With victory in sight, the Sri Lankans fell just eleven runs short of the required total. A mixture of clever batting from the likes of Misbah-Ul-Haq and Younis Khan, which led to a score of 277 on the board, and inspiring bowling from Shoaib Akhtar and the skipper himself, Shahid Afridi, saw the Pakistan team home.
The match on Saturday between the Lions of Sri Lanka, and the cornered tigers of Pakistan was one which promised to be a cracker, but who would know that both sides would be reduced to praying right down to the last ball?
With Afridi winning the toss, and deciding to bat on the batting friendly Premadasa pitch, things looked like they were lined up for an simple Pakistan victory, but of course it wouldn't be a Pakistan match without all of the tension and stress that they caused their fans!!
To be perfectly honest, I did not expect anything more from Ahmed Shehzad. In fact, I was actually doing 100 bismillah when he got out, because he was wasting so many balls! And then there was the epic mix-up of Akmal and Hafeez, which was the facepalm moment of the whole game. Never have I seen a run out so stupidly selfish in my life! I'm surprised that they didn't ambush each other later on! (although there is no proof that the ambush didn't happen later on!!)
I didn't think Pakistan would make it past 200 the way they were going at a leisurely pace...take your time boys, this is only 50 overs (!)
Something less infuriating was the bowling. Once again Afridi shone and took 4 key wickets. It's like the wickets are coming to him like moths to a light bulb...he seems to have this natural affinity for wicket taking! (which, hey, I'm not complaining about, seeing as our bowlers are so unpredictable!) I will take time here to give credit to the Sri Lankan batsmen...you really did scare the living daylights out of us all!
Once again, a special mention goes out to the amazing crowd who turned up to watch the match. What a delightfully vibrant bunch of people, who were enjoying a fantastic game of cricket, without prejudice. This is the kind of spectators the world cup need, not fans who are rigid to one country, and cannot appreciate and recognise the talents and successes of the other side. The spectators really did make the match more enjoyable!
So that is all from me, join Osiris for his views on the bone-chilling encounter between England and India!
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