Of Sean Williams and fielding

Zimbabwe's pain while batting was mostly self-inflicted, but there was one wicket that was down to a moment of athletic brilliance in the field. Graeme Cremer had begun to settle into his role of providing support to the set Sean Williams. He had accumulated nine runs when he drove one in the air through the covers. Or, rather, it would have gone through the covers had Kusal Mendis not leaped up at short cover and snatched the ball from over his head in the blink of an eye. Cremer had to depart, while Mendis was mobbed by his team-mates.

Williams is not one to look indulgently upon fielding lapses off his bowling. On the fourth ball of the 15th over, Upul Tharanga threaded a cut between point and backward point. Both fielders turned to give pursuit, ultimately combining for a tag-team effort to keep it down to two. But, far from impressed, Williams was furious that neither of them had dived initially to cut it off. Next ball, Williams was guilty of failing to cut off a straight drive from Tharanga. He found that annoying enough, but it was about to get worse. Tarisai Musakanda, running around from long-on, took his eyes off the ball and let it go between his legs for four. Williams was ready to explode.

In the 18th over of Sri Lanka's chase, Tharanga closed the bat face early on a Cremer delivery and got a leading edge that lobbed in the air not too far beyond the bowler. But Cremer, seemingly unaware of how close it was, took a few backward steps before giving up. Mid-on was not too far, but did not make a serious attempt either. What should have been a clear chance, went by quietly, almost ignored.

Batting on 18 and looking rather scratchy, Tharanga chipped one in the air towards short midwicket, where Hamilton Masakadza made a sharp, full-length dive to his right and got a hand to it, but the ball did not stick. Instead, it rolled away and Tharanga scampered through for a single. It would be harsh to call it a drop - it was a half-chance at best - but it extended the batsman's charmed stay at the crease. The bowler, incidentally, was the long-suffering Williams.

The twin themes of Williams and fielding were to combine with dramatic effect once more in the match. This time, though, there was no mistake, nor any angst. Mendis, having made a sparkling fifty, top-edged a slog sweep to deep square leg, where Williams was stationed. He judged the ball's flight well, timed his jump perfectly and took a terrific catch over his head, mere inches from the boundary. For a man who takes pride in his fielding that would have been pleasing. He doffed his hat, bowed and flashed a smile just to underscore that point.