“I want to be the man-of-the-series in this World Cup.” — Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa isn’t short on confidence.
Telford Vice / Geelong, Victoria
FOUR teams, two matches, one day. Or around seven hours of Sunday. Geelong, Victoria’s second city, will kickstart the men’s T20 World Cup with a pair of doubleheaders featuring a Goliath and three Davids. Who will cast the first stone? Who will be shown to be living in a glass house? Who will gather moss?
Enough with the stone analogies already. Except to say that two of Sri Lanka, Namibia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates will want to be the rocks from which the statues of the two Group A qualifiers for the 12-team second round are sculpted.
Closer to the truth is that the Namibians, Dutch and Emiratis will contest a single berth. It was difficult to imagine the Lankans slipping up against any of the other teams in the group even before Dasun Shanaka’s side won the Asia Cup in the UAE last month — which only underlines the islanders’ status as favourites to go through.
It’s tempting to consider Namibia or the Netherlands the favourites to snag the second spot, not least because the UAE have lost seven of the 13 T20Is they have played in 2022; most of them against the modest likes of Nepal, Germany and Singapore. On top of that, they have gone down in all three of their previous T20 World Cup games and 11 but of their dozen ODI World Cup matches. But the Emiratis have also beaten middling Ireland all three times they’ve played them in the format this year. So upsets — and any win for the UAE in this tournament would be an upset — are within their reach.
As a drop-in pitch, Geelong’s surface defies historical analysis and adds to the uncertainty of what might unfold, although the forecast for early rain — which washed out one of all four teams’ warm-up matches on Wednesday and Thursday — could enliven the surface at least for the initial exchanges of the day’s, and the tournament’s, opening fixture.
Sri Lanka look like they have too much firepower in all departments to be undone by Namibia in that match. The return of Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara from the injuries that kept them out of the Asia Cup fits that script, and creates the prospect of a showdown with David Wiese, Namibia’s nuclear option.
If the UAE are to flip someone’s applecart, they would do themselves and everyone watching a favour by getting it done early in the piece rather than when it no longer matters. And there’s an even chance of that happening on Sunday — the UAE have won exactly half of their eight T20Is against the Dutch. The Netherlands prevailed the last time the teams met, in Dubai in October 2019, but the Emiratis reeled off four consecutive wins against them earlier in the same year.
You might not expect Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yoko Ono to have some wisdom to contribute to this conversation, but this is all about the unexpected so sit tight. “Nothing is written in stone, as a career is an unpredictable journey,” Ibrahimovic said. Ono said something similar: “Nothing is written in stone. So don’t prepare yourself for a long and lucrative career. You might die tomorrow. Your gold holdings might become dust. Just make the music you want to make now and enjoy it.”
You heard them. Nothing is written in stone.
When: Sunday, 3pm and 7pm Local Time
Where: Kardinia Park, Geelong
What to expect: Morning rain that should clear before the start of the first match and stay away, thermometers that hover a degree or three under room temperature, and not a deluge of runs — 200 was breached nine times in the 2021/22 BBL, but not in any of the three games played at this ground in January.
Team news:
Namibia: The impact Morné Morkel makes as bowling consultant in his initial foray into international coaching is sure to be closely watched.
Possible XI: Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (capt), David Wiese, Zane Green, Ruben Trumpelmann, Jan Frylinck, Bernard Scholtz, Pikky Ya France, Ben Shikongo
Sri Lanka: Dilshan Madushanka seems in doubt having limped out of the nets holding his hip after bowling four balls during Saturday’s training session.
Possible XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara
Netherlands: Scott Edwards, the Dutch’s Melbourne-raised captain, has played 68 white-ball internationals — but is set for his debut in Australia.
Possible XI: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Stephan Myburgh, Bas de Leede, Tom Cooper, Scott Edwards (capt), Teja Nidamanuru, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Fred Klaassen
United Arab Emirates: At 16, left-arm spinner Aayan Afzal Khan is the youngest player in the tournament. He won’t turn 17 until two days after the final on November 13.
Possible XI: Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Aryan Lakra, Vriitya Aravind, Chundangapoyil Rizwan (capt), Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Aayan Afzal Khan, Karthik Meiyappan, Sabir Ali, Zahoor Khan
What they said:
“I look at the team compared to the first World Cup we played in, and there was a nervousness around. Of course there is again but there is more of a sense of calm.” — Stephan Baard on the progress Namibia hope to have made.
“I want to be the man-of-the-series in this World Cup. It will all come with the hard work that we’ve put in.” — Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa thinks big.
“I suppose all the pressure is on Sri Lanka and Namibia from our group having played in the Super 12s last year.” – Colin Ackermann indulges in a spot of deflection, Netherlands style.
“What’s passed has passed. It’s a completely new team. There’s not even one person who has played a World Cup for UAE before on this team.” — Chirag Suri hopes for a brighter future for the UAE.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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