2012 WCT20 - Sri Lanka Vs Zimbabwe

It ought to be one of the key tournaments from a perspective of being an event involving all the top cricketing nations with the qualifiers.   And in that context, it would be appropriate to expect a grand opening event as the curtain raiser.

And how does the 2012 T-20 World Cup kick off? The day chosen is a Tuesday - a working day, the venue chosen is a distant Hambantota, and the team playing the home team is a clueless Zimbabwe, a side that has lost it’s last dozen games in this format. 

That a country that sees generally vibrant and full stadiums was more than half empty was a statement that the ICC had bungled big time in it’s planning of this event.  “It's a packed crowd here in Hambantota” was perhaps the only time something positive about this game was echoed, but this senile comment from an aging commentator was quite simply another meaningless expression that had nothing to do with reality.

If there was some hope of a contest around the midway mark of the Sri Lanka innings, Zimbabwe quite simply fell apart after that.  Whilst Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer bowled well, the rest of the bowlers were wayward. Add a display of abysmal fielding, once a big positive for Zimbabwean sides,  and the writing was clearly on the wall.

That the Zimbabwean batting fell apart came as no surprise, the camera shots of the celebrating crowd became more entertaining that the batting in the middle.

The post match show was interesting as Jatin Sapru quizzed the minds of Kevin Peirtersen, Saurav Ganguly and Wasim Akram for some interesting analysis aided by Dermot Reeve’s graphical presentation and theory.

Cricket fans however may have to bear with a few more days of one sided games, much as this format can produce a shocking result!

And ever seen a tournament where a ‘warm-up game’ is played the day after it has started?  Well, England warm-up with Pakistan a day after the first official game today!