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 Stunner South Africa beats Australia to win first Commonwealth cricket gold
Posted: Friday September 25, 1998 07:20 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN/SI) -- Australian pacemen and spinners both went down to South African opener Mike Rindel who had a perfect 67 to lead his squad to a four wicket victory and the first Commonwealth Games cricket gold medal. The historic victory overshadowed Australian captain Steve Waugh's unbeaten 90, which rescued his team from 58 for 4 to 183 all out. Australia's top order was destroyed by South African captain Shaun Pollock, who took three wickets in his opening spell and finished with 4-19 off nine overs. But the target of 184 was apparently too small on a dry batter's wicket that Pollock had judged correctly as he won the toss and chose to bat second. "We just picked the bad day to have an off day," Waugh said, adding that the Australians batted badly and were about 50 runs short of a possible winning target. Putting on the best South African performance in the tournament, Rindel and Andrew Hudson came out blazing as they scored at a run rate of more than 6 while the required rate was 3.68. Their batting shredded Australia's reputation, built around the full-strength limited overs side it fielded, unlike other test playing countries in the 16-nation tournament. Rindel said he and Hudson told themselves to "just keep going." "We were focusing on every 10 runs and putting it behind us," said Rindel, 35, who plays for the English club Leek in Staffordshire. By the 10th over, Rindel and Hudson had posted 73 runs. At tat point, trying to flick spinner Gavin Robertson, Hudson gave an easy catch to Michael Bevan at fine leg for 36. He had survived a difficult catch in the first slip by Mark Waugh in the first over. But the aggression continued as Rindel dispatched the other spinner, Brad Young, to two consecutive fours in the 13th over. Rindel and new man Jacques Kallis continued to tire out the Australians under the torrid tropical heat as the fielding continued to slip. Rindel took two hesitant defensive shots to judge Brad Young when he opened the spin attack in the 8th over. The third ball he lifted above the bowler's head for a four to bring up South Africa's 50. He and Kallis shared a 72-run partnership until Rindel was out to a superb reflex action catch by Mark Waugh off Darren Lehmann at forward short leg, ending a 2-hour, 15-minute innings of 106 balls with seven fours. Kallis was caught behind off Lehmann again for 44 with the score at 181. Next man in was Polock, who leveled the scores but was out caught by Young trying to hit the winning shot off Lehmann. The winning run was scored by Dale Benkenstein and South Africa finished at 184 for 6. Earlier, Pollock shocked Australia, dismissing opener Mark Waugh, one drop Ricky Ponting and opener Adam Gilchrist in the 3rd, 5th and 9th overs. Waugh stepped in at that stage and began to put together the innings as seven Australians came to he crease and returned to the pavilion. He ran out of partners in the last over with three balls to go. Waugh has scored 215 runs in five innings without losing his wickets over the past 10 days. "I would swap it for a gold medal," he said. "All the guys would." He said Australia suffered from a "lot of soft dismissals, lot of poor shots today; not up to standards that we are used to." Waugh opened his account with a square cut that was perfectly perpendicular to the pitch and he went on to hit five more fours and two sixes in his 109-ball knock.
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