Clinical Australia cruise into semis

FE Team | Published: September 21, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

CAPE TOWN, Sept 20 (Cricinfo): A match billed as a winner-takes-all contest was as good as decided before latecomers had even taken their seats at Newlands. In that time Australia blew away Sri Lanka's top order, and though they made a recovery of sorts to reach 101, it was a dismal performance and Australia strolled to a ten-wicket win with almost half their overs intact. In Twenty20 terms, it was a massacre. At least there were not too many people inside the ground to witness their humiliation.
Adam Gilchrist decided to stick Sri Lanka in to take advantage of any lingering moisture - this was an almost unreasonably early start to meet the demands of TV - and the move paid off handsomely. The toss was important, but Sri Lanka contributed significantly to their own downfall.
Although Australia bowled and fielded superbly, much of the blame must rest on Sri Lanka's batsmen who approached the match with a naivety that almost suggested they had never played a Twenty20 game. In the main, they perished playing ugly heaves and mows. The format calls for big hitting - Sri Lanka decided to go for reckless slogging.
They lost Sanath Jayasuriya, their top-order talisman, to the third ball of the innings from Brett Lee, a slightly dubious leg-before decision which might have partially resulted from another close call when he was rapped on the pads the previous ball. What followed was horrible.
Upal Tharanga swung and was caught in the deep, and Mahela Jayawardene got a leading edge attempting a swish to midwicket. Sixteen balls into their innings and Sri Lanka were 11 for 3. It should have been worse four balls later, but Brad Hodge mistimed a leap at mid-on and dropped Kumar Sangakkara. One ball later, Chamara Silva took a run to Andrew Symonds in the covers and would have perished had a diving underarm throw hit the stumps. It was almost lemming-like.
And Sri Lanka didn't learn. Their batsmen resembled windmills as they swished and missed with alarming regularity. Silva finally connected but a thick edge flew to Brett Lee at third man, and when Tillakaratne Dilshan stepped to the off and paddled Stuart Clark, the pick of the bowlers, straight to Gilchrist behind the stumps, Sri Lanka were 28 for 5.
In his next over Clark struck twice, Sangakkara cut to point and then two balls later Farveez Maharoof, whose TV profile had just boomed that his favourite shot was the cover drive, slapped an ugly swing to point where Michael Clarke took a superb one-handed catch an inch above the turf.
It was only when Chaminda Vaas and Jehan Mubarak came together in a seventh-wicket stand of 40 that a semblance of common sense was restored, but the horse had long since bolted. Even Australia appeared to take their foot off the accelerator, content to allow singles at will while never letting the batsmen off the leash.