The Hindu : Sport : Was resting Murali a deliberate ploy?

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Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007
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Was resting Murali a deliberate ploy?

The biggest plus has been the starts that Gilchrist and Hayden have been giving us, writes Glenn McGrath

The game against Sri Lanka was supposed to have been a challenge for us because it would have pitted our in-form batsmen against the wiles of Muttiah Muralitharan on a pitch that was spin-friendly.

The anti-climax came before the toss itself, when Muralitharan was not part of the squad, which was also without Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga. The latter of course was injured, but in the absence of their veteran bowlers, it was difficult for Sri Lanka to defend their total, which could have been challenging.

I don't know whether it was a ploy to rest Sri Lanka's bowlers before the big games or whether it was to prevent our batsmen from getting a look at them.

Less interesting

Either way, it made the match-up a lot less interesting than it would have been had they been part of the squad.

The biggest plus for us in this tournament has been the excellent starts that Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden have been giving us. The openers of almost every other team are really having a tough time in this World Cup, but these two have been scoring well and tackling the early swing in almost every game.

It also helps that Ricky Ponting is in great form, and all this means that Michael Hussey hardly gets a look in.

The positive from Monday's game was the fact that our bowlers still got to bowl against Sri Lanka's best possible line-up, and we acquitted ourselves quite well. Shaun Tait and Nathan Bracken were effective with the new ball, and it is nice to see Nathan improve with every passing game. Tait did spray it around a fair bit, but his brief is to bowl quick, something that has really been our trump card even on these pitches.

Should we make it to the finals, Tait could be quite a handful because the wicket at Barbados has so much pace and bounce, it almost makes me feel I'm back at the WACA! With Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the semifinals, it's now only a question of which teams face each other. However, from that stage onwards it's going to be a knockout, and while there is a chance that the other teams might be keen on avoiding us, we know that we will have to be on top of our game to get into the final, no matter who the opposition is.

We are not choosy about our opponents because each of these sides can be dangerous on a given day.

Gameplan

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