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Fairy tale ending Australia comes back from brink of elimination
Posted: Monday September 06, 1999 03:48 PM
LONDON (CNN/SI) -- Australian skipper Steve Waugh marked his team's first round loss to Pakistan as the turning point of the tournament. Australia lost to Pakistan by 10 runs on May 23 in the first round of the tournament. Steve Waugh and veteran Tom Moody were the only Australians to have participated in both of Australia's World Cup victories. Following Australia's eight wicket thrashing of Pakistan in the most one-sided World Cup final in seven tournaments at Lord's on Sunday, Waugh pointed at a 91-run partnership between his twin brother, Mark, and Ricky Ponting at Headingley as the key to Australia's resurgence. "Ricky and Mark made it to one for 90 and really went at Pakistan when they were coming at us full tilt, bowling quick, on a wicket that suited their bowlers," Waugh recalled. "If we had been bowled out for a cheap score there we would not have progressed further on, and we ended up getting 265. "For me that was the time where we stood up there and said: 'We've had enough here, let's give it a real red hot go'. That partnership was crucial." One month later, in a massive anticlimax finish to the Carnival of Cricket, Australia, the winners in '87, thrashed '92 champions Pakistan with embarrassing ease in the final. Waugh's team bowled Pakistan out for 132 in only 39 overs and reached 133 for two in 20.1. That meant almost half the scheduled 100-overs were left and the game finished 2 1/2 hours early despite a 30-minute pre-match delay by rain. The battled-scarred Australians, fresh from two nerve-wrecking encounters against South Africa, bowled, fielded and batted the temperamental Pakistani outfit into submission much to the surprise of the packed 30,000 spectators who had anticipated a compelling, close-fought clash. The victory completed a fairy-tale tournament for Waugh although his elation was followed several hours later by the news that his grandfather, Edward, had died in hospital at age 89. Both Steve and Mark Waugh were close to their ailing grandfather had vowed to win the trophy for him. They did it with an amazing recovery after a bad start. Waugh's side lost two of its opening three games, then won six of the next seven games to lift the title. Steve Waugh scored a match-winning 120 not out against South Africa in the second round when his team looked like losing and going out. Then followed a drama-packed semifinal against the South Africans, which ended in a tie with both sides making 213. Waugh's side scraped through because of a better second-round record. The Australians owed their win to fast bowler Glenn McGrath and leg spinner Shane Warne, who finished with 18 and a record-equalling 20 wickets respectively. Pakistan's undoing was an enemy within itself -- its explosive temperaments and unpredictability -- that makes it brilliant one day and bad the next. Pakistan was no match to Australia on what Waugh described as a 260-run wicket. Despite the six-match unbeaten run, Waugh knew his side could still not expect to walk over Pakistan. After McGrath had removed Wajahatullah Wasti and Damien Fleming being a trifle lucky to force the in-form Saeed Anwar to play on, Australia never allowed Pakistan to recover from the disappointing start. Waugh applied relentless pressure on the sometimes vulnerable middle order with the introduction of Warne and, before he finish his 10 overs, the Pakistan innings had plunged to a new low. Warne again seized the big moment to take 4-33, and Australia, taking three stunning catches and fielding like possessed men, played easily its best match of the tournament. Pakistan played its worst. "We talked about taking half chances, which we hadn't done for most of the tournament, but we pulled them off took catches and hit the stumps," Waugh said after the win. "We bowled and fielded magnificently and our batting was really positive in a pressure situation. This was as close to getting it right. "It was probably a 260-wicket, so having bowled Pakistan out so cheaply, we really should have won it comfortably, which we did. "We just wanted to be very consistent in what we did all day -- get in the Pakistanis' faces when they were batting -- just doing the little things right and being very disciplined in everything we did." For Wasim Akram in his fourth stint as captain he did well to hide his disappointment. "I think I am a satisfied man because we were beaten by a better side," Wasim said. The big defeat couldn't have been worst timed for Wasim and some of his senior players. Their integrity and standing in the cricket world may be put in serious jeopardy by the imminent publication of findings into the match-fixing investigation. Wasim said the tournament performance indicates a bright future for Pakistan cricket with the youngsters like Razzaq, Wasti, Azhar Mahmood and Shoaib Akhtar to figure prominently. The 32-year old skipper, who said he planned to stay on after the tournament, said: "I think the way I'm bowling I feel the body can take another year or two, and I think the Pakistan team needs me and I need them. "They have the class, the talent and temperament, they've showed that in this competition. But we had bad day."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||
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