iSport | For the Fans, by the Fans

In the end, it proved to be a bridge too far for the West Indies. Sri Lanka eased to victory in the second semi-final at The Oval, defeating the men from the Caribbean by 57 runs to set up a final with Pakistan. Tilakeratne Dilshan was once again in magnificent form, registering the highest score of the tournament, an unbeaten 96, to propel his side to a solid total.

Dilshan has achieved the rare distinction in sport of having a manouevre named in his honour - his innovative flick over both his and the wicket-keeper's head is now customarily referred to as either simply the 'Dilshan' or the more imaginative but less direct 'Dilscoop'. It is worth acknowledging just how unusual it is for a player to etch his name into his sport's consciousness in this way; indeed, the 'Cruyff turn' in football is one of the few other instances that spring to mind. Normally, if it does happen, it is not a good thing - a footballer who hits the bar when it would have been easier to score is said to have 'done a Ronnie Rosenthal', which the former Liverpool forward doubtless still resents. In cricket it is even more uncommon. You don't hear commentators screeching, 'that was an exquisite Bradman through the covers', or describing even the wristiest flick as 'a classy Tendulkar off his pads'; even the switch hit is not called the 'Pietersen'. Partly, of course, this is a result of the finite range of shots in cricket, which correspondingly limits the number of names, but also because of the prevailing feeling that the sport is bigger than any one individual. The fact, therefore, that the 'Dilshan' has been so labelled reflects the truly unique nature of the shot.

Sri Lanka boast the most formidable bowling attack in the competition, with the three M's at its heart, but it was a fourth 'M', the comparatively unheralded youngster Angelo Mathews, who turned the game on its head by claiming three wickets in an extraordinary opening over, the last five balls of which read W 0 W 0 W - you don't see that very often. After that devastating burst, there was no way back for the West Indies, despite Chris Gayle's cudgelling heroics, and in the end they fell well short. The curious thing about Mathews' initial salvo was that all three wickets were played on. Bowlers tend to count themselves unfortunate if an inside edge evades the stumps, but in reality they tend to miss more than they hit, so for all three to clatter the wickets was, you'd have to say, lucky. Not that Mathews will mind.

Having had their top order ripped apart so early on, the West Indian innings turned into a sad procession, with nobody able to keep Gayle company for any significant period; the captain's unbeaten 63 aside, no batsman reached double figures. Ajantha Mendis continued to exert his bewitching hold over the world's best batsmen, finishing with the outstanding figures of 2-9 from his allocation, which featured 17 dot balls. Despite slipping to a crushing defeat here, West Indies can be proud of their performance in the tournament. Beforehand few gave them much chance of even qualifying from their group, so to have confounded those expectations and made it to the last four represents a fine achievement.

This semi-final provided a further illustration of the pattern of lower scoring that is beginning to emerge in T20 cricket. The ceaseless torrent of fours and sixes that characterises T20 has, as this tournament has progressed, been reduced to a steady trickle as bowlers have improved their skills and strategy. Once again, the Sri Lankan, and to a lesser extent the West Indian, bowlers suffocated the opposition batsmen (with the glaring exceptions of Dilshan and Gayle) sufficiently to restrict the combined match total to just 249 runs, a score which at the last World T20 Sri Lanka surpassed in a single innings. For those of us who are already cricket fans, the 'return of the bowler' is a most pleasing development, but it presents a real problem for the ICC. T20 is the fulcrum upon which the administrators are building their attempts to spread the game around the world, with the cascade of boundaries the feature most likely to attract new fans in Japan, China and, most lucratively, America. If, relatively speaking, the runs dry up, the ICC will have to find a new selling point. The longer it goes on, the more likely it becomes that burly ICC officials in trenchcoats will turn up in the dead of night at the houses of Umar Gul and Wayne Parnell in an effort to 'encourage' them to bowl a few less yorkers and a few more deliveries on a good length.

Sunday's final between the two most unorthodox teams in the competition has all the makings of a classic. A thriller would be a fitting denouement to what has been a thrilling tournament. Sri Lanka are unbeaten and the superior side on paper, but with Pakistan having overturned the odds to beat the heavily-fancied South Africans it is an extremely difficult one to predict. For what it's worth, however, I feel the Sri Lankan bowlers will be too strong for the Pakistani batting lineup, which has looked a little fragile throughout. Pakistan also possess an excellent attack, so it will be no surprise if it is another low-scoring game. That might give the top dogs at the ICC some restless nights.