..::CRICKET::..

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sri Lanka take unorthodox route to success

Cricket lovers everywhere haven't had enough of Tillakaratne Dilshan's audacious scoop over the wicketkeeper yet and they are already being treated to a second unconventional shot from another Sri Lankan batsman. Mahela Jayawardene took innovation in batting to a higher plane by playing a reverse sweep with the back of his bat against Jacob Oram during the Super Eights match versus New Zealand at Trent Bridge. He bent down low, got into position to play the shot, and just when we expected him to switch his bat around, he simply let the ball go off the back, placing it fine enough to beat the man at short third man.

"It's something I have been trying for a while," Jayawardene said. "I have actually been trying to hit the reverse-sweep with the other side of the bat but found it a bit difficult to time it, sometimes it's a bit quick for me and I get top edges. This is something I've worked with Trevor [Bayliss] on. He was saying that [John] Dyson used to do that in Australia. He used to tap it with the other side because he couldn't sweep.

"A lot of teams bring third man up these days and I thought I'll give it a go. It was the last over so I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Hopefully it will keep working."

Jayawardene's back-bat paddle is the latest of several innovations the Sri Lankans have unleashed on their opponents during the World Twenty20. Dilshan dropped jaws when he got to his fifty in Sri Lanka's first match against Australia by moving across his stumps, bending low to get under the ball, and scooping it right over the wicketkeeper's head. It wasn't a one-off for he replicated that shot with success against every team apart from New Zealand who, according to Daniel Vettori, had made plans to prevent Dilshan from playing that shot. When Dilshan was asked how he conceived of such a shot which, if mis-timed, could send the ball straight on to his face, his answer was simple. "You can't place a fielder behind the wicketkeeper," he said.

It's not just the Sri Lankan batsmen, though, who've showed off new tricks in England. Lasith Malinga has developed a delivery that is the polar opposite of his stock ball, the searing, toe-crushing yorker. Just when batsmen are preparing to get their boots out of the way, and their bats down in time to protect their stumps, Malinga unleashes a slower full toss which swerves away from the right-hander and often flattens the stumps. Brad Haddin was his first unsuspecting victim and Malinga used the slower full toss repeatedly against New Zealand today as well. He bowled four in an over, forcing Aaron Redmond to chip one of them straight to square leg.

These innovations, Jayawardene said, were not developed on a whim but were part of Sri Lanka's plan to stay ahead of their competition in a game that is constantly evolving. "What we've realized as a team is that if we are going to move up a level we have to come up with different things," Jayawardene said. "A lot of people analyze you. What our guys are trying to do is keep one step ahead. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But as long as the attitude and the confidence is there to do that I think it will help you in the long run."

The Sri Lankan team, unlike most others, does not have many homogeneous cricketers. They've produced a succession of players with unorthodox styles who have amazed audiences with their unique brand of cricket. Jayawardene indicated that the system which produced Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga and Mendis was likely to churn out more never-seen-before type of players.

"Kids pick up a ball and start playing and they try to do different things," Jayawardene said. "Over the last ten years we've seen the way Sanath bats, so kids have seen people doing different things and are trying to imitate those things and find their own flair.

"The coaches don't try to change many things. They just let the player progress through the system and then fine tune him later. When Ajantha came to the academy, he didn't have control over many things but Ruwan Kalpage helped him work on his deliveries. Within six months he was fine."

Sri Lanka's unique approach to learning and playing cricket has certainly given them an edge over their opponents in this tournament. Vettori, for instance, said that New Zealand had come prepared for Dilshan's scoop but "certainly didn't expect Mahela to use the back of the bat". He tipped Sri Lanka and South Africa as favorites to make the final, and said it would be an amazing match between two teams who "play the game at different ends of the spectrum": South Africa's discipline and skill pitted against Sri Lanka's unorthodox magic.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Tillakaratne Dilshan's scoop

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Time for The Gibbs?​

* We've seen Tillakaratne Dilshan's scoop and Mahela Jayawardene's back-of-the bat sweep, but are we in for another new shot? Not wanting to be left behind, Herschelle Gibbs has been working on a few innovations of his own.

