Between them, apart from the many funky hairstyles and beards, these two
sides have three spinners who bowl the carrom ball; one fast bowler
whose release point can be so low umpires have been asked to change
their shirt lest the ball is lost in the background; a batsman who plays
a shot that endangers his own face before harming the opposition;
fielders who leap over the boundary rope, catch the ball, throw it back
when in air, recover, come back and take the catch with a success rate
that matches some wicketkeepers' with regulation nicks; one batsman who
is so enjoying his game he can break into a dance even when
concentrating hard and in obvious pain; a captain capable of pulling off
the kind of switch identical twins do in professional wrestling - and
what are Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara if not twins.
We could go on with that list forever. You just look around and listen
to cricketers' painstaking interviews, their tense faces, their breaking
bodies, and international cricket seems like incredibly
pressure-filled, and possibly glum. Then you watch Jayawardene set up a
trap with his spinners, or just the newest innovator from the country
trying to reinvent some art of the game. Then you also watch Chris Gayle
celebrate a wicket, or try to scare the non-striker's stumps when
issuing a Mankading warning. These guys make cricket feel like a fun
activity again.
It hasn't been all fun and games for these teams, though. Has there been
a bigger heartbreak in our sport than watching West Indies wither away,
at times because they have failed to match that flair with sensible
cricket? They have had so many pay disputes and strikes you might think
communism is alive and well, and you wouldn't be more wrong. It's after
many years of gloom that West Indies are rallying again at the world
stage. Is this the time when, as their anthem promises, "the runs are
going to flow like water, bringing so much joy to every son and
daughter"? Is this the time West Indies will "rise again like a raging
fire"?
Sri Lanka have mostly been healthy on the field, in world events, but
they have had to play without pay, rise above alleged corruption in the
board and, most importantly, recover from various heartbreaks in finals.
Since 2007, they have lost three finals of World Cups. Lesser teams
would have been broken beyond despair. Yet, here they are, playing their
fourth World Cup final in five years. Will they finally break that
jinx?
Form guide
(completed matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka WWWWL
West Indies WWLWL
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