HEART-STOPPING
TIE
Australia v
South Africa (Semi-Final) •
Edgbaston, Birmingham, 17 June 1999
Just four days earlier the two teams had fought a high-scoring cliffhanger. Australia had advanced to the semi-final with just two balls to spare. It was clear that not much separated these sides. Excitement was running high as they clashed again at Edgbaston. Yet none could have imagined that the match would end the way it did.
Pacemen
Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald were in devastating form. Pollock made a delivery
jump, and Mark Waugh gloved it to Mark Boucher. Adam Gilchrist and Ricky
Ponting put on 51 but South Africa struck back. Three wickets fell for 14 runs,
and at 68 for four in the 17th over, Australia were looking down the barrel.
That
man Steve Waugh fought another valiant battle. He put on 90 for the fifth
wicket with Michael Bevan. Waugh was caught by Boucher, trying to glide the
ball to third-man. He scored 56 off 76 balls with a six and 6 fours. Thereafter
only Shane Warne offered resistance. Bevan was last out in the final over for
65. Pollock took five for 36 off 9.2 overs, while Donald bagged four for 32 off
10 overs. They shot out Australia for 213.
Gary
Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs put on 48 before an inspired Warne struck. He beat
Gibbs in the air and bowled him. Kirsten tried to heave him and was also
bowled. Warne beat Hansie Cronje second ball with a vicious turner. David
Shepherd declared him caught at slip by Mark Waugh. The ball had apparently
missed the bat. Misfortune struck again as Daryll Cullinan was run out. South
Africa were 61 for four off 21.2 overs.
Jacques
Kallis and Jonty Rhodes put on 84 for the fifth wicket. Kallis scored a
resilient half-century before falling to Warne. Pollock hit 20 off 14
deliveries. But wickets kept falling while the irrepressible Lance Klusener
blazed away at the other end. Boucher and Steve Elworthy departed in quick
succession. The score then was 198 for nine after 48.4 overs, with 16 runs
required off 8 balls. Klusener swung Glenn McGrath high towards long-on. Paul
Reiffel on the boundary jumped to catch the ball, but palmed it over the ropes.
Klusener then scrambled a single to retain the strike for the final over.
There
were now 9 runs needed. Klusener smashed Damien Fleming for boundaries off the
first two balls. Just one run was required off 4 deliveries with Klusener still
on strike. Steve Waugh brought in all his fielders. Donald at the other end
seemed jittery. He was nearly run out off the third ball. Klusener played the
next ball towards Mark Waugh in the covers and ran. Donald was confused. He
stayed put, then ran, dropping his bat in the process. Mark Waugh back-handed
the ball towards the stumps at the bowler's end where both the batsmen were
standed. Fleming then rolled the ball to Ian Healy, and Donald was beaten by
yards.
It
was a tie, the first in the World Cup. Australia advanced to the final, having
beaten South Africa by a whisker in the previous match. A relieved Shane Warne
exclaimed: "We just got out of jail at the end. I don't know how we did
it. It was just a great game of cricket." Sometimes the difference between
triumph and tragedy can be very slender indeed.
Australia : 213 all out (49.2 overs)
South Africa : 213 all out (49.4 overs)
(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email
singh_iv@hotmail.com).
The Big
Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011
ISBN
978-81-901668-4-3
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