Two Nail Biters In One Day

Of late there has been frequent murmurs about Twenty/20's gaining popularity and it contributing to the demise of one day cricket (the 50 over format). And this theory has been reinforced by many one sided fixtures being played out by teams. But that was not the case today. Two one day matches were played in the Asia Pacific region today, and both turned out to be cliff hangers.

In one encounter Sri Lanka were up against Bangladesh in what was expected to be an one sided affair. but it turned out to be anything but one sided. After winning the toss the Lankan skipper Jayawardena put the hosts into bat, and they crawled along to 152 all out inside the alloted 50 overs. The Lankans were expected to reach the target easily and claim the prize but the B'desh tigers had other plans. When the Lankans came to bat they were losing wickets in a hurry, and inside 8 overs they lost 5 wickets with just 6 runs to show on the board. Of the specialist batsmen only Sanga was still at the crease and there were bright hopes for the hosts. But Sangakkara and Mubarak hung around and raised the team's fifty. When things were getting better for the visitors, Mubarak was run out. All rounder Maharoof and Sangakkara then took Sri Lanka towards safety. Again there was a twist in the plot when Sanga and Kulasekara departed in the same over. With the required run rate climbing steadily tail ender Murali had no option but to swing the bat. And swing he did. He scored 33 of just 16 balls and Lankans won with two wickets and 11 balls to spare.

The other match was pretty evenly contested with top two teams South Africa and Australia locking horns. After winning the toss, Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting had no hesitation to bat first on a good batting surface at the MCG. With opener Mike Hussey departing early, opener Shaun Marsh and Ponting joined forces and put on 94 runs for the second wicket before Ponting was dismissed. With vital contributions from Shaun Marsh, David Hussey and Cameron White, Australia reached a respectable score of 271 for the loss of 8 wickets in their alloted 50 overs. In reply South Africa got off to a shaky start with their openers Gibbs and Amla back in the pavilion with the score card reading just 36. However Jean Paul Duminy, South Africa's crisis man, on this tour, struck a patient half century to put the chase back on track. Neil McKenzie playing in a one day international after a gap of 5 years (he was in the team as A B de Villers was still recovering from Shaun Tait's blow in the T/20's) also scored a fluent 63 and South Africa were cruising towards their target. But when J P Duminy fell in the 41st over, it triggered a mini collapse and suddenly South Africa were looking down the barrel. But South Africa still had big hitting all-rounder Albie Morkel in their ranks, and he wonderfully capitalized on the batting powerplay at his disposal. He stuck an unbeaten 40 of just 18 balls and took South Africa across the finish line with 3 balls to spare. Giving him company at the non-striker's end was skipper Botha. For his efforts Albie Morkel was declared the "Man Of The Match".

Matches like these, which go down the wire are what that makes one day cricket so exciting and enthralling to watch. It was indeed a bumper day for One Day Cricket. Lets hope for much such close showdowns in the coming days.