South Africa had been coasting to victory. With only 210 to make and Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis having stroked the unthreatening Sri Lankan ball imperiously to all parts, spectators had resigned themselves to another hour or two of dull play in searing afternoon heat eased only by Demerara River breeze.
In the south west stand conversation ranged from consternation over the non-existent shade in the US$100 seats to who the best player of spin bowling was to exclaimed greetings between long lost friends and relatives in the diaspora. The only real interest in the game was kindled when Lasith Malinga was placed on the boundary. Then the fiery pace bowler would be mercilessly heckled for a dropped catch, missed run outs and sloppy fielding during the game. Shouts of “yuh gun got to be 13th man not even 12th” rang out. Malinga probably neither understood the Creolese nor cared. And so the game trundled on.
For most of the afternoon thick black smoke had belched from cane fields just beyond Providence. A smoky reminder that the soil the stadium had been built on had once nourished decades of sugar cane plants. Which nitwit had ordered canes to be burnt today when all Guyana should have been at the stadium or transfixed by radio!
Inevitably, a strong wind blew streams of curling wisps of black ash over the stadium and into the crowd. There was a frenzy of swishing, swatting and brushing of the ash, which crumbled into dust at the slightest pressure. Annoyed spectators heaped abuse in no particular direction. They may not have done so had they known that the ash was the harbinger of a game turned upside down.
Almost immediately, the match began to tilt in Sri Lanka’s favour. The wily Muttiah Muralitharan came within a whisker of a hat trick in the 34th over – sending Hershelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher back to the pavilion off successive deliveries and shaking up Justin Kemp.
Things begin settling down until nerves started fraying after Sanath Jayasuriya induced Kemp into a stumping. South Africa is then immediately exposed as a bundle of nerves bordering on panic. Runs are now hard to come by. After several spells going for around eight runs an over and no wickets to his name, Malinga is reintroduced from the media end. Never malingering but just having a bad day it was literally the last roll of the dice for him and Sri Lanka.
In the 45th over he rips a yorker into Shaun Pollock’s stumps (206-6). Far from overjoyed most of the Sri Lankan supporters in South West are livid. “Is now he gun bowl da?, He wake up too late in the match!” were some of the declamations. But it was a young Sri Lanka fan probably no more than eight or nine who immediately saw the opening to wrest an unlikely victory. With an inflatable Pepsi banner in one hand and standing resolutely he began to lead a chant at the top of his supple vocal chords as blond hair-dyed Malinga slung deliveries at his opponents.
“Malinga! Malinga! Malinga!” the boy screams. Stirred from their slumber and analytic disgust at Malinga, Lanka’s fans mobilize a chorus around this young fan. The previously spurned Malinga from Kandy now has a whole stand rooting for him as if they knew the Premadasa Stadium inside out and the inner workings of Tom Moody’s planning and the nuances of Sri Lankan politics.
“Malinga! Malinga! Malinga!” The shout is now partnered by ferocious hand-clapping. Almost round-arm action Malinga bustles in to Andrew Hall who languidly gifts a catch to extra cover. South West is now in uproar. South African fans are stunned into hands-over-mouth disbelief and denial. A Chaminda Vaas over breaks the suspense. But Malinga’s greatest fan knows no fear or defeat. “Malinga! Malinga! Malinga!” Separamadu Lasith Malinga Swarnajith storms to the wicket at 207-8 to confront the man who stands in the path of a Sri Lankan victory – Jacques Kallis – on 86 and like a tireless gladiator. A full delivery and Kallis goes for the winning boundary but edges to Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps. Malinga has a hat-trick! And it gets better. “Malinga! Malinga! Malinga!” The cheer rises lustily once more from South West. Laser-like, Malinga steams in, delivers and shatters Makhaya Ntini’s stumps. All hell breaks loose. Sri Lanka is one wicket away from an incredible win. Robin Peterson comes in and barely saves his stumps from a wicked Malinga delivery. Maiden over from Vaas and a near wicket intensifies the drama. “Malinga! Malinga! Malinga!” It’s now or never. Malinga hurtles into Peterson who slashes bravely at a delivery which takes the edge and whizzes away to the boundary. It’s all over; the burst from Malinga a smidgeon too late. He is however the first bowler in the world cup to grab four wickets in four balls – an incredible turnaround in fortunes.
For the next game – definitely for the one on Sunday – a couple more cane fields should be burnt to release this wonderful ash.
P.S. The people in the south stand next to the pavilion were chased all day by the blazing sun. Will this be their lasting fate?
