Sri Lanka It's Happening

April 15, 2007

History repeated itself when South Africa lost to New Zealand the other night. The margin of victory wasn't very big and that's exactly what happened the last time these two sides met in a world cup. This result probably means a Trans Tasmanian world cup final as many experts from Australian and New Zealand predicted.

As things stand three teams have already qualified for the semi finals. It looks certain that Australia will have the top spot. What ever else happens in this world cup (even if they lose to the Australians today) Sri Lanka will end up as the second or third qualifier. That's significant because the first qualifier meets the fourth and the fourth qualifier has yet to be determined.

If it turns out that South Africa is the fourth qualifier we will have another chance of seeing history repeat itself. The last time these sides (Australia - South Africa) met in a world cup semi there was a tie but the tie break was won by Australia. This time it's highly unlikely that there will be a tie. The kind of lousy cricket that South Africa has played of late means a sure win for Australia. If the fourth semi finalist turns out to be England or West Indies we will see a massacre.

The second semi finalist plays the third so it doesn't really matter if you are second or third. But it's important to avoid being the fourth because that would mean a meeting with Australia. What ever happens from now on, both New Zealand and Sri Lanka will not find themselves in the fourth spot but they might swap second and third places and meet in the semis.

In the super eights, New Zealand didn't even look remotely like winning agains Sri Lanka. But the truth is these two teams are closely matched. It's more than likely that NZ will learn from their defeat and come into the semis better prepared. So there is a good chance that they may win. That leads to the Trans - Tasmanian final.

The one person to unsettle this apple cart would be Slinger Malinga. Sri Lanka won there last match easily even without Malinga. So whatever preparation and improvement that would give New Zealand an edge would be nicely counter balanced by the return of Malinga to the side.

Posted by raditha at April 15, 2007 4:13 AM