da gbg bet： Thirty-six fours, 18 sixes, 413 runs, and a win for the home team – thefirst match of the ICC World Twenty20 couldn’t have been scripted any better
da pixbet： S Rajesh11-Sep-2007
Bowlers, beware; Chris Gayle’s fierce attack has set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the tournament. © Getty Images
Thirty-six fours, 18 sixes, 413 runs, and a win for the home team – thefirst match of the ICC World Twenty20 couldn’t have been scripted any better.The bowling of neither team was shown in particularly good light, whichonly confirmed the belief that this tournament will be about getting hugetotals, and then chasing them down.From a batsman’s perspective, the best thing about Twenty20 is the licenseit gives to attack from the get-go. A rash shot in the first five overs ofa 50-over game might elicit criticism, but not in the super-crunchedversion. For this reason, the two batsmen who revelled today are the twowho are likely to have a fairly high success ratio in this tournament, andin future Twenty20 games.Chris Gayle’s style in ODIs isn’t very different to what he displayed atthe Wanderers today, but often in the one-day version he prefers to seeoff the new ball: scores of 5 from 30 often convert into a run-a-ballhalf-century. Here, he just decided to cut off those first 30 deliveries.His shot-selection has improved considerably over the last few years, andthere was little that any of the South African bowlers could do once hegot into his stride.Early on, the strategy was to pitch it short or bowl it on a good lengthand expect the bounce to do the trick. That didn’t work, and neither didthe fuller length – when Albie Morkel tried it once, he was smashed sohard over point that the ball cleared the ground and a new one had to bebrought out. It was the first century in this form of the game at international level, but itwill be a surprise if it remains the only one by the end of thetournament.In fact, if West Indies had scored a few more runs, there might have beenanother hundred tonight, as Herschelle Gibbs helped himself to anotherrun-fest on the same ground where he had blitzed Australia last year. LikeGayle, Gibbs relishes pitches with pace and bounce but little sidewaysmovement, and this track today – and the lightening quick outfield – werejust perfect.While the batting was electrifying, the performance of the bowlers leftplenty of room for improvement. Mickey Arthur, the South African coach,got it right when he said his bowlers showed little variation through thefirst 15 overs. Albie Morkel bowled one yorker in the tenth over, butapart from that there was little to suggest the team had prepared specificstrategies for this tournament. The slower balls were conspicuous by theirabsence, while the blockhole deliveries were either not attempted ormisdirected.If South Africa were poor, West Indies were downright appalling, puttingin such a shocking performance with the ball and in the field that afabulous batting performance ended up being completely inadequate. Threedropped catches and 23 wides made for a perfect example of how not todefend a target, and while Arthur thought South Africa would have won evenwithout the West Indian largesse – “We had plenty left in the tank; we wonwith 14 balls and eight wickets to spare, which translates into around a30-run margin” – it surely wouldn’t have been as easy.West Indies might not have liked the way the evening went, but the crowdshad little to complain. For R 100 it was outstanding entertainment – themusic, which took off on cue after every boundary, happened so often thatit seemed like a three-hour rock concert, while the cheerleaders hadplenty to groove to as well. If this match was an indication of how therest of the tournament will go, expect an absolute blast.
