Nine nations, one chance (5 November 1998)
Dhaka journalist Zahid Newaz reported on the local buildup and reaction to the Wills International Cup for CricInfo365 over the past month
05-Nov-1998
5 November 1998
Nine nations, one chance
By Zahid Newaz
Dhaka journalist Zahid Newaz reported on the local
buildup and reaction to the Wills International Cup for CricInfo365
over the past month. This is his assessment of the series:
"Nine nations, one chance. Eight days of sensational cricket. Thrills
and hardluck stories."
Thus the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Jagmohan Dalmiya
described the Wills International Cup, the first ever knock out world
tournament that is now over. Finally, South Africa is the champions
and 3,931 runs with four centuries off 117 wickets in eight matches of
this nine-day event.
But were the matches of what most looked upon as the "mini world cup"
reflection of real cricketing excitement and uncertainty? Except, the
prequarter final between New Zealand and Zimbabwe, the answer is
"no". Not any star player, rather an average standard Harris turned
the impossible into possible. And the result was decided in the very
last ball.
Partial reflection of real excitement was observed in another match
where also the low ranking New Zealand played against the world
champions Sri Lanka in the quarter final. The Kiwi bowlers had
dramatically returned three top order batsmen - Sanath Jayasuriya,
Marvan Atapattu and Aravinda de Silva in only five runs. But the match
finally didn't see the upset as Ranatunga and Co were the winners
chasing the Kiwis paltry total.
Star cricketers were more frustrating than the matches they played.
Except for little genius Sachin Tendulkar, no other star could spark
and enthral the jam-packed Bangabandhu National Stadium from October
24 to November 1. Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shahid Afridi,
Mohammed Azharuddin, Aravinda de Silva, Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan
were among them.
Brian Lara, Sourav Ganguly or Wasim Akram could show a little, but
Indian skipper Azharuddin was the biggest flop. He could play only
seven balls in two matches and scored one. Mentionable, in both the
matches he was lbw in same way. Mark Waugh was the highest scorer for
Australia against India in the quarter final, but he was the man who
finally threw his wicket, that was the key reason for Aussies ouster
from the tournament.
When the stars flopped, unpredictably, two players from the two
finalists became the heroes of the Wills Cup. They are Philo Wallace
of West Indies and Jacques Kallis of South Africa. There was no
official man of the tournament. Had it been, obviously the
adjudicators would select one of the two new heroes. While Kallis was
dangerous with both ball and willow, Wallace proved him as the most
hard-hitting batsman.
Many spectator think that the 103 off 102 balls with five sixers and
11 boundaries of Wallace against the Proteas in the final was the best
innings in the tournament. But many other say, no. They preferred
Sachin's 141.
There were two other tons in the mega spectacle of the cricket. One
was made by Zimbabwean skipper Alistair Campbell (100) and another by
Jacques Kallis of South Africa (113). But Campbell and Wallace were
unlucky that their centuries could not bring the victory.
If the question of team performance comes, obviously South Africa is
the best. Not only for that they were the final winners, but also for
their allround performance - in bowling, fielding and obviously
batting on the paradise of batsmen - by all the players. They were
also a little lucky as weather helped them a little in the semi-final
against Sri Lanka.
Team performance of West Indies also showed the hint that they are
returning to their old golden days that Brian Lara had said on their
arrival in Dhaka to take part the cricket carnival.
Obviously the local crowd had support to the three sub-continent teams
- either India or Pakistan or Sri Lanka as Bangladesh having only
one-day status was not a participant. But finally they were
frustrated by all the three teams. Whether Arjuna Ranatunga admits or
not, his decision to chase in the semi-final on that cloudy and
rain-interrupted match was enough to be eliminated from the
tournament. His batsmen also failed as the Pakistanis without Saeed
Anwar and Injam Ul Haq. But what's about India? Their performance with
full strength was real disaster.
Despite being frustrated by the sub-continent teams, the spectators
were happy to watch good battle between willow and leather. Whether
the matches are exciting or not, they were happier to see all the
test-playing teams on the same ground altogether. It was their
greatest satisfaction as they also proved that are the real lovers of
cricket.
Source :: CricInfo365