365WCX_1999MAY22

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

Saturday, May 22, 1999. World Cup Edition No.9

IN THIS EDITION:

* Match Report: England v South Africa * Match Report: Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka * Quotes * Quick Singles: brief news * Magic Moment * Full scorecards * Points table * Tomorrow's fixtures * Oops!

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SOUTH AFRICANS ROLL ON

By Keith Lane

The match up of tournament hosts and tournament favourites at the Oval was billed as 'the match' of the first round. Sufficiently mouth watering to draw a host of celebrities to South London, the match started out as a contest but ended a South African tour de force. There seems little that can stop the South Africans now.

England Captain Alec Stewart won the toss and putting the South Africans in to bat. The decision looked poor when Gary Kirsten and especially Herschelle Gibbs pushed the South African score to 111 off 24.5 overs. Gibbs was in aggressive form and punished Fraser, possibly the most experienced World Cup debutant ever, whose lack of variety was painfully exposed. South Africa were in danger of losing their sense of occasion and running away with a victory. It was appropriate then that they first stumbled when they reached the 'Nelson' as Gibbs holed out to Hick off Ealham.

Nine balls later Ealham struck again and has Kirsten caught behind by Stewart. With two new batsmen at the crease, and both bowlers maintaining their tight line the game started to swing England's way. Gough, brought back into the attack to stop a threatening partnership developing between Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes, did all that his captain could ask of him. After Mullally had got rid of Cronje(16), Gough took two wickets with two balls to get rid of Rhodes (18) and Pollock (0, first ball) while the score stayed on 168.

Lance Klusener with an unbeaten 48 and Mark Boucher battled back and took the score to 225/7 from the allocated 50 overs.

Kallis opened the bowling with a disgraceful wide way down the leg side and looked out of touch, but with the last ball of the over he trapped Stewart LBW. Stewart may feel slightly unlucky as the ball struck him very high on the pad. Kallis struck again when Hussain flashed at a delivery going down the leg side, and, much to the Englishman's surprise, umpire Venkat raised the finger.

Graham Thorpe joined Graeme Hick in the middle and together they pushed and nudged singles around the wicket in an attempt to rebuild the innings. Pollock bowling from the Vauxhall end was disciplined in line and length, Kallis a bit wayward bowling on both sides of the wicket. Hick pulled the first boundary of the England innings off Kallis in the 11th over and followed that up with a classic cover drive off the very next delivery.

Thorpe lasted long enough to drive Donald for a four through the covers but was given out then stepping in front of the next ball. When Hick was trapped pulling Elworthy off the front foot and sending a catch to Gibbs, who had just been moved into a square mid wicket position the England innings looked a lost cause. Soon enough England's 44/4 became 45/5 when Andrew Flintoff, lasting only nine balls without troubling the scorers, spooned a simple catch to Rhodes off Donald. Mark Ealham showed some resistance but drawn forward to a Donald delivery in the 24 th over edged to Cullinan who took a good low catch to his right at slip. Neil Fairbrother as he has done in various encounters between the two nations showed a lot of application and together with Robert Croft advanced the score to 78 when Lance Klusener became the next bowler to taste success, assisted by the brilliance of Jonty Rhodes at backward point. Croft on the square drive forced Rhodes to leap high and with an outstretched left hand he palmed the ball up, kept his eye on it and caught it on the dive before the ball reached mother earth.

Incumbent batsmen Darren Gough played some neat looking shots outside the off. But trying to reach the boundary once to often was his undoing as he lofted a drive off Elworthy to Cronje at mid off to be caught for 10 off 34 balls. Fairbrother followed him to the pavilion when Donald straightened one trapping him right in front for 21 off 44 balls. Four runs later, Fraser tried to loft Pollock to the long on fence only to see Kirsten get under it, and England were all out for 103 from 40.5 overs.

Donald concentrating on line and length and not pace finished the innings with 8-1-17-4, while Shaun Pollock ended on 9-3-13-1. In all a convincing win for the World Cup favourites, and England's lowest ever One Day International total Against South Africa.

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AN UPSET TOO FAR FOR ZIMBABWE

By John Ward

Another World Cup upset was just too much for Zimbabwe at Worcester and Sri Lanka's victory means Group B is now wide open. As captain Alistair Campbell admitted after the game, it was Zimbabwe's batting that let them down. Everybody knew that Sri Lanka had the talent to overturn the form book and win the match, but nobody expected that it would be the often maligned Sri Lankan fielding that would make that vital difference between the teams.