* "It's imperative that you encourage that. Our guys are learning all the time," Mickey Arthur said. "I had a discussion with Herschelle a couple of days ago and he is working on two more shots that he hasn't unveiled yet because he doesn't want to be caught in the pack.

* "He wants to set himself apart. He doesn't like being upstaged by 'The Dilshan', he wants to get 'The Gibbs' out there."

* There were no more clues on what the shots entail, so will 'The Gibbs' come out in the semi-final? "Maybe not," Arthur said. "Hopefully he'll save it for Lord's."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Lahore attack suspect arrested​

Pakistan police have arrested a man suspected of being involved in the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore on March 3 earlier this year. Five cricketers, including Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, were injured in the attack which killed six security men and two civilians.

Pervez Rathor, Lahore's police chief, said seven attackers had been identified and one had been arrested. "We have broken up a Punjabi Taliban network and we have arrested an attacker who shot dead a policeman," Rathor told reporters. The suspect, who police identified as Zubair, also known as Naik Mohammad, appeared at the news conference in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province in Pakistan, with a blanket over his head to hide his identity.

The Sri Lankan team was in Pakistan for a two-Test tour which, as a result of the attack, was terminated abruptly. The attack had immediate repercussions for cricket in Pakistan, as its status as an international sporting venue came under doubt. The ICC subsequently decided to strip the country of its right to host the 2011 World Cup.

 

[mawella]

elzzzzzzz

 

[Maddu]

Keep It Up Buddy....

WelDone...

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

England transfer attention to Ashes​

England's selectors are set to name an extended squad of up to 17 players ahead of the first Ashes Test at Cardiff on July 8, as attention shifts away from their Twenty20 campaign that came to an end in a rain-reduced run-chase against West Indies at The Oval on Monday night, and onto the summer's main event.

In a change of convention under the new coach, Andy Flower, England's original intention had been to unveil a training squad this Saturday, ahead of their three-day warm-up match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston on July 1, and trim it down to a more manageable number before the Cardiff Test gets underway a week later.

Now, however, that announcement has been put back until Monday, June 22, to allow key players - in particular Andrew Flintoff - to prove their form and fitness in county cricket, and other fringe candidates such as Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan, a final opportunity to impress the selectors.

Flintoff has already been in action for Lancashire this past week, bowling with impressive hostility in their County Championship defeat against Durham, in his first outing since undergoing knee surgery in April. He has another four-day game lined up against Hampshire at Liverpool, starting tomorrow.

"It was very good news to see him back for Lancashire and bowling well," said Flower. "I think he has another game now, so getting some first-class cricket under his belt is very important for his own readiness for the Ashes. If he's fit he's a shoo-in. If he's fit and firing of course.

"We'll be getting together for a couple of team building sessions prior to the Warwickshire game," Flower added. "The squad we'll initially announce will be larger than the 12 or 13 for the first Test. I would think Flintoff will be in that larger squad, and then the first Test squad will be trimmed down."

England's three-day game at Edgbaston runs concurrently with the England Lions fixture against Australia at New Road, and is a rare opportunity for the Test team to obtain non-international match practice in a crowded summer.

"Getting together for a first-class game would be a good thing and we envisage it being a proper eleven-a-side game," said Flower. "Some of the guys are playing first-class cricket today and we'll decide on individual commitments to Twenty20 matches when the squad is picked."

The majority of the players involved in England's Twenty20 campaign will be rested until the squad gets together in Birmingham next week. Kevin Pietersen is being given an opportunity to manage his Achilles injury, while James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann are also sitting out the latest round of Championship matches.

Having tried in the early part of the summer, often unsuccessfully, to avoid talking about the Australians, Flower added that England can now officially switch their mindsets and start to focus on the big one. "I'm very excited about the prospect of the Ashes now," he said, "and yes, absolutely, everyone can talk about them now."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Boy wonder

The first bowler Wayne Parnell saw bowl live was Ashish Nehra. The young Eastern Cape hopeful was mesmerized by the man from Delhi. Apart from also being a fellow left-armer, Nehra had the ability to move the ball off the wicket, which caught Parnell's eye. The new nut swung as though it was dancing to a tune only it could hear, being played by Nehra himself. He changed his line and length ever so slightly, was accurate and pacy, and had an inswinger to behold. Parnell just may have seen a little bit of himself in Nehra.

