“They’re just cutthroat tournaments.” — Scott Edwards, Netherlands captain
Telford Vice / Geelong, Victoria
DID the real Sri Lanka team stand up in beating the Netherlands in Geelong on Thursday? Will the side who shambled to defeat against Namibia on Sunday be remembered as aberrations who took a wrong turn on their way out of a bad dream and ended up bang in the middle of Kardinia Park?
No, not least because only three of Sunday’s XI — Danushka Gunathilaka, Pramod Madushan and Dushmantha Theekshana — did not feature on Thursday. And because the two matches were played on the same pitch, albeit that the ball came onto the bat more fluidly on Thursday.
But you would be forgiven for believing the Sri Lankans who strode the field like they owned it only four days after they had looked like they had never been out of their own backyards had not been introduced to each other.
Neither a first-baller suffered by Dhananjaya de Silva, who was trapped in front by Paul van Meekeren — with a delivery that the gizmos said would have missed leg stump — immediately after van Meekeren had yorked Pathum Nissanka, nor the fact that only two Lankans reached 30 could derail the Asian express on its way to 162/6.
Kusal Mendis batted through six partnerships for his 44-ball 79, a commanding innings that endured into the last over and lent authority to a batting line-up who had shown none of that quality in being dismissed for 108 on Sunday. Max O’Dowd’s unbeaten 71 kept the Dutch in touch with the game at least theoretically, but Sri Lanka’s 16-run victory — and their u-turn from the cliff edge of elimination — was never in serious doubt.
The result took the Lankans from third to first place in the Group A standings. Like them, the Netherlands had won two of their three matches and were in second place — good enough to also go through to the second round. But the Europeans faced a nervous evening because they needed the United Arab Emirates to do what they hadn’t yet done in two editions of this event: win.
“They’re just cutthroat tournaments, aren’t they,” Netherlands captain Scott Edwards told a press conference between the games. “We think we’ve played a lot of good cricket in all three of the games. But the nature of these tournaments is that one little slip-up and you can be knocked out. Hopefully the UAE can get up and we’re still going tomorrow.”
After they had toppled the Lankan giants, the Namibians stumbled against the Dutch. Now the Netherlands needed a UAE team who had lost all five of their previous T20 World Cup — or World T20 — games to come good. If the Emiratis won, the Namibians would be marooned in third place and the Lankans and the Dutch would advance to the second round. If Namibia won, their muscular runrate would probably seal them into second place.
Would the Netherlands hang about to see what would happen? “I’m not sure where we’ll be,” Edwards said. “I think we’ll probably have a little bit of a discussion and share a drink together. It’s been an awesome month or so, and hopefully it continues. But, yeah, we’ll just be enjoying each other’s company.”
They did indeed stay and watch. How could they not, considering what was on the line? And the UAE rewarded them for their trouble by scoring 148/3, their highest total batting first in this tournament since they were bowled out for 151 by the selfsame Netherlands in Sylhet in March 2014. At least one of their top order of Muhammad Waseem, Vriitya Aravind and CP Rizwan were at the crease into the 17th over with Waseem scoring 50 and Rizwan finishing not out on 43. Then Basil Hameed hit 25 not out off 14 and shared 35 off 18 with Rizwan.
But the Dutch knew only too well what happened that day in Bangladesh more than eight years ago: they knocked off the target with six wickets standing and seven balls to spare. So the tension wouldn’t have eased when Namibia crashed to 69/7 inside 13 overs. Because David Wiese, the human oil rig, the moose in pads, the mountain man, wasn’t among the batters dismissed.
Wiese had joined Jan Frylinck in the eighth over, when the required runrate was 8.58. Soon it had climbed into double figures, reaching two runs a ball after 14. But Wiese was always going to be the difference between the teams, and he found an able ally in Ruben Trumpelmann. Playing his first match of the tournament, Trumpelmann kept a low profile in a stand that grew steadily until the last over loomed with 14 required.
It shouldn’t have come to that. Waseem had bowled the 17th, and Wiese had skied the last delivery to midwicket. Clearly it was wicketkeeper Aravind’s catch. Instead Waseem ended up under the ball — which burst through his hands and plopped, luridly, onto the turf.
So the decision, after a committee meeting in the middle, to entrust Waseem with the final over took guts and gumption. And when Wiese heaved the fourth ball down long-on’s throat with 10 required, it paid off. With that, every Dutchman and each of their fans in the stadium was on their feet and screaming.
Wiese was gone for 55 off 36, and his dismissal ended the partnership at 70 off 44. It also ended the match as a contest. Wiese walked off slowly, mournfully, tossing and catching his bat, searching the night sky for a silver lining. He didn’t find it.
The UAE finished bottom of the group and are on their way home, but that didn’t matter to them as they embraced and prayed and felt the blood of victors, by seven runs, pumping through their veins. The Namibians finished a place above the UAE, but that also didn’t matter. Africa is a long way away, and on their way there they will have too much time to think about what went wrong and what almost went right.
Sri Lanka’s first match of the second round is against the runners-up in Group B — which will be decided in Hobart on Friday — also at the Bellerive Oval on Sunday. The Dutch can look forward to a clash with Bangladesh, also in Hobart, on Monday.
But those are other matters for other days. For Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, and even the UAE, Thursday was about relief and happiness. For Namibia, not so much. Cooper was right. Some teams came here to have their throats cut, others to do the cutting.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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