4th Quarter Final: A Walkover

Yesterday's match, which was as big as a quarter-final of the world cup, unfortunately turned out to be a soporific encounter dominated by Sri Lanka. Playing at the Premadasa, the pitch and the game both turned Sri Lanka's way. England enjoyed a fair share of luck by winning the toss which is vital at the Premadasa. Batting first was their best chance to make a match out of it, and honestly speaking, they did not play too bad. Of course, they struggled against spin. Not that they did not put up a fight while batting but they simply lacked any talent to tackle quality spin. None of the Englishmen seemed confident picking any of the three spinners that Sri Lanka were armoured with. Jonathan Trott's fine 86 and Eoin Morgan's fortunate 50 helped England to reach a decent total of 229.

It was not impossible to defend 229 but considering England's impotent bowling attack we all thought it would be tough. And it indeed was. It proved to be so tough for England that they did not manage to pick even a single Sri Lankan wicket. Sri Lanka's road to victory was no tougher than a walk around a park. Dilshan and Tharanga both scored unbeaten hundreds and took Sri Lanka to the target with 63 balls to spare and 10 wickets in hand.

In my opinion, there was nothing spectacular about the match. Not the Lankan spin. Not even the 2 hundreds by their openers. The English inning looked like an elongated struggle and the Sri Lankan batting, although the scorecard suggested otherwise, lacked any flamboyance whatsoever. Not that they did not play well. They were dominating right since the beginning but it's just that the Lankans are not exciting to watch in my opinion.

The docile English attack looked simply incapable of making a mark on the slow pitch of Colombo. And that's why the teams seemed to have batted on two different pitches. England endured a seemingly endless struggle against spin to reach 229 for 6 in 50 overs whereas the Sri Lankans chased down the target with all their wickets in tact in 39.3 overs.

This was the story of the 4th and the last quarter-final which, by all means, turned out to be a dull match to watch and a walkover for Sri Lanka. This was also the end of a media-hyped and sensationalized English world cup campaign that, unlike some of its previous versions, did entertain us most of the time but failed to leave a lasting impression on the cup of glory.

Man of the Match: Tilakratne Dilshan

Pre'match'ure Take: Sri Lanka Vs Australia

One of the biggest and the most anticipated league clashes of this tournament is the game that's scheduled to start in 30 minutes as I write this. The country of Ravana will battle against the country of Jason Gillespie. I have never seen Ravana but imagine him looking similar to Gillespie.

The last time these two met in a world cup was in a mismatched final dominated by the Australians and particularly by the legendary wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist. That, however, is a story of the past and Australia are definitely not the world-beaters they used to be back in the day. Yet, Australia are a great team, one of the best in ODIs even to this day, and shall have many reasons to believe that they can beat Sri Lanka in Colombo. Although, this time they will have to work real hard, stick to the strategies, and keep it as tight as possible when it comes to bowling. Ricky Ponting will have to get some runs and lead from the front. Shane Watson, the in-form opener, will have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Michael Clark must have to strengthen the middle-order. Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, and Mitchell Johnson should try and get one of the openers along with Kumar Sangakara in the first 10 overs. Australia are still the world champions and stand a superb chance to win the battle of Colombo.

Sri Lanka, too, have a fair chance of winning the game this time since they are playing at home, and, as I just saw, they have won the toss and elected to bat. I believe Premadasa is not a great cricketing venue since the results here depend too much on the toss. The team batting first invariably has an edge here. The Lankans should expect either Sangakara or Jaywardhane to bat through the innings. I tend to feel that Sangakara will play a larger role today since he is a better player of pace than any other Sri Lankan. A lot will depend on Dilshan-the gambler and Tharanga. However, the biggest factor of the match will be spin and the player to watch out for is a person who can turn even on cement let alone at Premadasa - Muttiah Muralitharan. Murali will play with all his heart since it is his lats world cup and beating Australia is something precious to every player in his generation.

The only time Sri Lanka have ever beaten the Aussies in a world cup was in the final of the '96 cup and they would be desperate to improve that. The first ball is about to be bowled and I sign off to watch the action. My prediction - since the match is at Premadasa and since Sri Lanka have won the toss - is a thriller of a game. I'd give a 55 to Sri Lanka and a 45 to Australia.