Although Parnell has been in England recently, playing for Kent, he hasn't lost sight of the first international bowler he watched. In fact, Parnell must have been watching Nehra extra closely during the IPL: he looks just as devastating in the World Twenty20 as Nehra was for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. Such has been Parnell's rise to prominence that it's difficult to believe that as little as 18 months ago he was captaining his school team.

Parnell wasn't just any other schoolboy. At 15 he was selected for the South African Under-19 team to play in the World Cup in Sri Lanka. South Africa had a mediocre tournament, losing to Nepal in the plate semi-final. Two years later he returned to captain the team. This time it was different. He led his team to the final (which they lost to India by 12 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method) and his individual performances helped him make a name for himself.

His voice changes when he speaks of his most special memory of that World Cup. The serious Parnell becomes reminiscent, like a young child recalling his favourite ice-cream. "The standout performance for me was the quarter-final against Bangladesh. I scored 57 and took six wickets for eight runs and we won that match by a huge margin [201 runs]. That is a very special memory for me."

That match-winning performance and his leadership skills throughout the competition all but guaranteed Parnell a career in cricket. By then his life had already significantly changed because of the sport. Parnell discovered he could bowl when he was just seven. He was playing in a game of mini-cricket and hit a batsman with a bouncer, leaving the poor child with a bloodied nose. Parnell continued playing cricket and a host of other sports while in primary school.

Christo Esau, the Youth Coach of Eastern Province Cricket, was instrumental in Parnell being awarded a scholarship to Grey College, a respected sporting school, where his cricket could develop the most. That's exactly what happened. "There were a few matches where I took all 10 wickets," Parnell says. After a string of good performances Parnell decided cricket was where his future firmly lay. The only hurdle in his path was a logistical one. Parnell was unable to attend some of the practices for the Eastern Province team because his parents' house was too far away from St George's Park. A solution was not far away, though. "My English teacher, Lyn Sjoberg, suggested I move in with her, since her children were not living at home anymore, and she only lived about three minutes from the stadium," Parnell says. "So that's what I did."

The move was fruitful, and soon Parnell earned a first-class call-up to the Eastern Province side. From there his U-19 success followed and he was selected to play for the South African Emerging side in Australia late last year. Parnell's record in first-class cricket is not very glamorous: he has taken 37 wickets at an average of 31.29 and has a batting average of 20.23. The longer version of the game is not Parnell's focus at the moment, and he's made no secret of his enjoyment for limited-overs cricket. "I prefer the shorter version of the game," he says, "especially since I haven't played that many first-class games."

Parnell and his Warriors team mate Lonwabo Tsotsobe, another left-arm seamer, were called up to South Africa's ODI side to face Australia in January this year. Both had mediocre performances Down Under, but an injury to Tsotsobe paved the way for Parnell to establish himself as the first-choice left-arm pacer in the South African line-up. He shared the new ball with Dale Steyn in the home ODI series against Australia, and that's where he announced his arrival. In the second ODI, in Centurion, Parnell ripped through the Australian attack, taking four for 25, including the wicket he regards as his most prized. "Michael Hussey's wicket is the best I have taken so far. All my team-mates tell me it should be Ricky Ponting, but I've always thought of Hussey as a really good batsman, so that's my most valuable wicket."

Parnell finished the series having earned himself a place in South Africa's World Twenty20 squad. He had played in England before, on a school tour, and went into the competition confident of his ability. "The wickets are softer in England, so the ball swings more, and I can use that to my advantage." Yusuf Abdulla's success for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL may have given the selectors a pleasant dilemma in deciding which left-arm seam bowler to opt for, and going by the results so far, they will be pleased with their decision.

Just like Nehra, Parnell is starting to make the ball dance to his own tune. His bowling at the death has been deadly. He whipped out the big guns against England and West Indies, taking 3 for 14 and 4 for 13. In the six matches Parnell has played in the World Twenty20, he has taken 10 wickets, at an average of 16.60. More importantly, he has achieved his goal of cementing his place in South Africa's limited-overs side. Perhaps it's Nehra who will start watching Parnell from now on.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

ICC Women's World Twenty20 2009
New Zealand storm into final with big win​

New Zealand made it to the second World Cup final in three months with an emphatic win against India who struggled to 93 at Trent Bridge. Aimee Watkins, the New Zealand captain, played the innings of the tournament - an unbeaten 89 off 58 balls - and gave her bowlers an easy target to defend.

