In any World Cup, my primary wish is for the team I support
to reach the final. In case it doesn't happen, my next wish has always been for
the host(s) to reach the final. The simple reason being that the deeper the
home teams go the longer interest is sustained in the tournament. The crowds
react better, they get involved, and their investment peaks, as you saw at the
Eden Park after the NZ v SA semifinal. To see vociferous crowds might be a common
sight in Australia and the Asian cricket-playing countries, but for New Zealand
to portray rabid support for the Black Caps, the stars had to align. And align
they did, in most incredible and thrilling fashion, rivaling an All Blacks (the moniker given to the Kiwi rugby team) game. Cricket is a game which has limited countries invested in it significantly,
and if the tournament serves as an inspiration for kids in Auckland and
Hamilton and Dunedin and Christchurch to pick up a bat and swirl it with the
swagger of a Brendon McCullum then the game will be much richer for it. Maybe
it is for the surge of Kiwi enthusiasm.
Ah, Brendon McCullum. What an inspiration the man has been.
I confess I didn’t think much of McCullum in his early years. He has been
around for long, much longer than one imagines. Since 2002. Prior to 2014, no
one really rated New Zealand as winners. Of course, you expect them to do well,
but you also expect them to gracefully exit in the semifinals. Not charge Dale
Steyn and score 72 runs in 6 overs. This is the New Zealand that McCullum wants
to showcase to the world. And he has contributed to it hugely by going hell for
leather and brought about an All Black approach to his side. Hard, aggressive,
and relentless. It’s not only winning that matters to capture audiences, but
also the manner in which you play and win. England had a fairly successful team
in the Cook era but I suspect no one really cared much about them as they acted
and behaved like prima donnas. No one can dispute that the brand of cricket
McCullum has unleashed through Boult, Southee, Guptill, Milne, Anderson, and even
the serene Williamson has played a huge part in their success. Maybe it is for New Zealand’s golden
generation.
So where does Daniel Vettori figure in all this? What is he,
once a young superstar himself, doing in this new-age Kiwi side peppered with
potential superstars? We all thought that Vettori’s cricketing career was done
when he started appearing on IPL auction tables bidding for players and
stroking his quite lustrous beard. But no, the greatest bespectacled cricketer
after Zaheer Abbas and John Rennie, still has one last roll of the dice. And
how well has he rolled it? Vettori is among the most economical bowlers in the
World Cup and has performed with grace and humility and has even showcased
hitherto unknown athletic skills by taking the most stunning catch of the World
Cup. Maybe it is for the greatest Italian-origin player to play cricket (sorry
Michael DiVenuto), Daniel Luca Vettori.
I first watched Steve Smith play in a T20 game in Australia.
At that time, Australia was perpetually on the lookout for the next Shane
Warne. Mark Taylor and Ian Healy were bigging up his leg spinning skills. I
don't think he left much of an impact through his bowling, but he did take a
stunning catch at deep mid-wicket. I then saw Steve Smith swipe his way to a 77 against Pakistan in a Test in England (Pakistan's home Test matches
were in England then!). No one really knew who Steve Smith was and what he was
going to become. Was he a batsman? A bowler? A jack in the box? Time made it
clearer though, and as ungainly as he may be, Steve Smith sure had a lot going
for him as a batsman. For some strange reason, he was even dropped for the
first ODI game against South Africa in the beginning of the summer. And then
realizing their folly, he was picked again by the leadership. And Steve Smith
is now unquestionably the next leader in the Aussie cricketing firmament. How
did all this happen? For starters, Steve Smith has scored runs. Mountains and
mountains of them. 921 runs against India alone this summer at a staggering
average of 115. He has scored them in his own unique way, never in position,
always in position. In a team of dashers, he is the fighter. The Aussies have
also found the right position for him, at No.3 in the order, where he can
dictate the game and almost always control it. Maybe it is for the rise of
Steve Smith, the next great Australian cricketer.
Before India began the first Test against Australia at
Adelaide, cricket was the last thing on anyone’s mind. The cricketing world had
been shaken up by the death of one of their beloved, Phillip Joel Hughes.
Bowlers were scarred. Mitchell Johnson was in tears, emotionally disrupted. He
was not sure if he would be able to unleash bouncers with the same venom and ferocity as
he had done to telling effect against England the previous summer. He bowled
one to Virat Kohli in the Test series which hit the helmet grille. Johnson was visibly stirred. Sean
Abbott was going through an even harder time. A young fast bowler with a
promising career had inadvertently been responsible for a terribly unfortunate
incident. But Sean Abbott gathered himself. The game should and will always go
on. Abbott returned to domestic cricket and bowled a match winning spell of 6/14
for Queensland. He even bowled bouncers. And slowly cricket got back on track.
Starc and Johnson were gnarling again. Wahab Riaz bowled one of the most
sensational spells in the history of ODI cricket, and yes, the short ball was
at the center of all the drama. Though come Sunday, it is inconceivable that
the memory of Phil Hughes will not be on the minds of the Australian
cricketers, especially David Warner and Michael Clarke, his closest allies
during the moment of grief. Maybe it is for Phil Hughes.
Why does the final of a cricket tournament have to be for
someone or something though? Sport is always better viewed with context. After
India won the 2011 World Cup, Virat Kohli pronounced that the win was for
Sachin Tendulkar. That provided extra meaning to the whole occasion. A sense of
belonging. A narrative. If you think of it rationally, none of the players who
played for South Africa in the 1999 World Cup semifinal played for them in the
2015 World Cup semifinal. It is a different team, a different set of personnel
altogether (excluding Donald and Kirsten, but they are management, not players).
But it was visible, AB De Villers wanted to destroy the myth of South Africa
losing in big games, he was trying his hardest to shake off the tag of South
Africa not being match winners. The fact that he did not succeed is a different
story, but narratives do seep in. Context does seep in. And sport is always
richer due to worthy narratives.
The mind says Australia will win. They have found the one
thing cricket teams crave for, balance. They bat deep, have fast bowlers of
varying skills, and a baying home crowd to back them up.
The heart wants New Zealand to win, one senses this is their
ultimate hour. The one rare occasion where they have been able to put together a
world-beating team. It’s not a surprise they are in the finals, people always
expected them to do well. It’s now time for one last hurrah.
As Australia face off against New Zealand on the 29th
of March,2015, at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground, cricket promises to
contribute a glorious chapter to the famed Trans-Tasman rivalry.
Cue the countdown one last time - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. Let’s go !
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