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Cricket
7 days to go...
Sri Lanka defied history, odds and convention. Never before had a host country won the World Cup. Never before had a team chasing won the World Cup. Never before had a team which lost 20 of the 26 games since its inception in 1975, won the World Cup. Against this backdrop, what the astute Arjuna Ranatunga Several months earlier during Sri Lanka's tour of Australia, Muttiah Muralitharan was called for chucking by an Australian umpire Darrell Hair. Added to that, Australia (and the West Indies) refused to go to Colombo to play their matches after a bomb exploded in the city. Ranatunga backed Muralitharan to the hilt during the crisis. All these made the summit clash more interesting and one worth going miles to see. Little wonder, the final was billed as a grudge match. Keeping his cool, and making moves like a Chess Grandmaster, Ranatunga tightened the screws on strong favourite Australia. Put in to bat, the Aussies were restricted to 241 with the spinners playing their part in the middle and end overs — bowling 37 of the 50 overs, and picking four of the seven wickets. Skipper Mark Taylor (74) and Ricky Ponting (45) threatened to put a big total on the board when part-time bowler Aravinda de Silva, bowling his off-spin, in the sub-continent conditions, claimed both. Thereafter, none was able to make a significant contribution, a fighting unbeaten 36 from Michael Bevan notwithstanding. In reply, Sri Lanka lost its prolific openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana early. True to his tag `Mad Max', Aravinda went hammer and tongs against the bowlers, unmindful of the early setbacks. Shane Warne, who was a match-winner in the semifinal against the West Indies, was treated with disdain; in his 10 overs he conceded 58 runs. With Asanka Gurusinha (he did accumulate runs in the World Cup) as partner, Aravinda was at his best, be it in pulling, driving or caressing the ball as the two did the damage control exercise to perfection. The selectors, who criticised the veteran Aravinda for his reckless methods at the crease, were forced to acknowledge his performances; two centuries and two half centuries (66 in the semifinal against India). He went on to crack an unbeaten 107 in the final. Fittingly, with him at the other end was another veteran Ranatunga, who made a typically grinding 47 not out.
It was a day when flair and natural brilliance won. Aravinda's class changed the course of the match, and the seven-wicket win gave the troubled island nation something to cheer about. Ranatunga scaled a summit. A players' captain he surely was.
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