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| krishna |
Posted
on 24-Mar-03 01:37 PM
Once again Australia proved their dominance in World Cricket with their outrageous 125 run victory over the below par Indian side that couldn't resist the onslaught of the Australian pair of Ponting and Gilchrist. It was always going to be inevitible for the Aussies when Captain Ganguly won the toss and elected to bowl first. That cost India the Final without doubt. Chasing 359 for victory against the Australians was always going to be a tall order for the Indians made even worst by the fall of Man of the Tournament Tendulkar in the very first over. Even though Shewag showed some brilliance his run out for 82 meant that it was just the matter of time.
This World Cup wasn't upto mark with the previous cups but nevertheless here are some of my key moments:
1) There is only one event out of the ten that is truly extraordinary and unlikely to be repeated in the near future. That is Chaminda Vaas' hatrick, three wickets of the first three balls of the match and even if that is against a lowly team, it is my top magic moment.
2) In a dire World Cup, in which lacklustre performances from the so called bigger nations and bizarre rules allowed two of the most one sided games of cricket ever seen to be the semi finals, Australia provided a master class from start to finish. Every one of their players gave something, everyone is a potential match winner, and they are the absolute definition of a winning team.
3) Brian Lara's century in his first proper game for three months should be in the list. As its not I'd go for Jon Davison's 67 ball century. Breathtaking considering it was against the Windies.
4) Ramnaresh Sarwan because he was so brave to play when he was injured and then to nearly win - now that is bravery. Sarwan is not just raw talent but a fighter in his own right. Windies would've won if he didn't get in the head. Ramnaresh Sarwan's brilliant but ultimately futile innings against Sri Lanka stands out as one of the most enjoyable moments of the World Cup. Two flawed but intermittently brilliant teams playing a match right down to the wire, and Sarwan shaking off the shock of a nasty blow to the head to take his team to the brink of victory. His stroke play may not always have come from the text books, but he, and the match as a whole, reminded us of the tension, fun and sheer excitement that limited overs cricket can bring to the spectator.
5) Ricky Ponting's incredible 140 - surely one of the best one day international innings of all time. That too that came in the very Grand Finale was just bewildering and probably the most powerful captain's innings of all time. Ponting showed class, atheticism, courage, clean hitting of the highest order, and excellent acceleration on the later part of the innings. It was magnificent !
6) Jon Davison's sixes were what the World Cup was really all about. Nobody will forget the 50 he made against New Zealand, especially the crack heard when dispatched the ball onto the golf course next door to the stadium.
7) Shane Bond's bowling performance against Australia deserves a shout, probably the best 10 overs against the Australians in the competition.
8) Vasbert Drakes' catch has to be the highlight of an average World Cup. His catch was just superb a perfect example of never falling asleep in the field. What a catch by Vasbert Drakes - you will not see a catch like that for a very long time, pure brilliance. Nobody including the commentators could believe the catch had been taken. I want to relive that sensational moment many a time.
9) The magic moment of the competition was when Shaun Pollock realised he'd done his sums wrong on a DuckWorth Lewis Method! That moment probably changed the course of the tournament irreversibly.
10) Heath Streak and Sean Ervine's onslaught on the Kiwi bowlers when they took 68 runs off the last three overs was outrageous. It was definitely a highlight.
11) Tendulkar's knock was the best. Scoring 98 in such quick time against a strong bowling attack with the likes of Akram is truly amazing. Sachin Tendulkar's runs have to be the highlight of this World Cup - particularly his savage innings at Centurion. The manner in which he walked out to the middle on the biggest stage and manhandled the Pakistani pacers that afternoon stands tall above all the other achievements of the cup. His innings throughout the cup merely reaffirmed what all of us already knew - he is the best batsman of his generation.
12) It has to be Fleming. The way he played against SA on their home ground was phenomenal. It was an innings that showed the class of the Kiwis and another captain's innings that produced one of the shock of the World Cup. It was always going to be difficult to play against SA on their home ground and the innings Fleming played was the best in his career and I am sure he will cherish that moment for a long time to come.
13) Brett Lee dismissing Marvin Attapattu with a 99.5 mph delivery, this was a truly unplayable delivery, and made better by the fact that his team mate had just dropped a catch, this spurred him on to produce a remarkable delivery.
14) Saeed Anwar's courageous century against India, despite the falling wickets on the other side. Hats off to his great performance. He's the only one who proved to be a great cricketer in the Pakistan team.
Thats all folks !!