Not that they needed a massive total. The seamers were frugal and conceded only seven boundaries in the entire innings, five less than what Watkins hit herself. India started off slow and lost their first wicket in the second over when Poonam Raut edged an inswinger from Sian Ruck to square leg. But that brought out Mithali Raj, India's most successful batsman, to the crease, to join their most experienced batsman, Anjum Chopra. Their partnership would have been the key but they hit only two boundaries in their 23-run stand - the highest for India.

Watkins' innings was in contrast to the Indian innings and was the perfect appetiser to today's main event - the men's semi-final between Pakistan and South Africa. She slogged and cut with ease but also had luck on her side. An edge was missed by the keeper and went for four to third man and she was also beaten at times. Despite that it was an entertaining Twenty20 innings and Watkins was clearly enjoying herself, smiling after every boundary. The best of those was a square drive off Harmanpreet Kaur in an over that cost 14 runs. When she hit the first six of the match in the 17th over, slogging it over square leg, Watkins equalled Claire Taylor's 75 - then the highest score of the tournament. She hit a second six off the last ball of the innings to take New Zealand past 140.

India were virtually out of the game by the start of the eighth over of their innings when they lost two wickets in two balls. Chopra mistimed a pull from Kate Pulford and Suzie Bates came running in from midwicket to take a diving catch. Ruck came on to bowl her final over on the trot, pitched the first ball on middle and flattened the legstump to send Kaur back first-ball. Ruck, New Zealand's leading wicket-taker in the tournament, repeatedly got the ball to swing in to the right-handers and though she gave away three fours, there were no doubles or triples in her spell.

When Kaur had departed, India had collapsed to 30 for 3 and the occasional boundaries just weren't enough. They even failed to dispatch the short and wide deliveries for fours.

Though, to be fair, there were hardly any to exploit. New Zealand's seamers were very disciplined, bowling full, yorker-length deliveries and giving no room to slog. Reema Malhotra was run out after Raj refused a single in an over that yielded just one run. Amy Satterthwaite got Raj in her next over when she tried to hit over the field and was caught by Sara McGlashan. The required run-rate had climbed to more than 11 an over and with their main batsmen gone, it was just a question of whether India would last 20 overs.

The only six of the innings came too late - in the 16th over - and India will wonder whether they should have brought Amita Sharma in earlier than No. 6. The only time they looked to be on par with New Zealand was in the first ten overs of the match when Sharma and Rumeli Dhar picked up three wickets.

As a curtain-raiser, the match wasn't the best advertisement of women's cricket. But New Zealand certainly were.

 

[shanfit]

wooo sooo damn gud

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

wooo sooo damn gud

Thanks

 

[djanuradhaxxx]

allo bro!

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sangakkara banks on team unity​

They are both called island teams but the similarity ends with the terminology. While the West Indies as we know it is a collection of disparate countries coming together largely for cricketing purposes, Sri Lanka is one nation. A collection of diverse ethnicities and faiths, yes - Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim - but one unit with allegiance to one flag. It's that sense of unity that has helped Sri Lanka's cricketers cope with terrorism - whether at home, in the 25-year civil war, or latterly in Lahore when the cricketers themselves came under attack.

"Our side has, from the very inception, been one unit," Kumar Sangakkara, the captain, said at The Oval, after an elaborate training session ahead of Friday's semi-final. The main reason his team was able to bond in the aftermath of Lahore, he said, was because the players had been a virtual family from their boyhood days. That close proximity helped ease the pain and recover easily. "We've played cricket with and against each other since we were 12 or 13 years old. Everyone lives in and around Colombo and we see each other almost every single day so it is easy for us to travel and bond."

Sangakkara said the advantage was that they backed each other and trusted every single player to do the job on the given day. "The greatest plus for us in the dressing room is we don't have egos."

It's easy to believe him. Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara himself - the most experienced players - have been able to transform their game and compete well along the youngsters in the side.

