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Almost sorry Australia looks forward to final after thriller
Posted: Friday June 18, 1999 11:26 AM
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- Hailing Shane Warne as a genius, captain Steve Waugh credited the leg spinner for taking Australia into the World Cup final after a thrilling tie with South Africa in one of the closest games in cricketing history. Waugh also praised his opponents, saying he "almost felt sorry" for the South Africans who were thrown out of the tournament after Thursday's semifinal for the want of one run. "It was a fantastic game of cricket. It was a shame someone had to lose that game," Warne said. The South African camp was cast in gloom. After more than a month of brilliant performances -- it won six of its eight games before Thursday's semifinal -- it has nothing to show for it. "It is a cruel game ... we are all very down," South African skipper Hansie Cronje said. "We had to work extremely hard to be where we are today and we will only be satisfied once we win a World Cup," he said. Chasing a modest Australian total of 213, South Africa was reduced to 61 for four before a victory was made plausible on the back of a middle order recovery by Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes and late hitting by Lance Klusener. The 27-year-old all-rounder hit 31 runs in 16 balls to take South Africa to within nine runs of victory in the last over with one wicket in hand. He hit two boundaries off the first two balls to tie the scores. But South Africa's third bid for a World Cup final place was shattered as No. 11 Allan Donald at the non-striker's end was run out on the fourth ball, climaxing what had been brilliant Australian fielding that refused to be intimidated by the circumstances. "There was enormous pressure out there for the batters and the bowlers," Waugh said, adding that it became a question of who held their nerve the longest. "Right down to the wire it was probably us but they played great cricket. And in actual fact it was a tie and that was a pretty fair result," he said. "South Africa, I guess, the only time they looked like losing the game was when they were nine wickets down," he said. Although the scores were tied, Australia won because of a superior position in the second round Super Sixes having beaten South Africa by five wickets at Headingley in another nail-biting finish. But the path to the victory was paved by Warne who struck terror among the South Africans after taking three top wickets -- openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs and Cronje -- for three runs in his first three overs. Until then, South Africa had been cruising at 48 for no wicket. "Today it was all or nothing. It just happened to be my day," said Warne who made another breakthrough in the 45th over, getting top scorer Kallis (53) out to end his 10 overs with Man of the Match winning figures of 4-29 with four maidens. Warne's rich haul signaled a return to form for the spinner who has received bad press in recent months after a dismal tour of the West Indies and initial lack of success in the World Cup. "I think that quashes any thoughts that my shoulder has gone, that I am no good and all those sort of things," Warne told a news conference. Waugh, sitting next to him, interjected to say: "He is a genius sitting there." Warne said that statistically the last eight weeks had been "even better than the golden years" when he was at his peak. "So I feel that I am getting back to the way I used to bowl. I don't think I have bowled better in a one day game than today," he said. Australia, the 1987 World Cup champion, will meet '92 titlist Pakistan in the final Sunday. "It was a great escape today [against South Africa] but it won't count for anything in the next couple of days [against Pakistan]," Waugh said. "We can expose their batting if we get them in the right spot, get three of four down. You can see here, chasing runs is hard here in tough situations," he said.
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