The sun was shining intermittently at Worcester as Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka warmed up for their crucial World Cup match. The match was particularly critical for Sri Lanka, for whom defeat would mean almost certain elimination after the first round. For Zimbabwe, victory would mean probable qualification for the Super Six.

Sri Lanka won the toss and, as expected, decided to field. The consensus of opinion was that the pitch would not change too much as the day went on, and so the toss would not be too vital. It appeared to be quite a good one-day pitch but, as usual at Worcester, with a bit of seam and swing throughout.

Johnson lofted Vaas' second ball over mid-on for two, but generally the batsmen were content to dig in as the ball seamed around. Grant Flower in particular allowed a number of balls to pass his off stump, but the umpires called few wides; perhaps after so many wides in the first two rounds the umpires generally have been reprogrammed.

Johnson hit a fine boundary through extra cover off Upashantha, but then skied a pull to be taken at mid-on.by Wickramasinghe. Strang did not succeed in his role as a pinch-hitter this time, being bowled by Wickramasinghe, replacing Vaas, for 5. Strang, with his unorthodox approach, tried a forcing stroke with an angled bat to a ball which moved in sharply, and played on off the inside edge.

Goodwin, after a remarkable run of scores between 15 and 30, settled in well, and a better score for him seemed in the offing, when there came the first of the two crucial run-outs which changed the course of the innings.

Muralitharan came on to bowl, and Goodwin turned his second ball towards backward square leg to take a single, only to be completely taken unawares and run out by a brilliant throw from Jayasuriya to the bowler's end. Then came another vital blow for Sri Lanka, as Grant Flower, slashing hard at a fast delivery from Wickramasinghe, was adjudged caught at the wicket for 42, and Zimbabwe were in some trouble at 81 for four.

Campbell, in his hundredth one-day international, announced his presence with an imperious cover drive for four - no need to run. He then played at the next ball from Wickramasinghe, which moved away sharply off the pitch, and appeared to show dissent on being given out caught at the wicket by umpire Shepherd.

The Sri Lankans were really bubbling with zest and excitement by now, and it remained to be seen whether they had recovered enough of their verve to force their bolt home. The Sri Lankan spectators were also chanting with animation. Whittall struggled to get off the mark, but finally snicked a ball from Murali uppishly through the vacant slips to the boundary. The gap was filled, and then another snick from Whittall resulted in a tense juggling catch by Ranatunga. Whittall obviously was unable to read the ball that went the other way.

Murali had just started his spell and was already causing great trouble among the Zimbabwean batsmen as Carlisle was completely beaten by his first ball. Sri Lanka at this stage looked very much on top. However, after six overs Ranatunga rested Muralitharan, which may have been a mistake, as Carlisle settled in well and shared a good partnership with Andy Flower.

The stand of 68 was only broken by another brilliant Sri Lankan run-out. Carlisle reverse-swept Jayasuriya to Vaas, who like Jayasuriya himself threw superbly to the bowler's end, to find Carlisle just short of his ground. Carlisle had made a most commendable 27. Off the very next ball Andy Flower went on the sweep and the ball lobbed up for the keeper to take. Umpire Bucknor judged that the ball came off bat or glove. Again, as with previous decisions when the Zimbabweans stood their ground, the television replay was inconclusive. Flower made 41, and Zimbabwe were staring at disaster at 162 for eight.

Sri Lanka missed the chance of another run-out as Brandes, very slow out of the starting blocks, could have been dismissed easily had wicket-keeper Kaluwitharana broken the wicket with his gloves rather than his shoulder. This being modern international cricket, he appealed anyway, but the television replay clearly showed that it was not a genuine dismissal.

Otherwise the two pace bowlers decided to play safe against the enthusiastic Sri Lankan attack, with no make-or-break scoring attempts. Streak decided that assault was the best policy when Murali came on to bowl his final two overs. Aiming for a six, he skied a ball high on the leg side, where a difficult catch was dropped. Then he tried an unnecessary reverse sweep, which only succeeded in hitting a catch straight to Atapattu at backward point.

In the final over Brandes lashed out at Vaas, hitting him for a six over long-on, a one bounce four over extra cover, and causing him once again to lose his run-up for the next ball, which was eventually hit to third man for two. A single to long-on left Olonga facing the final ball, which he hit high over long leg for six, apparently into the crowd, although the umpires later signalled four.

Zimbabwe opened their bowling with purpose, Sri Lanka their batting with determination. Zimbabwe have several times bowled out opponents unexpectedly when defending comparatively small totals, while Sri Lanka have only to look back to their last match to remember how, against South Africa, they bowled themselves into a strong position, let things slip a bit, and then lost the match.

