Don't make it a game for clowns

England and Australia played out one, if not the most exciting one day finals which ended in a tie.

When Australia was dismissed for 196, everyone expected England to romp home. But they never bargained for an Aussie fightback. With the home team reeling at 32 for 5, it seemed all over bar the shouting.

Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones put on a fine stand of 116 for the sixth wicket and brought their team back into the frame. With Collingwood's run out a sort of collapse ensued, but it was apparent that the game was going to the wire.

The full house at Lord's would certainly have skipped a few heart beats unable to bear the action that was being played out.

When McGrath came on to bowl the final over, England required 9 runs for victory with the last pair of Giles and Harmisson at the wicket. Undaunted they batted on and in the final ball two runs was required for a tie and 3 to win.

It was heart stopping when the bowler ran in to deliver the final ball. Would it be victory, a loss or a tie. The ball took Giles' pad ran down to third man and they scampered for two to play out a final that had all the required ingredients for a Hitchcock thriller. That the final ended in a tie was poetic justice.

We are sure all International Cricket Council members would have been watching this game, and we hope that they would change their minds in having substitutes and further field restrictions and allow the game to be played as it is and not make a mockery of it.

They must ask Sunil Gavaskar to roll up his new format. Don't make one-day cricket for clowns, and let not the ICC be tagged international cricket clowns.

Brazilian magic

Brazil the world champions of football produced and provided a spectacle of football against former world champions Argentina to carry away the glittering Confederations Cup beating their opponents 4-1 in Frankfurt on Wednesday.

The action they dished out was like old times. It was exciting, dazzling and brought back memories as when Pele, Garincha, Zico and others dazzled the world with their excellent artistry.

Before going on to describe the play, it would be appropriate to say that if the present lot of Brazilians maintain this form, then the world cup in Germany next year could safely be theirs, unless the unforseen happens.

The soccer they played in this final was 22 carat gold. Every player in the team knew exactly what to do and how to manoeuvre. They gave a lesson to their opponents who had beaten them 3-1 in a world cup qualifier a few months back. What was amazing in this Brazilian team was that every player from the strikers to the halves to the defenders seemed capable of hitting the net when the opportunity knocked.

It was worth it, staying awake and following the thrill a minute game from 12 midnight to nearly 3 o'clock in the morning on ESPN Star Sports. Never for once did I nod because the action was scintillating. It was a treat to watch the magnificent four as they have been tagged skipper Ronaldinho, Adriano, Kaka and Robinho doing their thing. The manner in which they controlled the ball was just magic.

Their dribbling and sending the opponents the wrong way was something that has not been seen for a long time. Dribbling is one of the game's most thrilling arts and the foursome sent their fans and those watching into raptures with their artistry. Mind you the Brazilians toyed with their opponents sans two of their best players in world football Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos. How coach Periera is going to fit these two into his team in the world cup campaign would be interesting to watch.

The goals that Adriano 2, Ronaldinho and Kaka scored would have beaten any goal-keeper in the world.

Talking of dribbling one can't forget the first Sri Lankan footballer who had the good fortune of being trained in Brazil and who had the opportunity of meeting and learning from former Brazilian greats especially Pele, the late great Albert Fernando who was player, excellent coach and administrator.

After his training in Brazil he took on the Benedictine soccerites and he taught them the fine art of dribbling and produced some of the best dribblers that the school soccer scene had seen and probably the country.

Names that come to mind of brilliant dribblers at SBC who reigned kings of schools football were Denzil Walles, Rex Sebastian, Suriyakumar Seneviratne, Malcom Dabare, Errol Anthony and Tissa Kodituwakku.