion end and with the final ball of his first over Mullally struck, inducing a rash stroke from Mahanama who top edged a skier which Hick gratefully ran round to collect from slip to collect, to the immense relief of the England supporters in the crowd.

Mullally continued to bowl well and induced an edge from Jayasuriya which grazed Hick's fingertips, but it was Lancashire stalwart Ian Austin who made the next breakthrough when he had the dangerous Marvan Attapatu caught by Hick with the score on 50. Hick appeared to be something of a ball magnet and Mullally was well into his stride when he snared the dangerous Jayasuriya with Hick the main man again as the opener perished for 29, leaving the Sri Lankans in a precarious position at 63-3. All rounder Mark Ealham eventually replaced Austin from the media stand end and proved himself something of a golden arm, having Tillekeratne caught by Stewart for 0 with his very first ball.

Sri Lanka's hopes lay with the talented Aravinda de Silva and hugely experienced skipper Arjuna Ranatunga. England continued to exert pressure with a packed slip cordon and Mullally bowled a tight line and could apparently do no wrong, picking up his third wicket of the innings as he had Aravinda de Silva caught by Thorpe at slip, with the score on 65-5.

Keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana came out and made a bright start, and played some fluent, forceful strokes which at last gave the visiting Sri Lankan supporters something to cheer. With bright sunshine bathing the ground, the sixth wicket partnership launched a ferocious counter-attack against the English bowlers. Kalu rapidly progressed to a well deserved half-century with a quick single off Ealham in the 32nd over. The keeper inning's was full of attractive strokes and included 7 fours from only 52 balls and with Ranatunga hitting the first six of the tournament with a straight drive over mid-off from Hick the pair's quick fire scoring threatened to wrest the initiative from England.

Kaluwitharana and Ranatunga had put on 84 for the sixth wicket, completely altering the balance of the game and when Mark Ealham struck, having Ranatunga snapped up by a sensational diving catch from Nasser Hussain at point, his dismissal brought a huge wave of approval from the increasingly nervous English crowd. Alan Mullally was re-introduced to the attack and immediately troubled new arrival Chaminda Vaas but it was just a few short overs later that he struck the most telling blow of the innings, catching the edge from Kaluwitharana which England skipper Stewart safely pouched to leave Sri Lanka struggling at 155-7 with just the bowlers to come. Mullally continued to impress in his second spell, passing the outside edge several times and was undoubtedly the pick of the attack finishing with figures of 37-4, with one maiden from his ten overs.

With just ten overs to go, Sri Lanka were relying on tail-enders Chaminda Vaas and Eric Upashantha to raise their total towards respectability, but tight bowling from all-rounder Ealham and former skipper Adam Hollioake restricted their scoring with the aid of some good support from the England field. Hollioake beat Upashantha consistently outside off stump and eventually had him caught at short mid-on for 11 by Graham Thorpe and with the score on 174-8 in the 43rd over as the England bowlers pressed hard to wrap up the innings.

Austin had Wickramasinghe caught at the wicket for 11 in the 48th over and Muttiah Muralitharan managed to clobber a boundary four off Gough before a shower of rain again interrupted play with just 11 balls to go. With the players streaming off the field, the umpires decided to take an early lunch. Play resumed at 3.55 after an extensive break and Muralitharan belted one final boundary before Gough yorked him from the fourth ball of the 49th over, which wrapped up the Sri Lankan innings at 204 all out.

England began with skipper Alec Stewart and the newly promoted Nasser Hussain striding out to open the innings with Hussain facing the first ball from left-armer Chaminda Vaas. Hussain's first run, a single behind backward point was roundly cheered by the crowd and in the second over he clipped Wickramansinghe neatly through mid-wicket for 3, with Stewart cover driving the first boundary in the same over to get England off to a positive start. With the sun shining again, the Barmy Army began to find their voice and with both batsmen looking to be solid in defence and attack anything loose the game was nicely poised for an intriguing run chase.

Hussain had a close call when Wickramasinghe looked to have a good shout for a caught behind against him in the sixth over. Eric Upashantha was introduced in the eighth over and nearly induced an edge from Hussain with his first ball, but the Essex captain survived and began to prosper matching his skipper almost run for run. Sensing perhaps that their team needed a lift, the large group of Sri Lankan supporters beneath the new media centre began urging their side to make the breakthrough, but Stewart in particular appeared to have regained some of his old touch and fluency as England looked to capitalise on their solid start.

