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# I just like to see them lose
Today, we are all South African.
Mind you, in the last few weeks we have all been spiritual members of so many nationalities for a day, that should the occasion arrive it is conceivable that, just for a day, we would all be your-nanna-and-her-handbag.
Except, to my mild regret – it is only one-day cricket after all – it has been some time since we were all Australians. Not since that meaningless competition in South East Asia just before England came over and did their Isaac impression to Australia’s Abraham. Pity someone forgot to be Gabriel, eh.
Still, give them their due. They did defeat Australia in the finals of the one-day series held after the Ashes. Particular credit should be given since until the finals they had been in a fierce battle with New Zealand, each team striving mightily to be the one to grab third place.
Interestingly enough, Australia then traveled to New Zealand and convincingly lost a one day series to the Black Caps as well. They’re a very good side these days and should have been just as devastated to loss out to England as the Australian team was.
There’s a saying that form is temporary, class is forever. In the period since Australia lost the Ashes, England have had flickers of brilliance but mostly been dire – you could almost say that England either loses or plays a team that is in receipt of Indian bookie money.
Still, there’s only one game that matters in the World Cup; or perhaps the better way to describe it is that the individual games are meaningless, it is the path to the finals that matters. Every other game is just a step on the path to getting to the final. A competition like the World Cup is better viewed as a single game played out over a long period with many breaks; as a strategic endeavour similar to Test cricket.
With that in mind, the critics of Sri Lanka should pull their head in. It isn’t the responsibility of Sri Lanka to provide Australia with testing opposition, it’s not even their responsibility to provide sparkling entertainment to the crowd – although I’m sure the crowd would appreciate it. It is the responsibility of the Sri Lankan team to get to the final game, and then to win the final game. Once they had tied up a semi-final slot they had done everything they could do to that point to achieve the first. Resting their strike bowlers was the right thing to do, it was the strategic thing to do. Better to not to overplay them and keep them fresh and uninjured for the matches that matter.
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# re: I just like to see them lose
—-e, how do you find the time to follow all this? Sporting hero that you are.
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# re: I just like to see them lose
Well, I’m not building my own home; that tends to give one a lot more time to waste on the news cycle
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109 days since 16/03/2009