History written all over at Providence Stadium
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
March 29, 2007
HISTORY in all areas was written at the Providence Stadium, yesterday, etching the new cricket facility into the history books, highlighted by the first-ever helmet-trick in the international form of the game.
At 16:01, fast bowler Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka wrecked the stumps of fellow bowler Makhaya Ntini of South Africa at the southern end to claim the historic four wickets in four balls in Cricket World Cup and any form of international cricket in the first CWC match in Guyana and first international match at the Providence venue.
With that feat, he created another CWC record when he was declared joint Man-of-the-match with South Africa’s Charl Langeveldt. But there was a little confusion at the presentation ceremony.
According to spokesman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Sami Hassan, the broadcasters had selected Langeveldt for the award before Malinga’s record-breaking performance.
Malinga was subsequently chosen for the award, but this was not communicated to the broadcaster at the ceremony who announced Langeveldt for the award, who collected it.
It was then decided to name the two joint awardees.
At the post-match press conference, the record-maker said he was happy with the historic feat but unfortunately the team lost the game.
“It was a good opportunity to win the game.”
He said he was not excited easily so I was not at the prospect of creating history and at the time he was not aware of a record in the making.
“I’m very happy. Unfortunately the team lost the game.”
Asked what the best part of the four-wicket haul in four consecutive balls was, Malinga said was bowling Shaun Pollock with a slow ball.
That fifth delivery in the 45th over actually bowled history into motion and set up the hat-trick with the wicket of Andrew Hall. He completed the fifth hat-trick in CWC history when he got Jacques Kallis with the first ball of the 47th over.
Captain Mahela Jayawardene said Malinga’s helmet-trick put Sri Lanka back in the game.
“We did not deserve to win the game, the way we batted. The four wickets in four balls changed the game.
We were playing a waiting game. We were not in the game for quite some time, until the last four or five overs.”
He said they lost early wickets with loose shots.
“The way we batted wasn’t very pleasing. The bowlers got us back in this game.”
The captain, however, said the team did not normally give up under any situation.
Asked about the conditions at Providence, he said it was pretty normal, except that the wicket was slow and that was one of the reasons he chose to bat first, expecting a target of between 220 and 230 runs.
“It was a big game for us. Two points would have been good for us. But we’re not disappointed.”
South Africa captain Graeme Smith said Sri Lanka was a tough team to beat in the competition and they would go far.
He acknowledged that South Africa lost out in previous tight finishes and this win might be the turnaround the team needed.
Graeme said the players were somewhat spent from fielding in the heavy conditions after the rains. However, he had more options with a bigger field and the ball was swinging.
He said Kallis rose to the task with the pressure of criticisms back home and it was pressure for him and they were in a comfortable position until the 45th over.
“You got to give Malinga some credit. He just gave it his all.”
Asked about the impact of the $175 000, he said he only knew of the money from yesterday’s newspapers.
“There’s a lot bigger thing at stake than the money.”
Asked about Langeveldt hitting down the stumps on reaching the target, Smith said the player might not have known what he was doing in the excitement.
With that victory South Africa retained the number one status in cricket.
In the match, two mounds of saw dust were used to mark the start of the bowlers’ run-up, perhaps for the first time in the history of cricket.
Site engineer Walter Willis told Chronicle Sport that the umpires requested it and he had never seen it done before.
Another piece of history perhaps unfolded yesterday. The grass mound was covered with litter at the end of the day’s play but by the time the post-match press conference ended, it was spotless.