Plays of the Day by Dileep Premachandran
Plays of the Day by Dileep Premachandran11-Apr-2007
Andrew Flintoff had another arm ball coming his way and he didn’t expect it © Getty Images
Top shot
There’s a touch of arrogance about Saqibul Hasan thatmakes him so entertaining to watch. Even with five wickets down, he didn’tretreat into a shell, and when Andrew Flintoff pitched one a little toowide, he rocked back and sent the ball soaring over backward point. Itcleared the rope by a foot – the shot of a cornered tiger rather than ameek mouse.Armed and dangerous
In his previous over, Mohammad Rafique hadFlintoff in all sorts of trouble with an arm ball. When he producedanother, there was no response, just statuesque football and ahalf-hearted prod that did nothing to keep the ball from the stumps.Comedy of errors
Habibul Bashar admitted later that he was cursing theloss of another wicket when Shahriar Nafees looped one up towards MichaelVaughan at short midwicket. By the time he heard the shout of “He’sdropped it”, it was too late, and Vaughan’s throw to Paul Nixon – more infrustration than anything, he said later – gave England another wicket.Remember that old adage about keeping your eye on the ball?Net run-rate? What’s that?
With wickets falling and the tail tocome, Nixon and Paul Collingwood played out 22 dot balls with just eightruns needed. Given that run-rate might be the clinching factor for asemi-final place, it was almost as perplexing as Graeme Smith’s decisionto give himself five overs (56 runs) against West Indies.Sing when you’re (barely) winning
No one could complain about theatmosphere though. The English fans were in fine voice, belting out and , in addition to the usual BarmyArmy chants. Father Christmas led the choir for , though thecostume probably wasn’t such a good idea given the intense heat.How bizarre
No, we’re not talking about the 1996 hit from OMC, butabout a group of fans who kept chanting, “India, India” midway through theBangladesh innings. But even they were eclipsed in the Joke of the Daystakes by another character who was waving a flag that said: . Too much sun perhaps?