[Note -- I didn't actually manage to make live notes during either of the Semifinals. I did not have my notebook with me in the stadium for the NZ v Sri Lanka match, and then we overslept by half an hour and missed most of South Africa's collapse the next morning. These are all notes jotted down from memory that second night.]
AUSTRALIA v. SOUTH AFRICA
-- Can Graeme Smith be fired now? Has he done enough already to be stripped of the captaincy? Why is nothing that ever happens to that team his fault? After seeing Jayawardene's incredible mastery of pace in an innings the day before, or Ponting's steady control every time the first wicket falls for Australia, Smith's idiotic lunge down the pitch in the 2nd over seems like a pure abduction of responsibility to me. Being captain isn't just about standing in the infield stroking your chin and looking pensive, or blurting out a few vapid clichés in the third person plural ("yeah, the boys gave it their all...") during the post-match interview. It's about standing up when your team needs you and putting the burden on your own shoulders. It's stating from the outset that you are there to stay. To lead. Like Steve Waugh or Imran Khan did. Like Rahul Dravid and Inzamam-ul-Haq do. Hell, like Trent Johnston does.
But nothing will change, and Smith will continue as captain. I guess I might as well just accept it and switch to another target, so...
-- ...wow, how dumb and weak-minded did Jacques Kallis turn out to be? I had no idea. For someone with such amazing powers of concentration and discipline in his batting, he sure got dismissed in a way that would make even Marlon Samuels blush. A complete brain-fart that could well tarnish the rest of his career. And all that was needed to instigate it were a couple of lines in a ghostwritten newspaper column by Ricky Ponting a few days before the match. You'd think this was Kallis' debut series, or something.
I always wondered why Kallis was never involved in any captaincy discussions. I'm beginning to understand why. He's probably as dense as mountain air -- a batting idiot savant with a textbook technique and a bulldog build, but completely empty upstairs.
-- I'm still deep in my search of a single non-partisan soul in this entire region that actually enjoys watching Australia dominate. At the quiet suburban guesthouse outside of Kingston where we stayed, we met another nine people who had come for the World Cup: four South Africans, two English guys, an Australian mother and her teenage son, and a lone Kiwi. Not one of them could sit in the shared living room and watch more than 15 overs of the Australian run chase. About halfway through Hayden and Clarke's partnership, we all just gave up altogether and changed it to first leg of the Liverpool v. Chelsea Champions League semi.
I know it's no fun watching any team chase a score of 150, but shouldn't there be a certain awe and pleasure in watching such a powerful sports dynasty dominating its field? Wasn't Muhammad Ali impossible to ignore, even when he was clearly better than his opponent? Or Michael Jordan? Or Roger Federer? I can't bear to sit in front of the TV when Australia is cantering to victory. Watching Matthew Hayden clobber boundaries with mis-timed pulls on his way to 60 not out is like sitting through Detention at school, counting down the Runs To Get like you'd count seconds left on the clock.
Comments