To ironic cheers from the Barmy Army, Upashantha bowled a succession of wides to make the 12th over a contender for the longest of the tournament. However to subsequent Sri Lankan hurrahs, Ranatunga then introduced his most dangerous bowler Muttiah Muralitharan whose first ball induced a rash charge down the wicket from Hussain who was fortunate not to be stumped. Despite these minor alarms, England continued to make progress with Stewart pulling Muralitharan through midwicket for a boundary then sweeping him for a single to bring up the England fifty, but on the very next ball Hussain repeated his ill-advised charge and was well stumped by Kaluwitharana for 14.

England's key strokemaker Graeme Hick joined his skipper at the crease and with some good running nudging the score along and Stewart in particular looking to push some sharp singles, England reached 68-1 in the 20th over with Stewart on 41 and Hick on 4. Ranatunga reintroduced Wickaramasinghe into the attack supported by Jayasuriya's slow left arm spin and the game began to meander along in the late afternoon sun, with Hick and Stewart milking singles seemingly at will. Stewart eased Jayusriya for a single through mid-off to bring up his fifty in the 23rd over which was made from 85 balls with 4 fours.

England seemed to have gone into cruise mode with Hick beginning to find touch and cheekily pushing Jayasuriya around the corner for some well run twos. England's hundred came up in the 25th over and at just over the half-way stage, they were well set to push on to the target at 103-1. Muralithatran came back into the attack in an effort to make the vital breakthrough and although he bowled tidily, the pitch didn't offer any significant turn and both batsman looked relatively comfortable against the arch off-spinner's wiles.

With the shadows lengthening in the early evening, Stewart eased himself into the eighties with Hick rapidly advancing towards his fifty. With the 150 chalked up in the 36th over, Muralitharan was recalled in a last gasp attempt for the Sri Lankans to get something out of the game, but with both batsman well set and scoring freely and a run rate dipping below four an over, he was unable to make any meaningful impact. Hick eventually achieved his half-century off 63 balls, sweeping Muralitharan behind square leg in the 39th over and even the normally sceptical English cricketing public were scenting victory with the score on 168-1 and plenty of overs to spare.

Just as the game looked to be meandering to its inevitable conclusion, Chaminda Vaas nipped in to take the wicket of the England skipper who perished to a regulation edge which was taken behind by Kaluwitharana with England on 175-2. Stewart who had looked impregnable, nevertheless played the match winning innings and his 88 included 6 fours from 147 balls. With Thorpe joining Hick at the crease, Sri Lanka sensed the slenderest of chances, but the golden Grahams played sensibly and urged on by a ragged chorus from the Barmy Army, they steered England to an overwhelming eight wicket victory, with Hick hitting an enormous straight driven six to end the game and finish on an unbeaten 73 .

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MURALITHARAN TAKES A HIDING

Trevor Chesterfield

In London

Muttiah Muralitharan whose controversially bizarre off-spin action wrecked England's batting at The Oval last year, was destroyed by the same men he teased and taunted in defeat as World Cup champions Sri Lanka were crushed by the margin of eight wickets at Lord's yesterday.

On the opening day of what was supposed to be the "Carnival of Cricket" there was no carnival in the Sri Lanka approach as they were drawn and quartered by a convincing England reply on the opening day of the 1999 World Cup. And frankly, if this is the best Sri Lanka can do they might as well pack for Colombo and take the first available flight home.

As England finally got some runs up the Sri Lanka off-spinner's nose during an impressive top-order display led by their captain Alec Stewart, the victory for the men in blue should finally rub off on a tardy response of a tardy local public more obsessed by other matters of disinterest. Little wonder Stewart's innings of 88 earned a magnum of champagne and man of the match award.

Chasing a simple total of 205 saw England wrap it up in the 47th over when Graeme Hick slapped Sanath Jayasuriya for a well-placed six. All it needed was sensible, calm batting and Stewart and Hick did just that in a partnership of 125 for the second wicket.

Although Nasser Hussain, brought in to plug the openers gap for the out of form Nick Knight, failed to make an impression, it was the experience of Stewart and Hick who did the leg work which rubbed whatever hopes Sri Lanka had into a damp Lord's turf.

When Muralitharan gobbled Hussain's wicket with a tidy stumping by Romesh Kaluwitharana there were those at the packed venue who were possibly wondering whether the wheels were about to fall off yet again and the ghost of the 16 wickets taken last year at The Oval was about to return. Enter Hick, with the England total on 50. For those with memories of the World Cup final of 1992 when Hick fell to the leg-spin of Mushtaq Ahmed, his ability against spin then represented a man wielding a toothpick than a bat. Yesterday he calmly dispatched the Muralitharan myth with Stewart which may have wrecked the off-spinner's future in this tournament.

