CRICKET:The World Cup, the final of which began in spectacular fashion before descending into the unseemly realms of the bizarre, was awarded eventually to Australia in such farcical circumstances that it would have been no surprise to see Steve Bucknor drop his trousers to reveal polka-dot underpants and inquire if there was anyone for tennis.
After more than seven weeks of cricket, the game's showpiece, contested by indisputably the two best one-day sides and witnessed by 28,000 in the Kensington Oval and millions more around the world, was decided first by the weather and then by Messrs Duckworth and Lewis.
By then all semblance of cricket's dignity had been lost, with the umpires, Bucknor and Aleem Dar, together with the off-field official, Rudi Koertzen, and the match referee, Jeff Crowe, making such a fundamentally blundering interpretation of the rules regarding interrupted matches that it is hard to see how Crowe, a good, intelligent, thoughtful man in overall control of the game, can survive in his post. It was sad almost beyond embarrassment.
The last rites were simply bemusing. With the cruise ships in Deep Water harbour long since lit up, a white Al Jolson mouth - Andrew Symonds presumably - bowled the last ball of the tournament gently to an unidentifiable Sri Lankan batsman, who may or may not have made contact. Few in the ground without the aid of night-vision glasses would have been able to tell. It sparked manic Australian celebrations, the second such.
Fifteen minutes or so earlier, with the light long since unplayable, the Sri Lankan batsmen, knowing the game to be dead, had accepted the umpires' offer to go off. That should have been that; the requisite minimum 20 second-innings overs that Duckworth-Lewis dictates constitute a match had been bowled. Instead, at Koertzen's instigation apparently, the idea was implanted that not only was the game not officially over but the three unbowled overs could be sent down the following day. Crowe - whatever possessed him? - concurred the match should be finished. The captains agreed to complete the task on the night.
"I'm very embarrassed for the playing control team," said Crowe. "These circumstances are very difficult and it is a bit of a crisis. We hope we can learn from this mistake."
It was an undignified end to a game that until the rain that had held up the start in the morning returned late in the afternoon had promised to produce a finale to stir spirits desensitised by the interminable tournament. With the match reduced to 38 overs a side, Adam Gilchrist, playing what must be his last World Cup match, produced one of the great one-day innings, flaying the Sri Lankan bowling for 149 runs from 104 balls, his century from 72 deliveries. It was the fifth hundred in a World Cup final and the most spectacular, ended only when he skied to mid-wicket.
Against less resilient sides Australia's 281 for four would have seemed insurmountable but it is a tribute to Sri Lanka that before the rain threatened once more the game remained in the balance as Sanath Jayasuriya, arguably the founding father of modern one-day batsmanship, and Kumar Sangakkara put on a century stand of their own.
They could see the impending weather, though, and with it the double imperative not just to plan a run chase but simultaneously to stay ahead of the requisite Duckworth-Lewis rate. Ponting anticipated the charge and offered Sri Lanka Brad Hogg's wrist spin and Michael Clarke's left-arm darts. Hogg snared Sangakkara at mid-wicket for a silky 51; Jayasuriya, 63, with no option but to go for broke, heaved at Clarke and missed; the required target shifted accordingly to limits unreachable in Stygian gloom against quality pace bowling; and the match was Australia's.
l Guardian Service
AUSTRALIA
A Gilchrist c Silva b Fernando149
M Hayden c Jayawardene b Malinga38
R Ponting run out37
A Symonds not out23
S Watson b Malinga3
M Clarke not out8
Extras (lb-4 w-16 nb-3)23
Total (4 wickets, 38 overs)281
Fall: 1-172; 2-224; 3-261; 4-266.
Bowling: Vaas 8-0-54-0 (2nb); Malinga 8-1-49-2; Fernando 8-0-74-1 (1nb); Muralitharan 7-0-44-0; Dilshan 2-0-23-0; Jayasuriya 5-0-33-0.
SRI LANKA
U Tharanga c Gilchrist b Bracken6
S Jayasuriya b Clarke63
K Sangakkara c Ponting b Hogg54
M Jayawardene lbw b Watson19
C Silva b Clarke21
T Dilshan run out14
R Arnold c Gilchrist b McGrath1
C Vaas not out11
L Malinga st Gilchrist b Symonds10
D Fernando not out1
Extras (lb-1 w-14)15
Total (8 wickets, 36 overs)215
Fall: 1-7; 2-123; 3-145; 4-156; 5-188; 6-190; 7-194; 8-211.
Bowling: Bracken 6-1-34-1; Tait 6-0-42-0; McGrath 7-0-31-1; Watson 7-0-49-1; Hogg 3-0-19-1; Clarke 5-0-33-2; Symonds 2-0-6-1.
Australia won by 53 runs (calculated by Duckworth/Lewis after rain delayed play).
