reflections

The Hat Trick

The 2007 Cricket World Cup has come to an end. Australia has become the champions for a record third consecutive time.

It was a somewhat odd ending to a World Cup that lasted too long. It wasn't the perfect and tense final that I was hoping for. Rain and strange umpiring decisions affected the day. I switched on the TV at 11pm only to find that rain was going to delay the game. The forecast in Bermuda was for occasional showers and for once the weather bureau was accurate.

I stayed awake hoping that the game would go ahead. By 1:30am play still hadn't started and exhaustion overcame me. I slipped into a restless slumber. When I woke up the time was just after 3am. I rubbed my eyes to see the TV and to my great joy the game was on. I slowly forced myself to emerge from my slumber.

As my vision cleared I saw to my horror that after 21 overs, Australia had reached 149 without loss. Sri Lanka was getting hammered. The result almost seemed to be a foregone conclusion and I was tempted to go back to sleep. However, it was the finals after all and I decided to stay with it. It was a brilliant display of batting prowess by Gilchrist with some support by Hayden and then Ponting.

To their credit, the Lankans never stopped fighting and regained some control in the latter part of the innings. Australia finished with a mammoth 281-4 off 38 overs. The Lankans didn't do much wrong. The bowlers balled well. The fielders did their job. The captain was creative. But they were no match for Gilchrist's brilliance.

I catnapped during the break and woke up to find Sri Lanka 1 wicket down for 18 in the 4th over. The start seemed ominous. Jayasuriya was batting well, but Sangakkara was struggling. I continued to watch as both batsmen had some near misses. Luck was going their way, but the task at hand seemed beyond them.

The game seemed all but lost to the Lankans until the start of the 13th over when Jayasuriya decided to break the shackles and let loose. The shots were somewhat awkward, but effective. The Lankans scored 13 in that over. In the 14th over, Sangakkara came to the party and smashed a six and a four off McGrath. He has also found his form. By the end of the 16th over, the Lankans had reached 102. The Aussies were on 97 at the same stage of the game. The game had finally come alive. The unbeatable Aussies were being threatened.

Unfortunately, the revival ended soon after. Both Sangakkara and Jayasuriya fell and without any explosive players to accelerate the run rate, the Lankans ended 53 runs short of the target.

The events of the day favoured the Aussies. They won the toss and were able to bat first. The weather deteriorated during the Sri Lankan innings robbing them of badly needed momentum at crucial turns. However, nothing should take away from the Aussie achievement. They played brilliantly throughout the tournament and the final to be the rightful winners. The Aussies won a record third consecutive World Cup.

The Lankans too deserve applause. They played brilliantly in most of their games and were the only team that even came close to threatening the Aussies. My second team won. My favourite team came second. It was almost perfect. I think that Australia will continue to dominate the cricket scene for the next year or so, but I think that Sri Lanka will take over the reigns before too long.

The Lankan win in 1996 was their coming of age in cricket, but it was a premature win driven by sheer determination and a combative captain. The current Lankan team is of a different calibre. It has a balanced and effective batting line up. More importantly they have an amazing bowling attack that can challenge the World's best batsmen.

Photos originally uploaded by the BBC.

Sri Lanka vs Australia

Like many cricket fans around the world I am impatiently waiting for tonight's final. Living in Sydney, I have a sleepless night ahead of me. Being a dual Sri Lankan / Australian citizen, I couldn't be happier. Both my teams are in the finals and facing each other.

I don't face a dilemma though. I am hoping Sri Lanka will win. In most things I am an Aussie, but when it comes to cricket I will always support Sri Lanka. As a child I grew up in Sri Lanka watching the local cricket team make its debut in international cricket. One of my most vivid memories as a child is watching Sri Lanka snatch its first ever Test victory against England. I was ecstatic when Sri Lanka's cricket team came of age and won their maiden World Cup in 1996 by beating Australia. 

In Australia, I will be in the minority tonight in supporting Sri Lanka. However, worldwide support seems to be firmly behind Sri Lanka. Sadly, the Australian team isn't well liked. They are certainly admired for their skills, but disliked for their arrogance and despised for their sledging.

I expect the Aussies to win the night, but a Lankan win is not out of a the question. The Sri Lankan batting line up is star studded and the bowling attack is second to none. Australia hasn't faced Murali, Malinga or Vaas during this World Cup and this could prove the difference. No matter the criticism, I believe that Tom Moody's decision to rest them in Sri Lanka's last game against Australia was a smart one. Sri Lanka will have one element of surprise up their sleeves.

Photo originally uploaded by the BBC.

The World Cup

I have been following the cricket world cup with interest. Both my teams are doing well. Australia remains unbeaten and Sri Lanka has been doing very well, having only lost one game so far. I had a moment of confusion though during Sri Lanka's last game against England. It was an amazingly tense game with Sri Lanka coming out on top, winning by a mere 2 runs.

My moment of confusion came in the last over. With the game in balance it was a tense tussle between the bowler and batsman, Ravi against Fernando. My support was a little torn between my two namesakes.

Photo originally uploaded by zahidul_islam.

