05 December 2007

Belling the Murali

Ian Bell stood between Sri Lanka and certain victory. And failed with just fifteen overs remaining. But sport permits us couch and internet potatoes to speculate about glory and beauty in defeat. There is Gavaskar's last test innings on a minefield that is the stuff of legend. There is Tendulkar battling injury, Saqlain and his own team's frailty at Chennai.

Bell batted out 209 balls. Only King Kumar batted longer in the match. When the second new ball was taken, England which had been in complete disarray, could actually contemplate a victory. God knows if Prior thought about it because he played some crackers off Vaas.

In the end it only delayed what happened. Murali came and sent both of them backing.

3 comments:

Viswanathan said...

Bell displayed the typical British grit.

John said...

Hmm.. You can't say it is typical. Colly has it, Cook too maybe has it, Atherton used to have it when he faced the W's. But after the Gatting reverse sweep, or looking at the number of times they ve folded before McGrath, it just cannot be typical.

straight point said...

the greats delivers knock out punch when matters less mortals blames pitches!!