Zimbabwe's opening bowling was much better in this match, with Brandes and Johnson bowling some testing deliveries and beating the bat several times. The Sri Lankan batsman were forced to be wary, with even Jayasuriya showing little sign of his usual flamboyance. However, his patience did not last long. Cutting fiercely but uppishly at Johnson, he hit a low catch to Goodwin near the third-man boundary and was out for 6, leaving Sri Lanka at 13 for one.

Sri Lanka proceeded rather uncertainly as Zimbabwe's bowlers gave them a hard time. There was considerable applause when Mahanama broke out to hit Brandes for the first four of the innings, although it was an uppish stroke just clear of midwicket's left hand. The second boundary was even more fortuitous, a snick off Johnson evading the keeper down the leg side. He then lashed a ball through the covers for a third, along the ground but misfielded by cover.

Streak replaced Brandes and was immediately exercising the umpire's arms with deliveries swinging too wide of the stumps. Johnson then got in on the act with some of his own, and Zimbabwe's old problems were back again. Atapattu at last found his confidence and Sri Lanka began to reassert their hold on this match. Then Whittall suddenly produced a fine yorker on the off stump that beat and bowled Mahanama for 31.

De Silva, battling to find his form, tried to pull Whittall, but only succeeded in hitting a catch straight to his cousin Andrew, fielding as substitute at midwicket. De Silva had not looked comfortable for his 6 runs. Shortly afterwards, Atapattu enjoyed a life when the keeper missed a low catch off Olonga, and in this case it may have turned the match. Olonga himself missed a possible run out against Ranatunga as the batsmen scampered through to bring up the 100. Ranatunga gave evidence of his greater fitness for this tournament by refusing to call for a runner at this stage, nor after running a quick two for a leg glance off Whittall. Or perhaps he was exhausted, for he misjudged a slower ball from Whittall and popped up a fairly simple return catch after scoring only 3. Sri Lanka were 108 for four, and the match right back in the melting pot.

Jayawardene began with two boundaries, one turned through midwicket and the other slashed just over the upstretched hands of backward point. Then a series of silly misfields allowed the batsmen to pick off some easy runs, and Sri Lanka settled down again. Atapattu reached his fifty with a cracking drive through extra cover, and both batsmen appreciated the easing of the pressure, batting with increasing fluency.

Once again the match seemed to be slipping away from Zimbabwe, and then once again the unexpected happened. Atapattu slashed once too often, and Campbell at slip took a very sharp catch with apparent nonchalance. He had scored a valuable 54, and Sri Lanka were 150 for five.

Shortly afterwards, Streak got a ball to move back in sharply to Jayawardene, hitting him on the pad and winning an lbw verdict. He had made 31, Sri Lanka were down to 157 for six and Zimbabwe were into the tail. Once again it was anybody's game.

Kaluwitharana and Vaas battled on for Sri Lanka, looking mainly bat ones and twos without any extravagances. As Zimbabwe scented possible victory, their fielding improved and there were some brilliant saves. Olonga on the boundary stopped and threw superbly throughout the innings.

The end came suddenly. A thunderous four over mid-on by Vaas off Olonga, followed by a higher slog that almost carried for six, broke some of the tension, taking Sri Lanka to within 13 runs of victory. Then came a lucky snick for four past the keeper by Kaluwitharana, and Sri Lanka were almost home. Kalu slogged Strang for a four to cow-shot corner, followed by three singles, one to a misfield, and Sri Lanka were home.

Sri Lanka's crucial match will be the one against India at Taunton on Wednesday; for Zimbabwe it will be England on Tuesday. Defeat for either will almost certainly result in their elimination after the first round.

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QUOTES:

Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka

One encouraging factor to come out of this match, as Campbell pointed out at the press conference, was the improvement in Zimbabwe's bowling after the near disaster against India. "Apart from a brief spell in the middle of the Sri Lankan innings, it was much more accurate, but not as well supported in the field as usual".

For their part, Sri Lanka have for the present saved themselves from elimination from the tournament. Ranatunga after the match praised the "greater discipline shown by his batsmen, after the rash strokes which had cost them too many wickets in their first two matches".

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QUICK SINGLES

* There were 7 in World Cup 75, 3 in World Cup 1979, 12 in World Cup 1983, 14 in World Cup 1987, 14 in World Cup 1992, and 22 in World Cup 1996. But there have been no centuries at all so far in World Cup 1999. Does that suggest it's been a bowler's World Cup? Not necessarily. The leading bowlers -Klusener, Gough, Allott and Walsh - have only taken 7 wickets each so far. Meanwhile wides tops the averages with 372 runs so far. Oh, and as you'll probably read everywhere there have now been more ODIs (1456) played than Tests (1454).