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| oys_chill |
Posted
on 24-Mar-03 02:32 PM
How about Kenya's dream run to the semi finals?
A NON TEST PLAYING NATION?? does that INSPIRE NEPAL ALL THE MORE? jus a thought...I agree with you krishna bro..........esp. for the fact that super six without england, pakistan, and south africa reduced the competition appreciably!
Oys
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| PREMPUJARI |
Posted
on 24-Mar-03 02:52 PM
Magic Moment of world cup??
India LOST!!!
Good read Krishna!!!
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| Prem Charo |
Posted
on 24-Mar-03 10:51 PM
Krishnaji,
Here are some best and worst in the world cup.
The Best Deliveries:
* Zimbabwe's Grant Flower, bowling left-arm spin wide of the crease against India in the Group A match in Harare (Feb 19), tempted Sachin Tendulkar half-forward, the turning ball beating his bat and clipping the off bail. "I got one to turn for a change," he said. Tendulkar's 81, though, won the match.
* England quick James Anderson, exploiting Cape Town's evening conditions, produced a sharply swinging yorker from leg to off stump which bowled Pakistan's Yousuf Youhana first ball in their Group A meeting (Feb 22). The 20-year-old's previous delivery dismissed Inzamam-ul-Haq. Anderson's four for 29 set up a 112-run win.
* When Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas had Bangladesh's Ehsanul Haque caught at second slip with a ball angled across the batsman at Pietermaritzburg (Feb 14) in Group B, the left-arm seamer completed an unprecedented hat-trick with the first three balls of an international match.
* Shane Bond bowled Australia's Ian Harvey with such a perfect leg cutter that the batsman was still looking to square leg in search of his shot as his middle stump hit the ground. Bond took a New Zealand best of six for 23 at Port Elizabeth (March 11) and removed Ricky Ponting for the sixth time in their six meetings and still ended up on the wrong end of a 96-run Super Six defeat.
The Best Shot:
* Tendulkar cut Shoaib Akhtar's fourth ball for six as India began chasing Pakistan's 273 for seven in Centurion (March 1). The next two deliveries disappeared for more classical boundaries, but that six set the tone for an extraordinary match-winning innings. Tendulkar, the world's best batsman, won his personal contest with Shoaib, one of the world's two fastest bowlers. Shoaib finally got his man for a 75-ball 98, but by then Tendulkar, struggling with cramp, had all but won the Group A game. Shoaib took one for 72 off 10 overs.
Cont..
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| Prem Charo |
Posted
on 24-Mar-03 10:52 PM
The Best Innings:
* Canada's John Davison, a first-class off spinner and tail-end batsman, hit the fastest century (32 in fours, 36 in sixes) in Cup history with a 67-baller against West Indies at Centurion (Feb 23), completed with a six off pace bowler Mervyn Dillon. The achievement, he said, "sent a shiver down my spine". Four days earlier, Canada were bowled out for a world-record low of 36 by Sri Lanka in Group B.
*New Zealand's Stephen Fleming scored 134 not out off 132 deliveries in a high-pressure run chase to beat South Africa at The Wanderers (Feb 16) in Group B. "I've waited a long time for an innings like that," he said.
* Tendulkar's 98 against Pakistan may have missed the magical three-figure mark but, in terms of textbook savagery, must rank as one of the great one-day innings.
* Ricky Ponting's 140 not out (March 23) was not only a record for a final, it was spellbinding. The Australian captain scored a measured 50 off 74 balls, including one four, then hit eight sixes and three more fours as the next 47 deliveries went for 90. Tendulkar said it was one of the best innings he had ever seen. It was also done under extreme pressure and by a man who was once seen as lacking gravitas.
The Best Spell:
Brett Lee effectively took eight wicket for three runs in 27 balls. He finished off New Zealand in the Super Sixes with five wicket for three runs in 15 deliveries at Port Elizabeth (March 11). He then took a hat-trick, the first in a World Cup by an Australian, in 12 balls without conceding a run against Kenya in Durban.
The Best Catches:
* West Indian Vasbert Drakes, to end Davison's remarkable innings of 111. He seemed badly positioned after drifting in off the boundary rope at long-off but jack-knifed backwards and caught the ball one-handed high above his head. The television commentators announced a six before Drakes got up with the ball in his hand. He also completed figures of five for 44.
* Lee's dismissal of Andy Blignaut after the Zimbabwean's 25-ball half-century in Bulawayo (Feb 24) in Group A came close. Blignaut cross-batted a lightning full toss straight back at the bowler who somehow caught the ball at throat level. Lee himself could not believe it. Lip-readers would have had no problems identifying his shocked expletive.
