A view from the Gully (31 May 1999)

31 May 1999

A view from the Gully

Tawfiq Aziz Khan

India finally got into the Super Six at the cost of England and to the great relief of millions of supporters at home and abroad. Zimbabwe brought up the rear with South Africa on top of Group A.

Did the law of averages interfered in the match between Zimbabwe and South Africa at Chelmsford on Saturday? Was it the brilliant performance of the Zimbabweans that pulled off the most dramatic victory so far in the tournament? Or did the Proteas give a lift to their neighbours?

Without going into the details of these questions we must give full marks to the fighting qualities of the Zimbabweans who are known for their 'giant killing' ability.

For once, at least, the South Africans proved that they were also mortals and susceptible to normal human errors

It took Essex 103 years to land their first championship and less than a decade to confirm their status arguably the best team. The County Ground, New Writtle Street has been the headquarters of Essex cricket since 1967. The ground had been used previously by Essex in 1926-39, 1946-48 and 1950-56 as Chelmsford CC rented the ground annually from the Wenly Trust. Essex first staged County Championship match here in 1926 against Somerset. Bangladesh played their first match of the World Cup '99 on this ground against New Zealand on 17 May.

It was a personal triumph for a frail Neil Clarkson Johnson, a Harare-born all-rounder who played several seasons with Natal in the South African Currie Cup hoping desperately to be in the elite force but finally settling for Zimbabwe and making ODI debut against New Zealand at Dhaka last season (1988-1999). His innings of 76 against a bowling that is regarded top class was the foundation for his team's reasonable total against the Proteas. And when it came to bowling he shattered the top order of the top favourites with his immaculate right-arm fast medium deliveries. The Proteas did not recover from the shock. Campbell knew the strength and weaknesses of his team and did not leave things to chance, instead he decided to make the first use of the hard batting strip. The Flower brothers and Murray Goodwin played responsible innings despite Donald and Co.

South Africa were in full force. They did take the match seriously as far as the composition suggested but when it came to real test they were miles behind their normal operating capabilities. The grit, determination and the clinical precision for which they are looked upon with awe by lesser mortals were all missing and against imaginative bowling and brilliant fielding, both on ground and in the air, the Proteas appeared to have lost in the wilderness. They never seemed to have tried to overtake their opponents. By the time Klusener stepped up, it was too late.

Perhaps this was not their day and they crashed to their first-ever defeat against their worthy neighbours.

But the Indians in their do or die match against England have disappointed millions of fans and well-wishers by inept batting at Edgbaston after a reasonably good start. But credit is due to the England bowlers who bowled a superb length and line till the last overs arrived and Jadeja launched himself. Had not the weather intervened the match could go anyway.

Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar, hit the nail in England's head when play resumed Sunday afternoon by adjudging Graham Thorpe lbw to Srinath bowling round the wicket to the left-hander. TV replays showed, a number of times, that the decision was atrocious.

Even the experts including Sunil Gavaskar criticised the decision. This was the turning point of the match and when Flintoff left the rest was left to Ganguly and Kumble. England by that time had lost the contest and the calculators came into play.

If the law of averages has come into play against South Africa would it be too much to expect it today against Pakistan, the only unbeaten team so far? Let us keep our fingers crossed.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)