The House of Cards . Tumbled Down.

I didn’t write a preview to the quarter finals, because I was afraid. Afraid of exactly what happened, and afraid of all hate I’d receive for surmising that it might happen. Afraid that I was already getting too emotional about the retirements to be objective about the cricket. It happens, sometimes. There’s no way I can avoid doing a review though.

So here goes.

My resident experts on both The Score and http://www.lankacricket.lk, thought we should win the toss and chase on Wednesday. Their reasoning was, that if we picked the best team we would include some inexperienced but X factor bowlers. Asking them to defend a total would have been less pressure, while our in form batting line up would have been able to target South Africa’s spinners in a chase.

We had chased well all tournament and somehow it seemed unnecessary to reverse that format. While runs on the board are always a good thing, we had played out best cricket chasing down targets – except against Scotland.

However, the powers that be thought otherwise and we wanted to put up a score. It was not a terrible shout. But probably not the one that gave us the best chance of winning the game. Again – just to clarify that this is not hindsight but was said before the game.

SL has been notoriously bad in one thing. That is assessing pitches. Before the toss or during the game. Somehow, the vastly experienced players don’t seem to be able to adjust and back themselves to adapt their game to suit the conditions. Yes, Sangakkara went into a shell yesterday, but that was because he realised it was not a 300+ wicket. However, he overcompensated in the extreme. What he, and the other players did, was do something completely different to what had been working.

Against Scotland, Sri Lanka should have opened with KJP. If they were thinking of using him as an opener in the knockout game it’s imperative he gets a knoc at the top. Instead they took Thirimanne down the order – which is where I think he’s best – without giving KJP even the one available chance to acclimatise. It showed that we probably had no idea of how to approach the QF even at that stage.

Apart from that the fact is that South Africa got on top early. De Cock’s catch was brilliant. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a second grab while entirely in mid air. Even if he took it the first time it would have still been an excellent catch. That gave the Saffa quicks the fire they needed, and Abbott and Steyn bowled with menace. Although they got only 3 of the 10 wickets to fall it was they that broke the back of the Sri Lankan resistance.

The accurate, fast, threatening bowling was unlike anything Sri Lanka were ready for. Boult and Southee are different animals, and Milne had troubled the Lankans before. Starc upset them, as did Johnson. The England quicks were on their way home, but the bounce of Chris Jordan had the Lankans in trouble in England. The Africans had prepared well, and executed even better. Sangakkara was finding fielders, and the increasing frustration of good shots fetching no runs, made him paranoid. Made him see terrors in the pitch that like a frightened child sees monsters with the lights out.

It happened to all of them. Jayawardena, watching in the dressing room, seemed stressed. The same expression he had in the first game against New Zealand. Being asked to hang back in favour of Thirimanne perhaps played on his mind negatively. We don’t know whose decision that was. He’d have liked to get out there. He’s a fighter. Thirimanne’s innings was a good one. But after the drinks break he succumbed tamely. I’d love to know what messages were relayed at the break. Thiri’s drive was half hearted, not the fluent shots that he was playing off the quicks. The wicket was gripping, and instead of being happy that they could unleash Kaushal and Dilshan on the South African line up, the Sri Lankan batsmen regressed further.

Two early wickets against a good seam attack is hardly a new thing. So why did Sri Lanka react so badly to it? A lack of preparation, perhaps. Quarter finals are not wide eyed charges into the valley of death. They need to be carefully calculated. KJP, with the way he plays, is always a high risk bastman. The law of averages was due to catch up on Sangakkara and Dilshan. We need to prepare for that. Not be surprised by it. Somehow, the reactions of Jayawardena and Mathews didn’t speak of that preparation.

Like frightened rabbits waiting till the fox gets momentarily distracted, both Jayawardena and Mathews played shots they would rather forget. You can’t run fast when you’re looking over your shoulder. Similarly, you can’t bat aggressively when you’re looking to defend. The inability to balance the run rate while at the same time battling the gremlins (rather than the legion of demons) in the pitch, was beyond the most experienced line up in the World Cup. That was the most disappointing factor of the defeat.

To the South Africans eternal credit, they well and truly shed their choker tag. Never having won a World Cup knock out game, they inflicted the heaviest defeat in terms of balls remaining on the former champions, semi finalists and two time runners up. The two catches early doors were excellent. It gave them the confidence that overshadowed the nerves. AB De Villiers did his best to hide it, but the tough talking “we will not choke”, belied his nervousness at the toss. In situations were games are won and lost in the head, it was De Cock’s brilliance that tipped the scales in South Africa’s favour. In order to claw their way back Sri Lanka had to have belief. When the pitch sucked that belief out of Sangakkara it was as if Hans took his finger out of the dyke.

The ocean of ill preparation, which compounded in a lack of confidence in their own abilities engulfed the team. The tameness of the dismissals, the futility of the Sangakkara rearguard and slump of the shoulders at half time, showed that this was a team that knew they had reached the end of the road. Sometimes, despite everything, there is an awareness that you just may not be good enough. We weren’t, on the day.

It was a shame because doing what worked previously may have helped. If Sangakkara had attacked a bit more at the start, it might have worried Saffa. But seeing him cowed, AB grew in confidence. Jayawardena had said he needed to play positively, but somehow was as tentative as ever on the pitch. It takes me back to a point I made years ago about not only talking about it but setting targets and being positive in the nets. Knowing you have to play positively doesn’t translate into automatically playing positively.

Ironically, Sri Lanka had been positive with the selections. Chameera and Kaushal are wicket taking bowlers and we’d given ourselves every chance. Again, they would have been under less pressure bowling first. But it was not to be. Kule and Malinga brought in the experience and Dilshan would have done well on this pitch along with Mathews. Unfortunately, they didn’t even come into the equation. The lack of self imposed pressure, only made the pitch look a different one.

Before the tournament, I’d have taken this. Not such a huge loss. I’d have liked to go down with the semblance of a fight. However, it is hardly a surprise that we didn’t make it beyond the quarters. We’ve spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking we’re better than we are in this game. And while people continue to defend that position, we will flatter to deceive. The one sided nature of our thrashings in the finals of 2007. 2009, 2011 and 2012 speak for themselves. I think. When we are found out, we are found out bad. We’ve come to know now how shit England are and that we shouldn’t benchmark against them. India thrashed us comprehensively last year – regardless of preparation issues – and South Africa beat us without too much trouble, in home conditions. New Zealand were clearly superior in the last series. And I don’t remember the last time a game against one of the better sides came down to the wire.

In the World Cup, Sri Lanka have been a talented bunch of over achievers. Nobody can grudge them that. But until we stop basking in that pseudo glory and address the actual problems, accolades on an international scale will continue to elude us. The T20 World Cup [although circus cricket is hardly a measure of quality] in 2014 was the peak. We have regressed sharply since then. We need to look at why and how.

I have an inkling. And will tell anyone that’ll listen.

Until then, Jayawardena and Sangakkara – we will remember you not from this one game, but 32 combined years of helping us punch above our weight. As Sambit Bal beautifully said earlier today: “And then the horrible thought struck me: Mahela and Sanga, friends and comrades, the nicest men you would ever know, among the most prolific run-getters of our times, leaders of men and torchbearers of a wounded nation, and this is the last time they might be batting together in the nets, preparing for what could be their final battle together. Were they as aware of it as we were? Was it going to weigh them down or stir them to something magical? Surely, we were not about to see the last of Mahela. We are not ready. Not just yet.”

Farewell, soldiers, brothers, friends. You will not be forgotten.