da leao：
da aposte e ganhe： Christopher Martin-Jenkins21-Aug-2008The first under-15 world tournament reached a wild climax atLord`s yesterday. Over-excited elements in a partisan crowd of8,000 supporting the finalists, India and Pakistan, had beenthreatening unruliness throughout what was, until the closingstages, a happy occasion.As India, led by a wonderfully mature innings of 82 not out bytheir captain, Retinder Sodhi, moved inexorably towards a four-wicket victory, reached eventually with 14 balls to spare,hordes of spectators twice invaded the pitch, stealing thestumps.Inadequate numbers of stewards and police struggled to keep orderand on the second occasion the Indian batsmen left the field, aspectator was hit on the head and lay in- jured on the outfieldfor several minutes and a skin-head Pakis- tan supporter was ledaway by police after having a stump wrested away. He was anadult, but most of the invaders were young: more over-enthusiastic than malevolent.There was further trouble after the game when pol- ice led awaymore trouble-makers and a spokesman said four spec- tators hadbeen arrested. It was clear that both the size and fervour ofthe crowd had taken the authorities by surprise. There wasbooing as well as cheering at the prize-giving.It was a quite inappropriate end to a lively match and a mostsuccessful tournament. Attracting 10 countries, run like clock-work until the final by the English Schools` Cricket Associa-tion, sponsored by Lombard with a #50,000 gift from the theLord`s Taverners, and televised from the semi- finals on bySky, the matches proved that all that separates 14 and 15-year-old would-be international players from the real thing isage, strength and experience.There was no difference in respect of raw talent, nor, alas, oftheatrical histrionics, fervent appealing and open, but notmalicious, dissent. No difference, even, in the advertising logoson the Indian shirts.Sodhi, a tall and already very accomplished right- handedopener, is clearly destined for stardom.India and Pakistan may not necessarily have been the bestsides in the tournament, but assuredly they were the most com-mitted and best organised. Both countries were backed by theirgovernments and had been planning for this event for 18months.Both finalists were unbeaten, so there was no ques- tioning theirright to be at Lord`s. What is more, some 8,000 of theirEngland-domiciled supporters turned up to watch, making a dinworthy of 80,000. They lent atmosphere to the day and those whoappreciated the finer points saw much stylish stroke-play andsome mature bowling, especially from the 13-year-old left-armspinner from Jalandhar, Rajiv Jolly, possibly the youngest toplay at Lord`s since Sir Colin Cowdrey in 1946. For Pakistan,Shazad Nazir already looks a fast bowler of immense promise.Pakistan were put into bat by the Indians on a heavy morningand on an ideal pitch were restricted to four an over despitea fine innings by the opener, Hasan Raja, from Karachi,whose 80 came from 108 balls.The Indians were hustled into a bad start by ag- gressivenew-ball bowling, but from 19 for two in the eighth over, theirsemi-final heroes, Retinder Sodhi and Pardeep Chawla, drove them,literally, into a position of control. Sodhi, a tall and al-ready very accomplished right-handed opener, is clearly des-tined for stardom.Keeping wicket Chawla spent too much time on the ground, buthis batting was wristy and neat. He and Sodhi put on 86 for thethird wicket, before Chawla drove a leg-break to mid-off. Hisdeceiver was Imran Qadir, son of Abdul and, as Burke said ofPitt the Younger, “not so much a chip off the old block as theold block itself”. But nothing would stop Sodhi, not leg-breaks, googlies or the Lord`s version yester- day of a sub-continental riot.Thank goodness, order was soon restored. Ken Lake, ESCA`s hard-working secretary, delighted with the camara- derie among allthe teams (there was a plate competition, won by Sri Lanka)hopes there may be another tournament for this age group infour years` time. The dangers are that a schoolboy competitionmight become a vehicle for xenophobes and that thistournament`s success will lead to commercial exploitation inap-propriate to amateur sport.