The Best Run-outs:
* New Zealand's 20-run win against West Indies in Port Elizabeth (Feb 13) owed much to Brian Lara's dismissal. He fell to cricket's latest innovation, the relay throw, when Lou Vincent chased down the ball, slung it low to Chris Cairns who turned instantly and, with one stump to aim at, ran Lara out for two.
* Sri Lankan duo Kumar Sangakarra and Muttiah Muralitharan were similarly brilliant in running out Shaun Pollock and, in effect, knocking South Africa out of the World Cup in Durban (March 3). The wicketkeeper's lightning pick-up and throw after Pollock's leg-side prod was well wide of the stumps at the bowler's end but Muralitharan caught the ball and flicked it behind his back to beat Pollock's lunge by inches. Even umpire Steve Bucknor was caught out. Sure that the batsman was in, he almost did not bother to call for television adjudication.
The Best Celebration:* Kenya's players jived away at the fall of each late wicket as they pulled off the biggest upset of the World Cup against the Sri Lankans in Nairobi (Feb 24). There were more jubilant huddles when they beat Bangladesh in Johannesburg (March 1) to clinch their place in the Super Sixes. There was less dancing from then on, however, as Steve Tikolo's side realised what they had achieved in becoming the first non-test nation to reach the last four.
cont..
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| Prem Charo |
Posted
on 24-Mar-03 10:54 PM
The Best Quote:
* Namibian bowler Rudi van Vuuren, who has also represented his country at rugby union: "Knowing my capabilities as a batsman, I'd rather take on Jonah Lomu one-on-one than Brett Lee."
The Worst Shot:
Nathan Astle came to the crease against India at Centurion (March 14) with the score on nought for one in a must-win Super Six game. First ball he aimed across a full-length delivery from left-armer Zaheer Khan and fell lbw to make it nought for two. New Zealand were bowled out for 146 and duly headed home.
The Worst Innings:
Leading batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq, dismissed for a golden duck against England, went in to bat against the Netherlands at Paarl (Feb 25) needing a confidence boost. Barely moving his feet, he was trapped for a second-ball duck by Tim de Leede's medium-paced floater. The fourth heaviest one-day scorer in history, he made scores of 6, 4, 0, 0, 6 and 3 as Pakistan were knocked out of the tournament.
* Canadian World Cup batsman Ishwar Maraj produced the second most tedious one-day innings of all time in scoring 53 not out off 155 deliveries -- 25 overs and five balls -- against South Africa in East London (Feb 27). South Africa made things worse by dropping him several times. Twenty-eight years previously Sunil Gavaskar, one of the great batsmen of his age, inexplicably batted through 60 overs to score a soporific 36 not out as England beat India by 202 runs at Lord's on the first day of the inaugural World Cup.
The Worst Drops:
* South Africa's Mark Boucher, snatching too eagerly at the ball, dropped Fleming on 53 at The Wanderers from a regulation edge (Feb 16). Fleming went on to win the match for New Zealand with his unbeaten century, leaving the hosts in turmoil. For the next few days, arguments raged over Pollock's captaincy and whether Allan Donald should be axed.
* Pedro Collins made as bad an error against South Africa in the World Cup opener although it proved less costly. He sauntered nonchalantly backwards to catch Lance Klusener at square leg at Cape Town only to step on the rope. Klusener, however, with 57 from 48 balls, was caught by Carl Hooper in the final over as West Indies sneaked home by three runs.
* With New Zealand defending 146 at Centurion in the Super Sixes, Shane Bond took two quick wickets and Jacob Oram removed Sachin Tendulkar to reduce India to 21 for three. Rahul Dravid, the last senior batsman, then edged past the slips. Back on strike, he snicked Bond again to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum, who spilled a chance he would catch 19 times out of 20.
The Worst Celebration:
* Bangladesh, cricket's 10th Test nation, did not have the chance to celebrate anything after five World Cup defeats out of six, the first to lowly Canada and the last to Kenya. Their only points came from a wash-out against West Indies. The team extended their world record run of one-dayers without victory to 32 matches by losing to the Kenyans (March 1).
The Worst Quotes:
* "There is no question we can get better. If we were quite happy to sit back after back-to-back World Cups then we would be doing ourselves a disservice." Australia coach John Buchanan after winning the final.
Sporty Charo = Prem Charo :)
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