Everybody expected England to win their game against New Zealand and for it to come down to a NRR battle between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The hosts had already crashed out having conceded a few too many to England and not being able to make the 12 runs they needed to be in the hunt on the final day. It’s amazing how South Africa crumble.
Despite their obvious talent and ability they are a team of intellectual misfits. How some basic decision have been made in this tournament, as well as in the recent past for SA only compounds the horrible luck that they have.
So it came down to the England game and the whole of Sri Lanka was cheering the Poms for the first time in the history of the Republic.
All in vain though as England succumbed pretty tamely to be less than 150 all out and the match was sown up. New Zealand have upped their game considerably since they left Sri Lanka and Martin Guptill has inserted some steel into their middle order as the likes of Ross Taylor continue to fail. Good luck to them in the semis.
It’s a properly representative group in the semis, with England, the two Tasman teams and Pakistan from the Asian bloc. Should be interesting stuff.
Colombo's bound to be agog with places to watch the semis, and sometimes it’s nice to watch it on big screen with your mates. The weekend will bring in some exciting fare.
I went for the first leg of the Hayman on Monday. Had my side mirror stolen, so beware of where you park in and around Suga. Ripped right off the car. Aiyo. Anyway what to do – it was worth it because the match was superb. STC led all the way through until the last quarter when fitness caught up with them. It was nothing except the fact that Royal were the fitter team that stood between Thora winning the first leg and being down by two goals.
All credit to Royal. They stuck with it and remained within striking distance all the way through. Most of the goals were made on the break and it’s a bit disappointing to see that both teams lack the common sense to exploit an ‘extra-man’ situation.
The referees were a bit chaotic as can always been the case when they are new to the country and hopefully the boys will have realised what is expected of them from a refereeing point of view in the second leg.
There were several exclusions so the game should really have been a bit more high scoring had either team shown some composure in front of goal, coupled with the desire to take a shot.
It’s amazing how many swear words little kids know these days. My mate who was watching the match with me, had to shoo a couple of young school boys when their cheering and/or jeering got just a wee bit too unsavoury.
What is disappointing is the amount of hotties that come for the Hayman now. Girls never looked this good when I was playing. And we never ever lost to Royal.
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