Reverse Swing

You feel that over the last few months England have been quietly getting better at this one-day cricket business. In the World Cup so far they’ve looked competent against the lesser teams, and while the faults in the England team have been obvious – poor starts by the openers, a lack of overall quality in the bowling – you never felt they were totally out of things.

Against Sri Lanka today they looked they’d worked on the game: plenty of variation in the bowling with slower balls and different lengths, accuracy at a premium, and the fielding was sharp. They looked like they’d come together as an outfit, and when they dismissed Sri Lanka for 235 you felt they were in with a good shout.

It looked like they were purposefully chasing down the target when Pietersen and Bell were together, and the latter was narrowly run out. The wickets that quickly followed of Pietersen Flintoff and Collingwood seemed to put England right out of the game. The best batsmen disappearing together in the space of a few overs.

Enter Nixon and Bopara. ” I don’t know why you’re watching this,” said my wife.” Forty-five minutes later she was cheering on Nixon, as he wickedly improvised, reverse sweeping Murali for 6, and Bopara standing there, calm at the crease, looking like it was his destiny to win this game. In one way when you come as close as this and lose heroically you’ve won whatever happens: after playing all day it comes down to what happens off one ball.

But I felt sorry for Bopara at the end, especially when Fernando ran in for what should have been the final ball and it never left his hand. The actual final ball that was delivered bowled him, and you wonder whether he had been disturbed by Fernando’s failure to deliver the ball. Perhaps it was nerves in the Sri Lankan bowler, but I wouldn’t like to see this non-release of the ball become an established tactic in the close moments of a game.

It was quite something to watch the ruthlessly professional West Indies squeeze Pakistan out of the game at Sabina Park. Tight bowling, spattering the spot, nothing down the legside, and definitely no extras, as they were backed up some athletic fielding, culminating in Bravo’s astonishing left-handed catch off his own bowling to dismiss Gul.

The last sight of the West Indies was in their warm-up game against India when they were giving catching practice. And then there was Tony Cosier’s commentary: does anyone shout more loudly for their own team than Tony Cosier?

Today I shall be cheering on Scotland against the Aussies. Strange how these things work out. If this was a football match then I would be cheering on Australia rather than Scotland.

The World Cup Wall chart has been ripped off the fridge door, shortly after Zidane delivered his chest butt – maybe he aimed there because Materazzi was so tall.

Zinedine Zidane’s World Cup has gone from past it playmaker on the way out to inspired prompter, revitalising a tired French team as they disposed of Spain and tournament favourites Brazil. It’s one of those World Cup stories where someone leads a team by example and gets them to perform at a higher level such as Maradona in 1986. Greatness marred by a final character flaw is the stuff of Greek tragedy, and one of the reasons we watch sport is for these “what if” moments of drama. And it is sad that Zidane will be remembered for this unsual coda to his career.