"We have amazing players who are absolutely lovely guys, keen on playing good cricket. That has helped the team grow," Sangakkara said. According to him, the newcomers didn't find it hard to find their feet due to the cordial atmosphere in the dressing room. "When new players come in, they like the environment. There is no added pressure on them, just an acceptance and a great deal of respect for the fact that they are good enough."

Despite having two bowlers in the top five of the wicket-takers' list in the tournament - Lasith Malinga (at No. 3 with 11 wickets) and Ajantha Mendis (No. 4 with 10) - Sri Lanka will be wary of Chris Gayle and his band, who have already played three games including one warm-up at their favourite hunting ground - the venue of their 2004 Champions Trophy victory.

In contrast, this would be Sri Lanka's first game in the tournament at The Oval but Sangakkara was not worried. "We should try and make sure we play to our strengths and pick our best side," he said. "We have played one-day cricket before and it is a pretty even track with good bounce and will stay consistent throughout."

Sri Lanka will bank on their lethal spin combination of Muralitharan and Mendis along with the swinging skills of Malinga to give them the upper hand. "If our spinners can get some bounce out of the track, that will be more effective and the batsmen may find it difficult to hit hard as the extra bounce," Sangakkara said.

West Indies will no doubt rely on the depth in the batting order packed with power hitters, but Sangakkara said the presence of a matchwinner like Mendis makes the contest even. The unpredictability of Mendis' finger spin has bamboozled some of the world's best batsmen and Sangakkara said it would be a dangerous weapon,. "He would be. Right? He would be on the top of my bowling list always."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Hurt South Africa fall short again

It won't haunt a generation like Edgbaston in 1999. There won't be the same pain that accompanied going out of a home World Cup in 2003. There wasn't the embarrassment of St Lucia in 2007 when Glenn McGrath and friends had the game sewn up inside half an hour. But yet again, South Africa fell short in a game that mattered. It would be unfair if the C word was trotted out this time though, because it was Pakistani brilliance rather than South African faint-heartedness that decided this game.

What can you do when Shahid Afridi suddenly remembers how to bat, when he abruptly flails Johan Botha thrice over cover in the same over? What can you do when he produces a magic delivery to Herschelle Gibbs? What could Graeme Smith and his team have done about Umar Gul, the prince of death bowling who bowls his yorkers as unerringly as Waqar Younis once did? Younis Khan spoke afterwards of the team's inconsistency and of how it mirrored the unstable situation back home, but when it came to the crunch, Pakistani technicolour easily overshadowed South African sepia.

Smith insisted afterwards that there were aspects of the performance to be happy with. He was right. South Africa responded superbly after Afridi's onslaught on Botha, and the bowling at the death from Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn was just outstanding. But unlike the earlier games, the fielding was far from faultless, and there was a timidity about the batting that always made you fancy Pakistan from the moment Afridi got the topspinner past Gibbs.

Gibbs and AB de Villiers apart, South Africa don't really have batsmen with the inventiveness to play their way out of a tourniquet, especially against spin. Mark Boucher might have been a worthwhile option in an Afridi-like role, but South Africa stuck instead to the orthodox and came up short. Players like Afridi and Yusuf Pathan will fail as often as they come up trumps, but they bring a sort of manic unpredictability to their teams that South Africa patently lack.

Australia had it with Andrew Symonds, and West Indies do with Chris Gayle, and it should come as no surprise that those outfits have brushed South Africa aside in global events in the recent past. There's little doubt now that South Africa possess the best all-round side in all forms of the game, but until they can win the matches that matter, they will never be respected or feared like Lloyd's West Indians or Ponting's Australians.

In the most unpredictable format of the game, you could argue that the law of averages caught up with them, after seven T20 wins in a row. But the greatest operate outside of such restrictions. Australia have won 29 World Cup matches in a row since 1999, and the West Indies didn't taste defeat in the competition until 1983. As good as Smith's team is, it isn't yet the real deal. You suspect that realisation will hurt even more than this defeat.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

No batsman has figured me out​

​

​

Three months to the day after he was discharged from a Colombo hospital, head swathed in bandages, Ajantha Mendis claimed 3 for 9 and Man-of-the-Match honors in the World Twenty20 Super Eights match against New Zealand. The wounds from the Lahore terror attack may have left physical scars, but they have done nothing to diminish his spin-bowling wizardry.

