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'Real' deal tied South Africa laments missed opportunities
Posted: Monday June 21, 1999 03:15 PM
LONDON (CNN/SI) -- The one-sided World Cup final was for many fans a failure. It lacked the thrill and tension of the Australia-South Africa semifinal, which may go down as one of the finest one-day matches in history, and may be regarded as the 'real' final. Australia crushed Pakistan with ease and authority in what goes down in history as the shortest World Cup final. South Africa, which tied the men from Down Under in the semifinal and did not advance due to an inferior Super Six run rate, was left to regret missed opportunities. If Lance Klusener and Allan Donald hadn't messed up their chase for the winning run and Herschelle Gibbs hadn't spilled an easy catch against Australia in the previous match, South Africa might well have been World Cup champions instead. Instead it was Steve Waugh's Australians, staring at first round elimination after early losses to Pakistan and New Zealand, who lifted the title on Sunday after a run of seven games without defeat. Pakistan was expected to be as tough an opponent as South Africa in the final but caved in to the pace of Glenn McGrath and the mesmerizing spin of a rejuvenated Shane Warne. Wasim Akram's team mustered only 132 all out in 39 overs and Australia reached that for the loss of only two wickets at Lord's to win the title for the second time. Waugh, who was on the team that also won in 1987, typified the Australians' never-say-die spirit with his players knowing that one more defeat and they were out. His 120 not out against South Africa after being dropped by Gibbs on 56, was probably the best innings of the championship. Australia was struggling at 48-3 chasing 272 for victory and Waugh defied a powerful South African pace attack to lead Australia to a five wicket victory and a place in the semifinal. The two powerhouses were to meet again in the semifinal and the rematch turned out to be one of the greatest one-day games of all time. Waugh, who scored 56, and Michael Bevan, 65, provided the backbone of Australia's modest 213 all out. The South Africans appeared to be coasting at 48 without loss until Warne used his amazing ability to turn the ball to reduce them to 61 for four. With South Africa running out of time, Klusener came to the crease to hit 31 off 15 balls and put South Africa to within one run of victory with one wicket left and four balls to go. Donald was almost run out off the next ball but a terrible mix-up with Klusener left him stranded as the allrounder charged for the winning run. The game was tied and Australia, having gained a better record in the second round games, advanced to the final. It was a bitter ending for the South Africans and it was little consolation for Klusener, who scored 281 runs, was dismissed only twice, and took 17 wickets, to be named man-of-the-tournament. The 12-team, 42-game championship proved what most observers believed already. That Australia, South Africa and Pakistan were the best one-day teams around and the only question was in which order. New Zealand, powered by the left-arm seam bowling of Geoff Allott, who tied Warne as leading wicket taker with 20, did well to reach the semifinal for the fourth time. But Stephen Fleming's team was crushed by nine wickets by Pakistan whose openers, Saeed Anwar (113 not out) and Wajahatullah Wasti (84) put together a World Cup record opening stand of 194. Zimbabwe, which had never before made the second round in four attempts, went within a whisker of the semifinal thanks largely to the all-round performances of opener Neil Johnson, 367 runs and 12 wickets. The format of the competition meant that it carried into the second round the four points it gained from victories it gained over fellow survivors India and South Africa. But it was able to add just one more from a rain-disrupted tied game against New Zealand and it lost out to the Kiwis on run-rate despite finishing level on points. The performances of New Zealand and Zimbabwe shamed those of host England, two-time titlist West Indies and defending champion Sri Lanka. Alec Stewart's England appeared to have one foot in the second round after one-sided victories over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. But it lost to India in a rain-interrupted match at Edgbaston and Zimbabwe's upset win over South Africa meant that England had been knocked out in the first round for the first time in a Cricket World Cup. The West Indies came into the World Cup after morale-boosting tied test and one-day series with Australia and Brian Lara's reputation as a team leader appeared to have improved. Despite beating New Zealand and minnows Bangladesh and Scotland with comparative ease, Lara's team lost to Pakistan and needed to beat Australia to survive. Fast bowler McGrath was inspired at Old Trafford, shattering Lara's stumps to return a tournament best 5-14, and the West Indies crumbled to 110 all out to lose by six wickets. Sri Lanka was probably the biggest disaster of all, although it wasn't totally surprising. Arjuna Ranatunga's team had won the title in 1996 with some audacious batting and eight of that lineup were back to defend the title. Beaten by England by eight wickets in the opening match and outplayed by 89 runs by South Africa, Sri Lanka recovered with a four-wicket victory over Zimbabwe before suffering a major humiliation to India at Taunton. The Indians exposed glaring weaknesses in the Sri Lankan bowling and fielding to score a massive 373 for six to win by 157 runs and the defending titlist went home early. Back-to-back hundreds and three half centuries made India's Rahul Dravid the top run scorer with 461 although Saurav Ganguly had the biggest individual score of 183 against Sri Lanka and Sachin Tendulkar returned from his father's funeral to score 140 not out against Kenya. But India, despite memorable victories over Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England, continually had problems bowling teams out and gained only two points in the second round. Of the three non test playing nations, Bangladesh sparked celebrations back home by beating Pakistan by 62 runs at Northampton and also beat the Scots. Scotland and Kenya didn't manage a single point.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||
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