da apostebet： Sri Lankan fast bowler Chaminda Vaas claimed it was the best performance ofhis career whilst Zimbabwe captain Stuart Carlisle hoped it was just a”freak day” as the tourists were bowled for 38, the lowest ever One-DayInternational (ODI) total, at
Charlie Austin08-Dec-2001Sri Lankan fast bowler Chaminda Vaas claimed it was the best performance ofhis career whilst Zimbabwe captain Stuart Carlisle hoped it was just a”freak day” as the tourists were bowled for 38, the lowest ever One-DayInternational (ODI) total, at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Saturday.Sri Lanka won the game, which was completed in 108 minutes and just 20overs, also making it the shortest ever ODI in history, by nine wickets asVaas claimed a hat-trick and became the first bowler to take more than sevenwickets in one-day cricket.Speaking afterwards, Vaas was modesty personified, even if the long queue ofchildren scrambling for autographs begged to differ.”It was a good toss to win and I just looked to put the ball in the rightareas,” he said. “The white ball swings more than the red ball and I bowleda good line and was rewarded.He was though delighted to have claimed the hat-trick: “Yes, I am very happyto get hat-trick. I think it was the best achievement of my career.”He was unconcerned by Muttiah Muralitharan taking the last two, whichprevented him from taking all ten: “I am not worried about records, I justwant to do well for my country and team.”Coach Dav Whatmore called it an “out-of-the-world” performance but wasn’tsurprised by Vaas’s recent success, which included career best bowlingfigures in the last Test against the West Indies.”These sort of performances don’t happen by accident, he has been workingreally hard in the gym, the running track and the nets,” said Whatmore.”Mentally, he has adjusted to being the top pace bowler in the side and nolonger puts himself under too much pressure. He is relaxed and bowlingbetter for it,” he added.”We felt there was some moisture there early and to extract an advantagefrom that we had to bowl first. Chaminda (Vaas) then put it in the rightarea, swung it around and was very hard to play.”
Chaminda Vaas
Photo AFP
Captain Sanath Jayasuriya, though delighted with Vaas and his side’s start,warned afterwards against over-complacency: “We can’t things lightly andneed to be alert in the next few games. I will warn the players against overconfidence. Nevertheless, we have been playing well and we want to continuethat good form.”Zimbabwean captain Stuart Carlisle put a brave face on events and hoped itwas a one-off event, even though it now means that, other than Bangladesh,Zimbabwe have lost their last 22 ODIs.”This was basically a freak game, things just didn’t go right for us and nota great start to the tournament,” he said”Vaas did bowl well in favourable conditions and maybe the guys were a bittentative and got caught in two minds. Having just come from Sharjah andBangladesh though, where the ball hardly swung, it has been difficult toadjust to conditions here where the ball has swung early on.”But Carlisle was not humourless, pointing out wryly, that: “Some of theyounger guys will have learnt a little bit about the inswinger.” He nowwants the team to quickly move on.”We have got to get some smiles back in the camp because it is not very nicein the changing room at the moment. It’s up to us guys in the top order toput our hands up and lead from the front.”Zimbabwe play their next game against West Indies on Sunday.