Mendis' story is the most remarkable of these World Twenty20 championships. After undergoing two rounds of surgery to remove shrapnel from his scalp and back in March - procedures that required 17 stitches - Mendis has returned to international cricket as if nothing has been amiss. The headaches he suffered in the weeks after the shootout have now been transferred to opposing batsmen, who have struggled to reconcile with his pace, flight and variations throughout the tournament. The nightmares of the Gadaffi Stadium are giving way to a dream-run in England.

Entering Friday's semi-final against West Indies at The Oval, Mendis has claimed an astonishing 10 wickets at 10 runs apiece in five World Twenty20 matches. His economy rate (5.55) is the best of all Sri Lankan bowlers, and his list of victims include luminaries such as Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ross Taylor. Coupled with Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan, his deeds have gone far to maintaining Sri Lanka's perfect tournament record ahead of Friday's match.

But the question remains: just how has Mendis summoned the mental strength to not only contend with the physical and emotional trauma of the terror attack, but thrive on cricket's most demanding stage so soon after? In shy, almost inaudible tones, the diminutive spinner says that, to him, the three-month journey from Lahore to London is not especially noteworthy.

"It is nothing special," Mendis told. "I have got together with the team. Murali has been helping me along. It has been going along nicely with the team-mates."

Others have been more forthcoming with their praise for Mendis. Chris Gayle, whom he will face on Friday, believes his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate could hold the key to Sri Lanka's hopes of claiming their first major tournament success since the 1996 World Cup.

"He came onto the scene with a bang and he's been brilliant ever since. You saw him in the game against Australia - he's a bowler who can come in and break partnerships and take key wickets for his team. I batted against him in the nets (at the IPL) , and he's not the easiest bowler to hit out of the park. He's got so many deliveries. You have to back yourself and play according to the situation."

Mendis, for his part, does not appear rattled at the prospect of facing the tournament's most destructive batsman at The Oval. It was at this ground that Gayle blasted Brett Lee onto Harleyford Road and the Bedser Stand roof within the space of three deliveries a fortnight ago, thus beginning the West Indies' roller-coaster journey into the World Twenty20 semi-finals. Mendis, though, was not concerned with the past deeds of the West Indian skipper.

"I'm not interested in who I'm bowling to," Mendis said, when asked about Gayle. "I'm bowling my line and length and not concentrating on who is at the other end. I study the batsmen and the situation of the match and the wicket, and I adjust my bowling accordingly. I'm comfortable with what I'm bowling. No batsman has figured me out yet."

No one has doubted Mendis' ability to confound batsmen. Since making his international debut in Trinidad last year, the 24-year-old has excelled in all three formats with bustling pace, low trajectory and Johnny Gleeson-style flicks of the finger. But it was not until this tournament that the world witnessed the resolve and courage of Sri Lanka's most exciting spin-bowling prospect since a young Muttiah Muraliatharan burst onto the international scene 14 years ago. Win or lose on Friday, Mendis has earned the respect of all.

"The tournament has better than I expected," he said. "I have been doing well since the first game, and I hope to continue that."

 

[sheyan]

hmm

pakisthan dinnane kauruth hithuwe nahaneda...

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

England and New Zealand through to the Women's T20 World cup final

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Pakistan v Sri Lanka, ICC World Twenty20 2009, final, Lord's

Journey a triumph of human spirit

On the morning of March 3 in Lahore, the world of cricket was shaken to the core. The horrific attack on the Sri Lankan team bus, as it pulled into the Gadaffi Stadium ahead of the third day of the second Test against Pakistan, was the moment a thousand preconceptions were destroyed. Cricket's presumptions to diplomatic immunity had been mocked by the forces of evil, and as Pakistan spiraled into sporting exile and Sri Lanka's traumatised players rushed home to the bosom of their families, the obvious reaction was to wonder "what now?" for the great game.

Three and a half months later, and sport's great gift for reinvention has delivered a contest that flicks two fingers at the perpetrators of the Lahore atrocity, and proves that - without wishing to overload the sentiment - the human spirit cannot be crushed by cold calculation. Pakistan and Sri Lanka will take center stage at Lord's on Sunday for the final of the most joyful international tournament the game has arranged in years. Twenty20 may be cricket for hedonists, but after everything these two teams and their respective nations have been through of late, the need to lay on a party suddenly feels like the only serious obligation.

