Even Lions fans at Sixers and sevens

In the Unity Stand, a girl with the shrillest of screams, the most piercing of shrieks, did her best “Harry me Sally” pseudo-orgasm impersonation every time the Sydney Sixers scored a boundary.

Perhaps she was mistaken. Perhaps she thought the Lions were the other team in the reddish colour. Her “whoo-hoos” sounded loud in the silence that greeted each Sixers score. The Lions had all but lost this match before they began to bowl and the reaction of the crowd was tied to the way the home side had batted and had been battered by the Sixers. There was desperation and some little hope after the Lions had staggered to a score that was never going to be enough.

The only fireworks they got to see were those set off at inordinate and seemingly inappropriate times by the organisers. You had to be alert to be able to tell the reason for the big bangs going off. It could have been for a six, a 50 partnership, a 50 by one player, a wicket, reaching 100, an umpire’s birthday, the 1000th beer sold on the night or the arrival of one of the Gupta family to the Long Room, the VIP suite. From reports, the Long Room was not full, although this could not be confirmed. Perhaps it was. Who knows. Actually, who cares? It was certainly a bit of a shock to the organisers that no Indian Premier League team made the final, but if it hurt the television figures, as predicted, then it did not stop Joburgers arriving to cheer on their side.

They stayed on after their team had muddled their innings, struggling to get off the mark against the accurate Sixers’ bowling. The Sixers opened with two spinners in Nathan McCullum and Steve O’Keefe, with McCullum not having bowled in the semi-final and gotten a first baller when he batted. Gulam Bodi, who seemed to have come into some form during the tournament, was, in the parlance of the schoolground, six-and-out. He smashed McCullum’s third ball over long-on for six. He top-edged the second to square leg and was done.

The Lions could not find any sort of rhythm after that. They were made to play like visitors on their home turf. The wickets fell quickly. In 30 minutes most of the team were sitting in the dug-out shaking their heads.

Last night they cheered when runs weren’t scored in the Champions League final. At 7.38pm, when Aaron Phangiso came on to bowl to Brad Haddin, hope sprung eternal. Then Bodi dropped a sitter of a catch. The game was already gone, another title had eluded the Lions. At the end, Bodi walked around with a souvenir stump in his hand. Someone joked it was to defend himself from his mates for dropping that catch. In the Unity Stand, the orgasm-shrieker shouted louder, this time for the Lions. It seems those screams were in agony not happiness.