The dullest World Cup final ever? (20 June 1999)

20 June 1999

The dullest World Cup final ever?

Alex Balfour

The biggest event in world cricket. The best two teams in the world clash at the 'home of cricket'. A ground packed full of stars of the game past and present.

What a match up. What an occasion. What a bore.

The 1983 final turned into a classic, the only true upset in a final, but it was fairly uninteresting until Richards lost his wicket. The 1992 final ran out of legs late on, but England did at least put up a reasonable fight. 1979 was a dissapointment, even if Sir Viv's unbeaten century was worth the gate money alone.

But Lord's 1999 will be remembered without doubt as the most boring World Cup final ever. It was unmitigated tedium from the moment Saeed Anwar lost his wicket and the Paksitani batsman lost interest. And a good thing too. Lord's didn't deserve to stage a truly memorable game and cap an indifferent World Cup with a legendary finale. The Edgbaston semi-final was a true fan's outing and easily the best game of the tournament. The final was never likely to be anything other than a dissapointment by comparison.

The Pakistani top order simply had no stomach for the fight. Wasti looked overawed, Ijaz was uninterested, Inzamam was too tired - the tectonic plates shifting underneath his feet probably reached the pavilion quicker than he did after he was dismissed, Razzaq looked like he'd never hit a cricket ball before, Afridi was as out of sorts as he has been all tournament and Wasim and Moin were always up against it. Only Saeed Anwar, swinging at everything outside off stump, carried any hint of a threat, but he managed to get himself out testing his eye and hoping his old and best form might magically return.

But it would be wrong to accuse Australia of doing anything so positive as taking a firm grip on the game. Reiffel served up some very mediocre fare. Moody bowled full and up to the wicket. McGrath and Warne merely went through their paces and watched the game unfold about them.

There were moments that threatened to turn the game into a spectacle if not a contest. Warne showed true class and variety. Gilchrist briefly reminded the crowd what one day batting should be all about. Shoaib bowled the fastest he has throughout the tournament. Ponting and Mark Waugh both held fantastic catches. All totally uncalled for and unbecoming of the occasion. Let's hope their respective aunties give them a good slap round the calves with a ruler next time they go and visit.

Inzamam, ever the gentleman, at least had the good manners to feign injury taking the catch that ended the Aussie 'keepers innings and then left the field in case the atmosphere started to get out of control.

The look on Klusener's face when he received his man of the tournament award said it all. Losing at Edgbaston meant far more than winning the sideshow at Lord's. Roll on 2003.