Waugh is perfect leader for the team of talents (22 June 1999)

The final disappointed, being too one-sided for general enjoyment, but the World Cup did not

22-Jun-1999

22 June 1999

Waugh is perfect leader for the team of talents

Michael Henderson

The final disappointed, being too one-sided for general enjoyment, but the World Cup did not. Although it took time to get going, as these competitions often do, there was plenty to admire in the Super Six stage and by the time Australia and South Africa contested that monumental semi-final at Edgbaston it had become genuinely memorable.

Was it the best one-day game ever, as people have claimed? These matters defy clear categorisation. But if it was not then it was good enough to be getting on with. It will live on in thousands of conversations years from now and, however frequently it is recalled, the South Africans will never emerge as winners.

Picking a team of the tournament is fraught with danger but everyone is entitled to hold an opinion, even a cricket writer. The player of the World Cup, officially, was Lance Klusener. Unofficially it was surely Steve Waugh, who rallied the Australians by personal example after they had made a moderate start. He is also the captain of this representative XI, by a short head from Wasim Akram.

Saeed Anwar: It took the Pakistan left-hander half a dozen matches to find his most fluent form, and then he made two hundreds that bore the stamp of unusually high class. The second century, against New Zealand, which enabled Pakistan to win the first semi-final by nine wickets, was his 17th in one-day internationals. You cannot leave him out of any side in limited-overs cricket.

Mark Waugh: He passed 1,000 World Cup runs in the final, which puts him behind only Javed Miandad, Sachin Tendulkar and Vivian Richards in the all-time list, and nobody can deny him a place at that top table. Just imagine watching him bat with Saeed! It would be like bathing in honey, or being fed strawberries by Rhinemaidens. Pure joy, this boy. He's not a bad slipper, either.

Jacques Kallis: Hard lines, Jacques. Kallis played a wonderful hand with bat and ball for South Africa, underlining his claim to be the best all-rounder in the world. Good enough to take the new ball, and to bat at first wicket down, he is the genuine article, and at 23 he can conquer new peaks in the years ahead. How Glamorgan will miss him if he cannot report fit next month.

Rahul Dravid: The maker of two hundreds in the competition, along with Saeed, he is the surprise pick in the all-star team. His elegance was not a surprise but the fact that he headed the run list with 461, 63 ahead of Steve Waugh, was. Dravid stroked 50 boundaries in his eight innings and impressed off the field as a courteous, well-spoken gent. He is living proof that the line of well-schooled Indian batsmen exists, and flourishes.

Steve Waugh: Behind Dravid in terms of runs scored, the Australia captain did not come second in any other way. His 120 not out at Headingley was the decisive innings of the competition, for it kept his team in the World Cup when the South Africans were preparing to wave them goodbye. On completion of his hundred he acknowledged all sections of the crowd, then nodded towards the dressing room, thereby bucking a malign modern trend. To him jobs have to be done without self-regard, for the team's benefit. Captain Magnificent.

Lance Klusener: The inventory reads: 281 runs, 17 wickets, 10 sixes, four man-of-the-match awards - and a part in the cock-up that cost South Africa a chance of winning the World Cup. If you want to know how cricket can lead a man to the trough and then deny him water, Klusener's story stands apart. But he, too, knew glory. It is not all about winning, though it might seem that way to him now.

Moin Khan: He kept wicket with a broken finger in his left hand, and played strokes with rare abandon down the order, frequently making fools of the best bowlers. The way he treated Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock at Trent Bridge would have made a guardsman at Buckingham Palace rock with laughter. This is just the man for a scrap, and he is indispensable in the Pakistan side.

Wasim Akram: Captain of Pakistan, and hardly less impressive than Waugh, 'Waz' failed to become a World Cup winner for a second time. He doesn't need medals to reveal his class. He is probably the greatest player in the world, and he comes out of this competition as a brave leader. He also spoke the best single sentence. "Moin Khan," he said, "is hitting sixes like there's no tomorrow." Why can't an Englishman speak so graphically?

Shane Warne: Ho, ho! Aren't those people who referred to him in the past tense feeling rather foolish? It would have been absurd if the man who has done more for cricket than anyone else in the past quarter-century went through his career without being a World Cup winner. His performance in the Great Birmingham Tie added another to his stock of imperishable memories. If he is truly thinking about packing it all in, then hail and farewell. But really, Warney, come off it! You're a star. Twinkle some more.

Glenn McGrath: Lara, nine, Tendulkar, duck. In both cases, b. McGrath. Australia, as a result, won both games in their march to the final. There's little point in trying to separate him from Donald because, either way, it's 99 to 100. They are two great fast bowlers and, this time, the New South Welshman came out the winner. Class.

Shoaib Akhtar: "I'll bowl them out, I will." That's how the Rawalpindi Express explained his calling to Simon Hughes. He has been the sight of the tournament and, if he is "unrefined", then let's have more of it. The cricket was never more exciting than when he was charging in, trying to batter batsmen to smithereens. Some day he will bowl them out, every one.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph