SRI LANKA predictably secured the one remaining semi-final place in the World Cup at Buffalo Park in East London yesterday with victory by 73 runs over Zimbabwe for whom it was another sad day.
The result, in the last match of the Super Six round, elevated Sri Lanka half point above New Zealand and earned them the difficult, but not impossible, task of challenging Australia for a berth in the final.
The Australians later extended their one-day international record to 15 successive wins by defeating outclassed but plucky Kenya in Durban. But they need to be wary of the Sri Lankans who should be favoured by the slow pitch in Tuesday's first semi-final in Port Elizabeth where Australia struggled to overcome England and New Zealand. It was Zimbabwe's third loss in three Super Six matches, a reflection of the injuries and the disruptions caused by political tensions that have diminished an already moderate team.
The present political, economic and social crisis that has wracked the country led to the pre-announced retirement of their premier batsman Andy Flower, whose eminent international career was ended by a dubious lbw decision after he had made 43.
As he walked from the ground to a moving ovation from Sri Lankan players and the crowd, Flower was joined in his decision to quit by Henry Olonga, the fast bowler who was the first black player to represent Zimbabwe at the age of 18 eight years ago.
Both released a statement at the start of the tournament criticising the government of president Robert Mugabe for mismanagement, repression and human rights abuses and wore black armbands in the early matches. Olonga repeated much of his sentiments in the announcement of his retirement yesterday.
Batsman Murray Goodwin and all-rounder Neil Johnson, two key members of the team that also reached the last six in the 1999 World Cup in England, also left the country and its cricket two years ago.
Flower's exit especially will leave a further void in a team that is struggling to compete at international level and is having to select from a dwindling pool of players.
If all of this must be of concern to the International Cricket Council (ICC), whose intention is to spread and strengthen the game globally, it meant little to the Sri Lankans. Their sole mission was victory. They had to fight for it.
Batting first after Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss, they were forced to graft for their runs on a surface similar to several in the tournament that have impaired free strokeplay. No one on either side hit a six in the 91.5 overs. It was ideally suited to the technique and temperament of their experienced opener Marvan Atapattu who batted through the innings for 103, completing his 10th hundred in one-day internationals in the last over off 127 balls with seven fours. The varied, if limited, Zimbabwean bowling kept eating away at the Sri Lankan batting with the left-arm spin of the second Flower brother, Grant, and the off-spin of Doug Marillier choking off the middle overs to four runs an over.
Left-hander Kumara Sangakkara gave the final overs impetus with 35 off 25 balls and, if 256 for five was not formidable, it was clearly good enough to press Zimbabwe.
Yet, until Andy Flower was given lbw for 38 off 51 balls in spite of an inside edge, they were on course at 140 for three in the 29th over. Marillier (19 off 14 balls) and Travis Friend (21 off 20) did the job they were sent to do as hitters at the top of the order and opener Craig Wishart scored a measured 43 off 71 balls. But once Flower made his emotional exit the bottom fell out of the innings, the last seven wickets tumbling for 42 off 13.2 overs.
The spin of Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitheran and Aravinda deSilva did most of the damage but Chamina Vaas' two late wickets brought his tally in the tournament to 20, equalling the 1999 record of New Zealand's Geoff Allott and Australia's Shane Warne.