As they picked off the milestones of a partnership which spread dismay through the Sri Lanka ranks just how much Stewart's winning of the toss played in the outcome of the game is a matter of conjecture. As the visitors battled with showers, England had an easy enough ride. For some of us, however, there was no privileged of sitting in the new Lord's pressbox for most of the non-English media contingent. So there was no special feeling of what it is like to sit in a "space shuttle" and watch

Alan Mullally's swing did its bit to strangle the Sri Lanka lion. Instead, seated in the old box in the Warner Stand overlooking third man, we had a different angle and watched as Mullally gutted the middle-order in the sort of well-controlled spell of bowling which netted him four wickets for 37 in his 10 overs.

Not bad at all for England, bad for Sri Lanka though. Three years ago they had been full of growl and bite but yesterday had lost most of that bravado.

Lord's is long way from Lahore where they beat Australia to take the crown in 1996, and at 65 for six it was a very long way from Colombo and the foundations of a match-winning total. Had it not been for the heroics of Kaluwitharana, misplaced in the batting order at seven, Sri Lanka may have struggled to reach the comfort of score of 200. His swashbuckling style enabled him to at least give the England bowlers a bit of stick: a cut off Hick's gentle spin, a square-drive off Darren Gough in his second spell and a punishing cover drive for four, begged the question what on earth were the Sri Lanka selectors thinking in breaking up his successful partnership with Jayasuriya.

As it was the title-holders managed to get their top-order batting wires badly fused when Stewart invited Arjuna Ranatunga to bat first. You could feel there was a taste of distrust in the weather and adding pressure to Sri Lanka's compounded problems and batting fears. Somewhere, somehow, the World Cup champions (limited-overs version) read the wrong signs by shuffling around their top order and leaving out the in-form Mahela Jayawardene by promoting Roshan Mahanama as an alternative to Kaluwitharana to rotate the left/right hand batting combination. What brainwave possessed them to redesign their top order may have been influenced by the weather and the possibility the ball would move around an the worry the "big occasion" could bother the 21-year-old Colombo bank clerk.

It was no doubt the century at Nottingham in the warm up game which seduced the Sri Lanka selectors in revising their choice. At Trent Bridge Mahanama batted with style, flair and confidence with fluent driving off the front foot leaving those whom watched he was a man in form. Yet his more recent record was not reflective of the century.

Which led to what some felt was a lot of woolly-minded thinking as it exposed the top-order to a variety of pressures and gave England an unlikely advantage when the breakthrough came. And Stewart did not waste too much time in pulling in a third slip to Mullally's bowling. It did just the trick as Graeme Hick pulled off an easy enough catch when Jayasuriya edged a delivery which bounce seemed to surprise him.

Sri Lanka lost it in almost eight overs as they subsided from 42 for one to their lamentable 65 for five with the departure of Aravinda de Silva for a duck. Ranatunga looking reflectively at the scoreboard must have wondered about the wisdom of splitting the two attacking openers. Kaluwitharana was quick enough to put his runs on the scoreboard and went on to a half-century off 52 balls. His partnership of 84 with his captain was at least a show of defiance and that the lion had not been rendered entirely toothless by Mullally's effective dentistry assault.

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QUOTES

England skipper Alec Stewart: "I'm very pleased with the performance and it was a good toss to win. A solid batting performance and a good contribution from Alan Mullally helped us but there was good support from all of the attack."

Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga: "I'm disappointed to lose but wasn't going to panic after just one game and we are going to use the next four days to consider team strategy."

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QUICK SINGLES

* It seems that the demand for not only well and truly outstripped the supply of the prize spectator seats in the house at the England-Sri Lanka match but that this applied to press areas of the hallowed Lord's ground as well. Notwithstanding the immense size and splendour of the new space-age NatWest Media Centre, anecdotes suggest that many members of the world's cricketing press (including CricInfo's own team of reporters) were left disappointed as they were forced to perform their duties from other areas of the world, foremost among them the 'old' press box.

* One sometime CricInfo colleague who managed to spend most of his day in the new press box reported that while modern it was a little cramped. The most disappointing area: the ends of the galleries which peter out into dark little cubby holes already filling up with empty boxes and lonely chairs. The most satisfactory: the lavish (free) bar directly behind the reporter's desks, already filling up with boozy hacks and hangers on.

* Despite its impressive glass frontage and gleaming monocoque shell, the Natwest Media centre was not the day's star attraction. Spectators watching the ball steered to third man when Ealham was bowling from the Nursery End were apt to let their gaze linger in that direction even after the ball had been returned to 'keeper Alec Stewart. The reason? 'Supermodel' Caprice was installed in the last box at the pavilion end of the Tavern Stand. However Caprice, despite her role as an official 'supermodel' of the tournament, seemingly found less of interest at the ground and left shortly before the interval.