* There have been a few surprises in this World Cup. Wickramasinghe's bowling. Klusener's eclipse of Pollock and Kallis as the leading all rounder. Zimbabwe's supposedly brilliant fielders fielding poorly. Roger Twose. But perhaps most of all the fact that no games have yet been held over by the weather. What odds that the reserve day will not come into play at all?

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MAGIC MOMENT

Poor Darren Gough. Ever the fall guy. He clean bowled Pollock for his second wicket in a row with the perfect yorker and sent Pollock's middle stump cartwheeling towards 'keeper Stewart. Not only was his impressive spell rendered irrelevant by South Africa's attack but he was also pipped for today's magic moment by Jonty Rhodes' fantastic catch to dismiss Croft. Watching him in profile in replay he looked like a tennis player on the volley when he lept up at point and batted the ball down high above his head taking it firmly as he came to earth.

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SCORECARDS

ODI # 1455 ICC World Cup, 1999, 13th Match England v South Africa, Group A Kennington Oval, London 22 May 1999 (50-over match)

Result: South Africa won by 122 runs Points: South Africa 2, England 0

Toss: England Umpires: RS Dunne (NZ) and S Venkataraghavan (Ind) TV Umpire: Javed Akhtar (Pak) Match Referee: CW Smith (WI) Man of the Match:

South Africa innings (50 overs maximum) R B 4 6 G Kirsten c Stewart b Ealham 46 62 3 0 HH Gibbs c Hick b Ealham 60 94 6 1 JH Kallis b Mullally 0 5 0 0 DJ Cullinan c Fraser b Mullally 10 20 2 0 *WJ Cronje c Stewart b Flintoff 16 28 0 0 JN Rhodes c sub (NV Knight) b Gough 18 24 1 0 L Klusener not out 48 40 3 1 SM Pollock b Gough 0 1 0 0 +MV Boucher not out 17 27 0 0 Extras (lb 5, w 5) 10 Total (7 wickets, 50 overs) 225

DNB: S Elworthy, AA Donald.

FoW: 1-111 (Gibbs, 24.6 ov), 2-112 (Kirsten, 26.2 ov), 3-112 (Kallis, 27.2 ov), 4-127 (Cullinan, 31.6 ov), 5-146 (Cronje, 36.5 ov), 6-168 (Rhodes, 40.3 ov), 7-168 (Pollock, 40.4 ov).

Bowling O M R W Gough 10 1 33 2 Fraser 10 0 54 0 (1w) Mullally 10 1 28 2 (2w) Croft 2 0 13 0 (1w) Ealham 10 2 48 2 Flintoff 8 0 42 1 (1w)

England innings (target: 226 runs from 50 overs) R B 4 6 N Hussain c Boucher b Kallis 2 14 0 0 *+AJ Stewart lbw b Kallis 0 1 0 0 GA Hick c Gibbs b Elworthy 21 50 2 0 GP Thorpe lbw b Donald 14 29 1 0 NH Fairbrother lbw b Donald 21 44 1 0 A Flintoff c Rhodes b Donald 0 9 0 0 MA Ealham c Cullinan b Donald 5 17 1 0 RDB Croft c Rhodes b Klusener 12 25 2 0 D Gough c Cronje b Elworthy 10 34 1 0 ARC Fraser c Kirsten b Pollock 4 18 0 0 AD Mullally not out 1 6 0 0 Extras (lb 4, w 9, nb 1) 14 Total (all out, 41 overs) 104

FoW: 1-2 (Stewart, 0.6 ov), 2-6 (Hussain, 2.6 ov), 3-39 (Thorpe, 13.5 ov), 4-44 (Hick, 16.1 ov), 5-45 (Flintoff, 17.5 ov), 6-60 (Ealham, 23.3 ov), 7-78 (Croft, 29.3 ov), 8-97 (Gough, 36.2 ov), 9-99 (Fairbrother, 37.5 ov), 10-103 (Fraser, 40.6 ov).