"It is a fitting reward for the courage of the team in the way they have played the tournament," said Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka's statesmanlike captain. "All the players have got through Lahore, but what it brought home to us is that we are just the same as everyone else. Sometimes it is nice to be reminded of your mortality, especially when the press and everyone else blows you up to be more than that in this sporting culture. But we've shown no fear and we've gone to play cricket, and it's a fitting reward for that attitude."

If Sri Lanka enter the final as favourites, it is only by dint of their exceptional consistency throughout the tournament. Unlike South Africa, the one-dimensional steamrollers who were spectacularly upstaged by the mercurial Pakistanis at Trent Bridge, Sri Lanka's unbeaten run owes itself, if you like, to a Barcelona-style carousel system, in which the identity of the day's gamebreaker is impossible to call until the damage has already been done. One day, Ajantha Mendis will sweep through the midfield, the next it's Lasith Malinga, while Muttiah Muralitharan's enduring class allows no liberties to be taken against his four overs. And then, every once in a while, up will pop a totally random destroyer, such as Angelo Mathews, the three-wicket wrecking ball against West Indies on Friday.

And yet, Pakistan have developed some serious momentum in the latter stages of the tournament. Their captain, Younis Khan, laughed in the face of their group-stage trouncing against England, dismissing Twenty20 cricket as "fun", and later likened it to WWF wrestling as well. His comments caused consternation at the time, particularly for the thousands of passionate Pakistan fans whose presence and exuberance at all matches have been among the highlights of the competition. But internally, his words had a soothing effect on a side that had lacked meaningful match practice since a low-key one-day series in UAE. As soon as they hit their stride with a walloping of New Zealand at Lord's, Younis' impassioned defense of his star bowler, Umar Gul, in the face of ball-tampering insinuations, left no-one in any doubt as to the galvanised nature of their campaign.

Gul's peerless death bowling remains one reason why Pakistan have the potential to go one step better than in 2007, when Misbah-ul-Haq's traumatic aberration delivered India a five-run victory and instigated a Twenty20 revolution. Shahid Afridi's big-game mentality and bamboozling legspin is another. Set against their wiles is the sensational form and innovative eye of Tillakaratne Dilshan, who produced his most orthodox innings of the tournament on Friday and still came within ten yards of posting the second century in Twenty20 international history.

But whatever happens, it's all about to come down to 40 overs of fiesta cricket in front of a packed house at Lord's, and on this occasion, the old adage "to the victors, the spoils" somehow doesn't seem fitting. Sunday's final is not merely a celebration of cricket, it is a celebration of life. And that's a very serious reason to abandon any lingering hang-ups about the place of 20-over cricket in the grander scheme of the game, and simply get on with the important business of letting the hair down. Joie de vivre has carried these two teams into the final, and it will sustain them in victory or defeat.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sangakkara wants to go one step further than 2007

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan captain, has said Pakistan's unpredictability was something his team needs to watch out for during Sunday's final.

Pakistan looked hapless in their opening-game defeat to England but bounced back strongly since, upsetting tournament favourites South Africa in the semi-final. "They've probably learnt a few things along the way," AFP quoted Sangakkara as saying. "They've always been a competitive side, temperamental, but you are always wary when you play against them.

"The greatest challenge they present is the fact they are unpredictable. Hopefully, we'll have enough strength to tie them down when need be."

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have progressed smoothly to the finals, with their varied bowling attack guiding them to six straight victories.

Their greatest success in limited-overs cricket so far has been the 1996 World Cup win, and two members of that side, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan, are still key performers. Sangakkara was part of the side that was beaten in the final of the 2007 World Cup, and he is desperate to get his hands on a world title.

"A World Cup is a World Cup, isn't it?," he said. "We have guys in the team who've already tasted that victory and they've always told us there's no feeling like that."

It was only three months ago that the Sri Lankan team were attacked by terrorists during a tour of Pakistan, injuring several players. "Hopefully, there'll not be much emotion. I think we've got to control that part if we want to be mentally strong enough to do what we have to do tomorrow [Sunday]," he said. "I think the guys have moved on very well from where we were just after Lahore."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sri Lanka can do it............