<quack>
12 February, India v Netherlands, Paarl
This tournament just gets better and better....
Zaheer Khan (India)
Fifth ball of the 49th over - nine wickets down, eight balls to go, eight singles will do. Playing on borrowed time and flushed with his involvement in the successful demise of Mongia from the previous delivery (see Breadcrumb moment), Zaheer plays what I can only describe as a 'flop' across the line. The ball from de Leede had pitched on middle-and-off and was heading nowhere else but halfway up the sticks. It was so plumb, even the man driving the drinks cart appealed. In fact, even the square-leg umpire appealed! Not bad. In for just 2 balls, involved in 2 dismissals. Man of the Match de Leede finishes with the highly creditable figures of 9.5-0-35-4 and game on!
DD rating - 7.5 lilypads - a clear second place and pushing Nathan hard.
Jan Kloppenburg (Netherlands)
First over, the Dutch want a good start. Should they block for a while, or should they give it a bit of clog? Fourth ball of Javagal Srinaths first over, we get the answer - well, we don't actually. The ball is just too good for the tentative prod of Kloppenburg and Virender Sehwag takes a smart, low catch at second slip.One lilypad for each ball faced by the opener. 300 ODI wickets for the evergreen Srinath.
DD rating - 4 lilypads
Bastiaan Zuiderent (Netherlands)
Good foot movement, the batsman gets to the pitch of the ball nicely. An expansive drive, pose for the cameras and the ball races across the outfield to the extra cover boundary. Well, that's the theory. If you've been in for an hour or you are a Lara or Tendulkar, perhaps you can get away with it. If, however, you are Bastiaan Zuiderent, you are facing your sixth ball in the World Cup and the bowler is a decidedly sharp Zaheer Khan, the game's not that easy. The flamboyant drive makes contact all right, the ball flies hard all right, but straight to Virender Sehwag at slip.
DD rating - a criditable 7 lilypads
Timotheus de Leede (Netherlands)
Enter Harbhajan Singh into the fray. 'Barnacle' de Leede has decided to play the sheet-anchor role, allowing Daan van Bunge and the splendid Extras to take the game to India. Final ball of Harbhajan's first over, the top-spinner totally bamboozles de Leede. A snick and the chance is taken by Rahul Dravid behind the sticks. Seventeen minutes in, nine balls faced, the second-longest duck so far of the tournament. Not bad, but a long way short of the best.
DD rating - 5.5 lilypads
Breadcrumb moment - Dinesh Mongia (India)
Timotheus de Leede from the Nederburg end to Zaheer Khan, fourth ball of the 49th over. A push to Jan Kloppenburg at mid on. Dinesh Mongia, going well, smelling a half-century, desperate to get the strike, charges down the wicket. He knows there is never a run there, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good of the cause. Zaheer is unmoved : "... an Indians crease is his castle, and I'll stay here as long as I choose" - well, for this ball anyway. Mongia turns, sprints, dives, home easily. It was a dreadful return to the bowler - wide, looping. To tell the truth, if the throw had been good it would have been very tight. The bails are removed as an afterthought. But wait..... the third umpire is called for. Apparently, Mongia has decided to celebrate making his ground by waving his bat in the air in triumph. At the critical moment, you could drive a bus between bat and crease. Oh dear! Bye bye, Dinesh. Bye bye India? Only time would tell. Win or lose, they'll be saying "Hey, man, who's Cricket?" in the coffee shops of Amsterdam tonight.
Breadcrumb moment - Harbhajan Singh (India) and Edgar Schiferli (Netherlands)
"Hey, Charlie. Give him de throat ball" was the cry which used to go up in the Caribbean during the 1960s. Well, the 'Turbanator' is a bit of a killer, too. Batting bravely without a helmet to the lightning-fast Harbhajan and whirling at every spitting delivery like a windmill, Schiferli amazingly plays too soon at a searing top-spinner. There is a sickening crunch as the Flying Dutchman gets well and truly poleaxed. There is a five minute delay as
a) The Dutch all-rounder finds his feet again
and
b) Harbhajan finds his tooth to keep as a trophy. "I'm opening with Srinath next game, eh, skip?"
Breadcrumb moment - Javagal Srinath (India)
They always say "bowl a yorker, then follow it up with a slower one"
<luckyeddie> Who always says that?
Those who really know their cricket. You know.....ducks. Quiet, LE, this is my column.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, Srinath to the previously immovable Daan van Bunge - a superb yorker. Clean bowled.... only the bails don't fall.
Next ball, an extraordinarily extravagant extroverted.....
<luckyeddie> less of the exes, DD
Anyway, van Bunge is ex....tracted (a bit like Schiferli's tooth) ex...actly as intended with a real looper. Srinath's playing so well - reminds me of a young Matt Bulbeck.