Sri Lanka vs Australia: A Just World Cup

By John Cheeran
This has been a just World Cup so far. No Argentina and Brazil have fallen by the wayside, leaving followers of the game to ponder the injustice of it all.
Two of the finest one-day teams have made it to the final. Sri Lanka, an island where blood mingles with water in a fratricidal war, and Australia, an island much bigger in size, if you want to look at it that way, have played almost flawless cricket during the big moments were far superior than the rest.
Cricket is the most objective of all sports. Scoreboard does not leave any room for ambiguity where every ball is analyzed whether it is illegitimate or not and routed to the respective bins of extras. In cricket every moment is accounted for. Even the equation injustice of a Duckworth-Lewis method has been spared in 2007.
Yes, there were small earthquakes when Bangladesh beat India and Ireland pole axed Pakistan. But that did not shake the tournament’s foundations. Those upsets only mirrored the fault lines in Indian and Pakistan cricket.
As Rahul Dravid admitted India did not deserve to be in the Super Eight. Peace prevails in India now thanks to the ambush by Bangladeshis. All credit should go to Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother.
As the curtains were lifting for the World Cup in the Caribbean all experts said this is going to be the most open World Cup of all time. By that they definitely did not mean Bangladesh or Ireland will win the World Cup but they were straining their eyes to see two new finalists to emerge as it would have been if South Africa and New Zealand had the qualified for the final waltz.
Experts and commoners were mentally prepared to accept defending champions Australians crashing out of the World Cup, possibly in the Super Eight. And not many would have bet on Sri Lankans to go so far despite having a varied bowling attack in Muralitharan, Malinga and Vaas.
Cassandras have been proved wrong by cricket.
An Australia-Sri Lanka World Cup final is a triumph of the school of thoughtful cricket. Australian’s schooled approach to the game what with their celebrated cricket academy and the nurturing of talent is in stark contrast to the band-aid solutions that generally prevails in the Indian subcontinent.
Sri Lanka has been an glorious exception to this. Sri Lanka and Australia had clashed in a World Cup final in the past too, in 1996. Even as Sri Lankans lifted the World Cup in Lahore, an Aussie hand was visible in the commotion. That was Dav Whatmore.
This time around, the largely Simhalese Sri Lankans, who have had a bitter relationship towards Aussies (think Darrell Hair and prime Minister John Howard) and especially over the Tamilian genius in their side, Muttiah Muralitharan, have made use of the celebrated Australian approach.
It is no wonder that it is school cricket that is the backbone of Sri Lankan cricket. An appropriate theatre, where the game should be taught and experimented with.
Finally a few words on tomorrow’s final.
Who will win the World Cup. I still pick Australia as winners as I did in the beginning. But I’m certain that unlike the Indians the last time, the joint front put up by the warring Simhalas and Tamilians as Mahela Jayawardena joins hands with Muralitharan, should force Ricky Ponting to the abandon well rehearsed attacking mode.And, if Lions and Tigers maul Kangaroos, guns may fall silent at least for a while.