* CricInfo World Cup 365 extends its congratulations to the many members of the Lord's crowd who entered into the spirit of today's occasion. Full marks in particular to the pair of English supporters whose sky-blue replica one day uniforms were respectively adorned on the back by the words "Thinny" and "Fat Bloke" and to the many Sri Lankan supporters whose colourful flags and passionate cheering were noticeable throughout the day. Without wishing to offend the cricketing purists, it should be said that supporters on both sides certainly made it an appropriately rousing start to this showpiece event.

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SCORECARD

ODI # 1443 ICC World Cup, 1999, 1st Match England v Sri Lanka, Group A Lord's, London 14 May 1999 (50-over match)

Result: England won by 8 wickets Points: England 2, Sri Lanka 0

Toss: England Umpires: RE Koertzen (SA) and S Venkataraghavan (Ind) TV Umpire: DL Orchard (SA) Match Referee: CW Smith (WI) Man of the Match: AJ Stewart

Sri Lanka innings (50 overs maximum) R B 4 6 ST Jayasuriya c Hick b Mullally 29 52 4 0 RS Mahanama c Hick b Mullally 16 30 2 0 MS Atapattu c Thorpe b Austin 3 9 0 0 HP Tillakaratne c Stewart b Ealham 0 12 0 0 PA de Silva c Thorpe b Mullally 0 6 0 0 *A Ranatunga c Hussain b Ealham 32 42 1 1 +RS Kaluwitharana c Stewart b Mullally 57 66 7 0 WPUJC Vaas not out 12 27 0 0 KEA Upashantha c Thorpe b Hollioake 11 25 1 0 GP Wickramasinghe c Stewart b Austin 11 18 1 0 M Muralitharan b Gough 12 8 2 0 Extras (lb 9, w 9, nb 3) 21 Total (all out, 48.4 overs) 204

FoW: 1-42 (Mahanama, 10.6 ov), 2-50 (Atapattu, 13.2 ov), 3-63 (Jayasuriya, 16.5 ov), 4-63 (Tillakaratne, 17.1 ov), 5-65 (de Silva, 18.5 ov), 6-149 (Ranatunga, 33.6 ov), 7-155 (Kaluwitharana, 36.5 ov), 8-174 (Upashantha, 43.5 ov), 9-190 (Wickramasinghe, 47.2 ov), 10-204 (Muralitharan, 48.4 ov).

Bowling O M R W Gough 8.4 0 50 1 (2nb, 1w) Austin 9 1 25 2 (5w) Mullally 10 1 37 4 (1nb, 1w) Ealham 10 0 31 2 Flintoff 2 0 12 0 Hick 3 0 19 0 (1w) Hollioake 6 0 21 1

England innings (target: 205 runs from 50 overs) R B 4 6 N Hussain st Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 14 33 1 0 *+AJ Stewart c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 88 146 6 0 GA Hick not out 73 88 2 2 GP Thorpe not out 13 15 1 0 Extras (lb 6, w 12, nb 1) 19 Total (2 wickets, 46.5 overs) 207

Match State: England won by 8 wkts

DNB: NH Fairbrother, A Flintoff, AJ Hollioake, MA Ealham, ID Austin, D Gough, AD Mullally.

FoW: 1-50 (Hussain, 14.5 ov), 2-175 (Stewart, 41.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W Vaas 10 2 27 1 Wickramasinghe 10 0 41 0 Upashantha 8 0 38 0 (1nb, 8w) Muralitharan 10 0 33 1 (2w) Jayasuriya 7.5 0 55 0 (2w) de Silva 1 0 7 0

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POINTS TABLE

Group A Played Won Lost NR Tied Points Net RR For Against England 1 1 0 0 0 2 +0.340 207/46.5 204/50 Sri Lanka 1 0 1 0 0 0 -0.340 204/50 207/46.5 Zimbabwe 0 - - - - 0 - -/- -/- South Africa 0 - - - - 0 - -/- -/- Kenya 0 - - - - 0 - -/- -/- India 0 - - - - 0 - -/- -/-

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WORLD CUP - SATURDAY'S FIXTURES:

India v South Africa, Hove (Group A) Zimbabwe v Kenya, Taunton (Group A)

Note: Both matches commence at 10.45am British Summer Time. (0945 GMT - 0545 ET, 1515 IST, 1945 AEST)

FLY EMIRATES. OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF THE 1999 CRICKET WORLD CUP. https://ci.365.co.uk/rd/www.emirates.com

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Joint Editors and Senior Contributors: Rick Eyre, Alex Balfour and John Polack - editor@cricinfo.com Also contributed to today's edition: John Houlihan, Trevor Chesterfield and Keith Lane.

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