Prologue:
In the 1999 Edition of the ICC WC, South Africa reached Semi-finals to face Australia. Both had proved to be formidable teams in the matches since earlier World Cup and considering their teams' strength, for either of the teams, the other was the final hurdle to the World Cup.
The World witnessed a spectacular first ever World Cup ODI that ended in a tie.
You could give the last men in Donald and Klusener some respite with the fact that Donald was a main stream bowler with no great batting performance in his career backing him to take the team on other side of the test.
But the next time, it was the think tank and batsmen that let them down.
The Incident:
In WC2003 Edition in their home, the Proteas and their opponents Sri Lanka, needed a victory to stay in contention to go through to next round. A mature SL batting first put up a 268 riding on the century from Atapattu and a good knock from Aravinda D'Silva.
The spinning trio of Jayasuriya, Muralitharan and D'Silva had ran through the top and middle order batsmen (Smith, Gibbs, Kirsten, Kallis, Dippenaar and Pollock). On crease was Boucher, well set in 30s of some 50 odd balls; and Klusener who was man of the series of previous edition on WC had just brought in deteriorating weather on fall of Pollock, in 44th over.
While they were waiting for expected rain to pour in, they didnt want to lose further wickets to ensure being ahead of SL on D/L chart. The dressing room sent a message that by end of 45th over, Proteas had to be at 229 without losing any more wickets (they were 6 down) to win the match (in case rain arrived). 44th over yielded 1 run for Klusener and score was 216/6.
Next 5 balls yielded exactly 13 runs including 4 runs off a wide ball from Murali and a 6 off Boucher's bat of the 5th ball. It was already drizzling and with the six, Boucher pumped his fist in air, believing that he had won and so he nudged the next ball toward square leg and stay put in his crease. Proteas were 229/6 at end of 45 overs. Rain poured in and Boucher was aleady celebrating (though prematurely).
THEY HAD MADE A GRAVE MISTAKE once again.
As per D/L, they needed 229 for a TIE and not to victory. They needed to make one more run for the victory that Boucher had denied himself and his team.
Epilogue:
No more balls were bowled in the match and it was declared a tie. Second for South Africa in as many ties in the WC history. Shaun Pollock who captained the side was sacked after the series. SL moved ahead to the next round, though their progress in the WC was halted by the express Aussies.
It is interesting to know that earlier in the 1992 Edition of WC in Australia, Proteas has suffered at the hands of rain to be knocked out of WC, (requiring 21 to win of 1 ball as per the rule prevailing in that WC).
In the 1999 Edition of the ICC WC, South Africa reached Semi-finals to face Australia. Both had proved to be formidable teams in the matches since earlier World Cup and considering their teams' strength, for either of the teams, the other was the final hurdle to the World Cup.
The World witnessed a spectacular first ever World Cup ODI that ended in a tie.
You could give the last men in Donald and Klusener some respite with the fact that Donald was a main stream bowler with no great batting performance in his career backing him to take the team on other side of the test.
But the next time, it was the think tank and batsmen that let them down.
The Incident:
In WC2003 Edition in their home, the Proteas and their opponents Sri Lanka, needed a victory to stay in contention to go through to next round. A mature SL batting first put up a 268 riding on the century from Atapattu and a good knock from Aravinda D'Silva.
The spinning trio of Jayasuriya, Muralitharan and D'Silva had ran through the top and middle order batsmen (Smith, Gibbs, Kirsten, Kallis, Dippenaar and Pollock). On crease was Boucher, well set in 30s of some 50 odd balls; and Klusener who was man of the series of previous edition on WC had just brought in deteriorating weather on fall of Pollock, in 44th over.
While they were waiting for expected rain to pour in, they didnt want to lose further wickets to ensure being ahead of SL on D/L chart. The dressing room sent a message that by end of 45th over, Proteas had to be at 229 without losing any more wickets (they were 6 down) to win the match (in case rain arrived). 44th over yielded 1 run for Klusener and score was 216/6.
Next 5 balls yielded exactly 13 runs including 4 runs off a wide ball from Murali and a 6 off Boucher's bat of the 5th ball. It was already drizzling and with the six, Boucher pumped his fist in air, believing that he had won and so he nudged the next ball toward square leg and stay put in his crease. Proteas were 229/6 at end of 45 overs. Rain poured in and Boucher was aleady celebrating (though prematurely).
THEY HAD MADE A GRAVE MISTAKE once again.
As per D/L, they needed 229 for a TIE and not to victory. They needed to make one more run for the victory that Boucher had denied himself and his team.
Epilogue:
No more balls were bowled in the match and it was declared a tie. Second for South Africa in as many ties in the WC history. Shaun Pollock who captained the side was sacked after the series. SL moved ahead to the next round, though their progress in the WC was halted by the express Aussies.
It is interesting to know that earlier in the 1992 Edition of WC in Australia, Proteas has suffered at the hands of rain to be knocked out of WC, (requiring 21 to win of 1 ball as per the rule prevailing in that WC).
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