Lords on a sunlit Twenty20 finals Sunday is hard to beat for character, atmosphere and history – even if the history is almost brand new, comes in a throw away package and is consumed quicker than an Umer Gul yorker hits the bottom of middle. That’s the ‘new’ form of cricket at least.
‘New’ to the international stage but played on Village Greens and Council grounds for decades.
Australia may have departed the tournament early but the locals (mostly Indians from Ealing, Sri Lankans from Peckham and Pakistanis from Huddersfield) couldn’t give a flying samosa.
The England team, fans and press thought they had stolen a psychological march for the Ashes but the home team’s subsequent consignment to the ‘also-rans’ bin soon dampened that train of thought.
My old team Pakistan, and still very close to the heart, took on the undefeated Sri Lankans coached by long time team mate former Blues batsmen Trevor Bayliss, with Lankan Lions clearly the favourite with the bookmakers.
Naturally I had seen Pakistan as a major chance of going one better than 2007 from the beginning, I was a lone voice among so many pundits and public who see that part of the ‘troubled world’ as a geo-political-sporting wilderness.
They simply don’t understand that cricket permeates the culture and lifestyle of just about everybody on a daily basis, not just with the big time of international and IPL style fixtures. The grain of the game is deeper in Pakistan than India, although the woods are both heavy (with willow I presume).
Sri Lanka had widespread sentiment on their side following the Lahore attack 110 days previously. An attack seen as preventable, and only partially successful because of the inadequate security provided by the Pakistan authorities and the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Even the match officials including referee Chris Broad, who had been so critical of the organisation at the time, were given the final to adjudicate.
The press corps sided with the those forcefully confronted by the horror of terrorists bearing arms with intent. It was understandable, but the players and officials from Pakistan had lived with such threats (unrealised until that day) for many years, and they’ll do so for sometime into the future.
Younus Khan’s hometown borders on the volatile Swat Valley. Umar Gul’s family live in Peshawar, the focal point of much of the recent bombings and violence, Shaid Afridi was born near the Khyber Pass and still has many relatives in the Khyber Agency. It is not easy to pursue a high profile, high pressure vocation when the family could be among the next victims of random terror.
Still, they played with verve and flair that is the trademark of wristy, risky sub-continental players. They also held their nerve after early games were lost and the critics sprang up like clowns at the circus. In the end, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets to win the World Twenty20 tournament.
OK, it was only a cricket game, and a short version at that, but you can be assured that the millions, nay tens of millions watching and listening in ‘the troubled homeland’ would have their spirits lifted considerably by the efforts of their countryman at the home of cricket.
The Ashes can start now, after I’ve had an orange juice with my muslim mates to celebrate the world title.
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