Darrell Hair

If you were a cricket fan, you will not have escaped the most recent controversy surrounding umpire Darrell Hair. Even by his standards I find his most recent demands astonishing - US $500'000 for his quiet resignation as an international umpire with all the details kept confidential. Fortunately, Malcolm Speed had the courage to reveal the contents of Hair's email. Was it a form of blackmail? Read the email for yourself and be the judge.

This latest controversy started when Hair decided to change the ball and penalise the Pakistani team for ball tampering without providing any evidence. Should the Pakistanis have refused to return from their dressing room? Certainly not. Should the Pakistanis be penalised for their conduct? Of course, and they already have. The match was forfeited in England's favour.

Hair isn't a stranger to controversy and seems to make controversial decisions during games involving South Asians. In 1995 I was disgusted when he no-balled Murali (the champion Sri Lankan spinner). I don't dispute that an umpire is the sole decision maker during a cricket game and that he should make his decision based on what he sees during the game. However, that is the central point. He should make his decisions based on what he sees during the game, not because of a biased opinion he brings to the field.

However, Hair clearly failed to make the decision based on events on the field in 1995. He no-balled Murali when he was bowling off spin. It is physically impossible to straighten the arm when one is bowling off spin, but this is what Hair accused Murali of. He is on record before the match saying that he is determined to no-ball Murali. In the most recent instance he accused the Pakistanis of ball tampering without being able to pinpoint a particular player. Later examination of the match video could not find any evidence of tampering. I should note that Hair's co-umpire during the match - Billy Doctrove - supported Hair's decision, at least during the game. However, Hair was clearly the main driver of the decision.

Hair has continuously passed very harsh judgment on South Asian teams and seems to bring a biased opinion to the field. On a number of occasions he has appeared to make decisions during matches that are based on his bias. Many accuse him of being a racist. That is a strong accusation and I don't know him to make that allegation. However, I certainly believe that he is an incompetent umpire. If he can't make unbiased decisions, he shouldn''t be given the responsibility of being an umpire.

Photos and related news excerpts originally published by the BBC.

The Broken Hearted

I had set my alarm for 2am, so we woke up just as the second half got under way. I was was pleasantly surprised to see that the scores were still level at 0-0. Despite the bravado, in my heart I hadn't believed that we could beat Italy.

As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and started to get into the game, I realised that we were playing quite well and a small ember of hope was lit in my heart. When Materazzi was sent off with more than half an hour to go, the ember suddenly erupted into a roaring flame and I was watching avidly. The Australians dominated, attacking relentlessly albeit cautiously. It only seemed a matter of minutes before we scored a goal. The biggest challenge seemed to be avoiding a red card for one of our own.

However as the minutes went by and full time approached, I started to feel the frustration. We were simply not getting close enough, often enough. Where was Aloisi? Why weren't we attacking with more gusto. With ten minutes to go, Hiddink finally sent Aloisi into the fray. The impact seemed immediate with a number of opportunities coming our way, but going begging. Why hadn't he been sent in earlier? At least we were now getting those crucial chances.

As full time approached, extra time seemed inevitable. Australia still had a chance. We were fitter, we had more men on the field, we had to score a goal in extra time. Then disaster struck. The Italians went on the offensive. Totti had the ball, he was meters away from our goal. A valiant challenge, a mistake by the referee and in the final minute we had conceded a penalty. The experienced Totti didn't make a mistake.

The Italians were magnificent in defense. They were the better team on the night. Our lack of experience at this level of the game showed. But we should have won. We played well, we played as a team, but we couldn't capitalise. It was nevertheless a great result for Australian soccer. The game is now firmly in every Australian's heart. Bring on South Africa!

Photo originally uploaded by ceriess and the BBC.

Bring on Italy

The rumour about Fosters handing out branded t-shirts was proved false. Despite the absence of bare chested Aussie chicks, waking up to watch the game this morning was well worth it. We didn't play the best, Hiddink made a gamble that almost cost us, the referee stuffed up again, but none of that really matters because we are through to the second round!

I was in a great mood all day after watching the game. No one will rate our chances highly against Italy, but after our performance so far not many will dare to write us off either.

After an impressive draw with France and a comprehensive win against Togo, my other home team - Switzerland - is also well placed to go through to the next round. They are facing South Korea today and a win could even see them going through as the group leaders. Fingers crossed!

Photo originally uploaded by FIFA.

Commonwealth Games

Has anyone been watching the Commonwealth Games? The current medal tally puts Australia on top with a total of 106 medals, more than twice the number of the nearest rival, England. When one country dominates to such an extent, can we still think of these games as an international competition? Or is it rather becoming a forum to show off Australian sporting prowess?

Then again who really cares? Our sporting prowess is one more reason I am proud to be Australian. I am glad that Australia isn't a country that only focuses on one aspect of social achievement. I have to also mention that it is with some element of pride that I noticed that Sri Lanka (my country of birth) is ranked 18th on the rankings and that Canada (one of my adopted countries) is ranked 5th. Maybe all these sporting traditions will one day motivate me to turn myself into a sporting star. Maybe?

Photo origninally uploaded by Lachlan Hardy