Bowling O M R W Kallis 8 0 29 2 (6w) Pollock 9 3 13 1 (1nb) Elworthy 10 3 24 2 (1w) Donald 8 1 17 4 (2w) Klusener 6 0 16 1

4th (reserve) umpire: AGT Whitehead South Africa innings: 1x7 ball over (19th over of the innings, 2nd from Ealham)

*****

ODI # 1456 ICC World Cup, 1999, 14th Match Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, Group A County Ground, New Road, Worcester 22 May 1999 (50-over match)

Result: Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets Points: Sri Lanka 2, Zimbabwe 0

Toss: Sri Lanka Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and DR Shepherd TV Umpire: MJ Kitchen Match Referee: Talat Ali (Pak) Man of the Match: MS Atapattu

Zimbabwe innings (50 overs maximum) R B 4 6 NC Johnson c Wickramasinghe b Upashantha 8 17 1 0 GW Flower c Kaluwitharana b Wickramasinghe 42 69 6 0 PA Strang b Wickramasinghe 5 8 1 0 MW Goodwin run out (Jayasuriya/Muralitharan) 21 29 2 0 +A Flower c Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya 41 60 3 0 *ADR Campbell c Kaluwitharana b Wickramasinghe 6 8 1 0 GJ Whittall c Ranatunga b Muralitharan 4 11 1 0 SV Carlisle run out (Vaas/Jayasuriya) 27 36 1 1 HH Streak c Atapattu b Muralitharan 10 23 0 0 EA Brandes not out 19 29 1 1 HK Olonga not out 5 10 1 0 Extras (lb 3, w 6) 9 Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 197

FoW: 1-21 (Johnson, 7.3 ov), 2-34 (Strang, 10.5 ov), 3-78 (Goodwin, 19.2 ov), 4-81 (GW Flower, 20.4 ov), 5-89 (Campbell, 22.4 ov), 6-94 (GJ Whittall, 25.5 ov), 7-162 (Carlisle, 39.3 ov), 8-162 (A Flower, 39.4 ov), 9-176 (Streak, 46.6 ov).

Bowling O M R W Vaas 10 1 47 0 (1w) Upashantha 10 1 43 1 (4w) Wickramasinghe 10 1 30 3 Jayawardene 1 0 8 0 Muralitharan 10 2 29 2 (1w) Jayasuriya 7 0 28 1 de Silva 2 0 9 0

Sri Lanka innings (target: 198 runs from 50 overs) R B 4 6 ST Jayasuriya c Goodwin b Johnson 6 17 0 0 RS Mahanama b GJ Whittall 31 64 3 0 MS Atapattu c Campbell b Streak 54 90 4 0 PA de Silva c sub (AR Whittall) b GJ Whittall 6 15 0 0 *A Ranatunga c & b GJ Whittall 3 12 0 0 DPMdeS Jayawardene lbw b Streak 31 36 4 0 +RS Kaluwitharana not out 18 30 2 0 WPUJC Vaas not out 17 17 2 0 Extras (lb 6, w 21, nb 5) 32 Total (6 wickets, 46 overs) 198

DNB: KEA Upashantha, GP Wickramasinghe, M Muralitharan.

FoW: 1-13 (Jayasuriya, 5.4 ov), 2-75 (Mahanama, 19.1 ov), 3-93 (de Silva, 25.2 ov), 4-108 (Ranatunga, 29.2 ov), 5-150 (Atapattu, 36.3 ov), 6-157 (Jayawardene, 38.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W Brandes 8 0 28 0 (2w) Johnson 7 1 29 1 (5w) Streak 8 1 30 2 (6w) GJ Whittall 10 1 35 3 (1nb, 2w) Olonga 9 0 50 0 (4nb, 3w) GW Flower 2 0 10 0 Strang 2 0 10 0

4th (reserve) umpire: WB Smith (Scot) MS Atapattu 50 off 83 balls, 4x4 0x6

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POINTS TABLE

Group A Played Won Lost NR Tied Points Net RR For Against South Africa 3 3 - - - 6 +1.495 678/147.2 466/150 Zimbabwe 3 2 1 - - 4 +0.062 680/141 676/142 England 3 2 1 - - 4 -0.429 514/135.5 632/150 Sri Lanka 3 1 2 - - 2 -0.609 512/146 603/146.5 India 2 - 2 - - 0 +0.031 502/96 506/97.2 Kenya 2 - 2 - - 0 -1.117 432/100 435/80

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OOPS!

Yesterday's report from the clash between the West Indies and Sri Lanka suggested that a strong Easterly might have blown reporters laptops into the Irish Sea. It would have had to be a very strong Easterly as the Irish Sea is to the East of Dublin. In our defence we would like to point out that seats at the North end of the ground were set out in a sequence of rows as follows: D, E, F, B. So who's to say where a strong Easterly at the Clontarf might or might not take you?

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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: Keith Lane and John Ward

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