A battle within the battle (14 June 1999)
Headingly, June 13: Cricket scribe Neville Cardus would have been proud of the copybook approach that two of the strongest teams in the game took
14-Jun-1999
14 June 1999
A battle within the battle
Nizamuddin Ahmed
Headingly, June 13: Cricket scribe Neville Cardus would have been
proud of the copybook approach that two of the strongest teams in the
game took.
South Africa in green opted to bat on a reputedly seaming wicket.
Australia, in a must-win situation to reach the semis, did well to
maintain a tight line, but their fielding under the tense situation
was occasionally surprisingly poor.
Hansie Cronje, out in second ball, wanted Australian to chase a large
total but he hardly made any noticeable contribution. As captain he
wanted to keep Australia out of the last four for obvious reasons;
but he must have wanted a shy at the Zimbabweans against whom he has
an old score to settle. No cricket Captain had a better reason to
kill two birds with one stone.
Steve Waugh conceded that South Africa were 'the number one team in
one-day cricket' but insisted that his side were able to beat them if
they are on song. If they didn't they would give their illustrious
opponents an easy semifinal with Zimbabwe, who must have been praying
for an Aussie disaster although not really relishing the prospect of
facing their neighbours again.
The cards were therefore on the table. The situation was tense. The
crowd breathed the mood and was methodical in appreciating every bit
of good cricket.
The best stock of cricketers was here. Both sides had a host of world
class all-rounders, prolific batsmen and lethal bowlers. So complete
were the two sides that the exclusion of Jacques Kallis and Darren
Lehmann from the twenty-two made little impact.
With stakes for which Australia could not be envied and South Africa
having sinister designs, both teams made the match look more like a
clinical operation. That would have had Cardus on the edge of his
arm-chair.
Herschelle Gibbs, one of Bob Woolmer's 'most talented cricketers',
shared two steady partnership, 95 with Daryll Culliman for the second
wicket and 78 with Jonty Rhodes, to build a terrific launching pad
for South Africa.
In the process the right-handed opener scored his maiden World Cup
century. His 124-minute knock included ten fours and a six. When he
departed South Africa were 219 for four, and hard-hitting Lance
Klusener was next in.
It was all going according to Hansie's plan and Zimbabwe had a
genuine excuse to count the chickens at the interval.
If South Africa do manage to keep Australia out, they will eventually
help Zimbabwe as the second African nation to qualify for the semis.
That itself is the first.
Asia, the life of the game outside the field, has a lone
representative in Pakistan. New Zealand could be joined by the
Aussies as the second from that continent. That would leave the vast
magnitude of the America and Europe out. Indeed Jagmohan Dalmiya's
ICC has a lot of work to do.
The South Africa-Zimbabwe equation is even more interesting because
paceman Steve Elworthy and 12th man Dale Benkenstein are
Rhodesia-born.
At lunch, South Africa seemed to have made Harare smile as Australia
were required to score 272 for a place in the semifinal. A tall task
even with the likes of the Waughs, Gilchrist, Ponting, Bevan, Moody
and Martyn padding up for Australia.
The Test-sides are more comfortable playing on Test grounds as
Headingly. This was where Ian Botham hit an unbeaten 149 in the 1981
Ashes series that England won. One of the game's heaviest scorers and
most reliable batsmen, Geoffrey Boycott, scored his hundredth hundred
against Australia.
Home to Yorkshire county since 1899, the second session will see if
Australia can emulate those fine innings. It may bother them a bit to
know that Hedley Verity took 10 for 10 in 1932.
In their 15 overs Australia scrambled to 54 for the loss of
Gilchrist, Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn. One could have forgiven the
crowd for enjoying the Aussie misery (run-rate under 4) as they
synchronised the best Mexican wave of the tournament. The fall of the
early wickets put South Africa on top and Australia were resigned to
an afternoon of nudging and prodding.
At times though, so sombre was the mood in the gallery that the crowd
could have been jurors at a murder inquest. There were the
intermittent oohs and ahs, more from watching the misery of the men
from down under than at any exquisitely of the South Africans.
It was a match that Australia wanted to win, made difficult with
South Africa's resolve to face South Africa. That element of
arithmetic injected tension in the teams, marking them over-cautious
that bordered on boredom. But, in a battle of equal purpose, played
on neutral ground, the South Africans appeared the superior. The
difference was the cushion of already being there and the needles of
anxiety.
Source :: The Daily Star