Expensive change: He may be a destructive hitter, but
Justin Kemp's medium pace has never looked international class. And when
Graeme Smith called on him for the 36th over, Bangladesh seized the
moment. Aftab Ahmed sent one sailing over long leg, and then pounded out
another magnificent stroke over midwicket. The run rate jumped over four,
and Bangladesh rarely had a chance to look back.
Pump up the volume: After routing India at Durban with a spell of 4
for 13, Andrč Nel had played only five more times for South Africa. When
thrown the ball today, his impact was immediate. Javed Omar slashed one to
gully, and Nel's frenzied pumped-fist celebrations - you sometimes fear
he'll burst a vein - were typical of a man who should be playing every
game.
Paddle away into the distance: Mohammad Ashraful played some
scintillating strokes in his 87, but none more so than the paddle sweeps
where he walked across outside off stump and sent the ball to the fine-leg
fence with a deft twirl of the wrists. To pull it off once was audacious,
to repeat it just stupendous.
Beaten for pace?: Most new-ball bowlers revel in pushing batsmen on
to the back foot with pace. Syed Rasel does the opposite. At times on
Saturday, he was so slow through the air that the batsmen could have
changed strokes twice. Smith almost did before getting bowled, and Kallis
lofted one straight to mid-on. As Neil Manthorp said on the radio, "He's
perhaps the only new-ball bowler who gets batsmen out with his lack of
pace."
Bullseye: As long as Shaun Pollock and Herschelle Gibbs, South
Africa's most accomplished players of spin, were at the crease, there was
always a faint glimmer of hope. That was extinguished when Tamim Iqbal
pounced at mid-off and arrowed in a throw at the bowler's end to catch
Pollock a few inches short. Indians and Pakistanis, with their geriatric,
useless fielders, watched and wept.
Forty love: Iqbal's tendency to give bowlers the charge cost him
eventually, but there was still the shot of the day to savour - a forehand
smash over Charl Langeveldt's head that would have put Steffi Graf or Jim
Courier to shame.
"Please God, Let Bangladesh Win" So said a banner in the stands as
we walked across for the presentation. "It's great for the tournament,
man, it's great" yelled the man holding it. "We weren't the only ones to
lose," shouted another dressed in Indian colours. The locals seemed to
think that this opened up their path to the semi-finals. But they have to
get past mighty Bangladesh first!
Dileep Premachandran is associate editor of Cricinfo
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