Joint-favourites for the event when it commenced, Australia duly
won the World Cup in 1999
Partab Ramchand25-Mar-2003Joint-favourites for the event when it commenced, Australia duly
won the World Cup in 1999. But that bland statement covers up an
exciting roller-coaster of a ride towards the title triumph. Down
and virtually out as the preliminary stage concluded, Australia
displayed nerves of steel, a never-say-die attitude and some
sparkling cricket to become only the second team besides the West
Indies to win the trophy twice.Once again there were 12 participating teams, placed in two
groups. The nine Test-playing nations were joined by Kenya,
Bangladesh and Scotland. While Group A comprised England, India,
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Zimbabwe, Group B comprised
Australia, Bangladesh, Scotland, Pakistan, West Indies and New
Zealand. The top three in each group qualified for the Super Six
stage that was played on a league basis, and the top four made it
to the knock-out semi-finals.
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The sluggish manner in which Australia started their campaign did
not augur well for them. After their expected victory over
minnows Scotland, they went down to New Zealand by five wickets
and to Pakistan by ten runs. At this stage, Australia were in
danger of being knocked out at the preliminary stage. An emphatic
win over Bangladesh - a target of 179 being reached with 30.1
overs to spare - still left them with a tough match against the
West Indies. Here Australia pulled off a strategic six-wicket
victory, deliberately batting slowly in reaching a modest target
of 111 in as many as 40.4 overs. Australia slowed their chase to
a crawl, doing just enough to ensure they would enter the Super
Six on net run-rate while enabling West Indies to improve their
own side of the equation against New Zealand. Under tournament
rules, Australia would retain points won against fellow
qualifiers into the Super Six stage. The intentional tactic
became a hot debating point, but the fact remained that Australia
squeezed into the Super Six, pushing New Zealand into third spot
on net run-rate. But they still entered the second stage carrying
no points and faced an uphill task.From now on however there was no stopping Australia. They lifted
their game and successively defeated India by 77 runs and
Zimbabwe by 44 runs. However they still had to beat South Africa
in their final Super Six game to edge New Zealand out. At 48 for
three in reply to South Africa’s 271 for seven in 50 overs, it
seemed like curtains for the Australians. But Steve Waugh stroked
his way to a marvellous, unbeaten 120 after being dropped by
Herschelle Gibbs on 56, perhaps the most expensive missed catch
in World Cup history as later events proved. Australia won by
five wickets, with two deliveries to spare, and a rematch
followed in the semi-final.This turned out to be the match of the tournament. In a pulsating
finish, the teams were all out for the same total of 213. The tie
meant that Australia edged out South Africa for a place in the
final, the crucial fact being that they finished higher in the
Super Six table - second to third - and that was determined by
net run-rate. The pressures behind them, Australia demolished
Pakistan with single-minded ruthlessness in the title clash,
winning by eight wickets with 30 overs to spare. The Waugh
brothers were the twin batting pillars, Steve getting 398 and
Mark 375, each notching up a century. Not far behind was Ricky
Ponting with 354. Australia was also well served in the bowling
department. Shane Warne, with 20 victims, emerged as joint
leading wicket taker in the tournament with Glenn McGrath (18)
not far behind. The fast bowler also had the best figures of the
competition - five for 14 against the West Indies.South Africa were also unfortunate in that after making much of
the early running for the third successive World Cup, they were
eliminated before the final. In the preliminary stage, apart from
one shock loss to Zimbabwe, they did little wrong and easily
topped their group. In the Super Six, they continued their good
form by defeating Pakistan and New Zealand and at this stage
looked the team to beat for the title. Then came that crunching
defeat against Australia followed by the heart-breaking tie
against the same opponents in the semi-finals, ending their
campaign with a suddenness that was shattering. Lance Klusener
was their star performer, with his bludgeoning hitting towards
the end of the innings, and he finished the tournament with a
strike rate of 122.17. Along with Allan Donald he figured
prominently in the bowling department too. He had 17 wickets
including a spell of five for 21 against Kenya while Donald took
16. Gibbs (341) and Jacques Kallis (312) were the leading
batsmen.If South Africa had the right to feel disappointed at the final
outcome, Pakistan ended the tournament with mixed feelings. Rated
third by the bookies on the eve of the competition, they reached
their fifth semi-final and second final. In the preliminary stage
they won their first four matches before going down to Bangladesh
in a shock defeat. Comfortably topping the pool however, Pakistan
were on top of the points table as the Super Six commenced.At this second stage Pakistan lost to South Africa and India, but
qualified for the penultimate round with a whopping 148-run
victory over Zimbabwe. And the manner in which they coasted to a
nine-wicket win over New Zealand marked them out as the right
team to take on Australia in the title clash. In the allimportant game, however, Pakistan never had a chance after being
dismissed for 132 in 39 overs, and Australia romped home in the
most lop-sided World Cup final ever.But Pakistan had their share of outstanding performers. Saeed
Anwar got two hundreds on his way to an aggregate of 368 while
their five-man attack of Saqlain Mushtaq (17), Shoaib Akhtar
(16), Wasim Akram (15), Abdur Razzaq (13) and Azhar Mahmood (13)
all finished among the wickets. Pakistan also had the outstanding
wicket-keeper of the tournament in Moin Khan, who had 16
dismissals.New Zealand, in making their fourth World Cup semi-finals, played
much good cricket. They finished third in their group, the
highlight being their upset victory over Australia. In the Super
Six stage a no result, a defeat and a victory was enough to earn
them a place in the penultimate round, where they were swept
aside by Pakistan. New Zealand’s leading batsman was Roger Twose,
who aggregated 318 runs, but their best player was probably Geoff
Allott. The left arm medium-pacer, with a tally of 20 wickets,
finished joint leading wicket taker with Warne.Zimbabwe were the surprise packet of the tournament. Not given a
chance of proceeding beyond the preliminary stage in a
heavyweight group, Zimbabwe upset India and South Africa, not
only qualifying for the Super Six but, along with Pakistan,
carrying through four points. With this sort of start, even one
victory in three matches at the second stage would have seen
Zimbabwe through to the last four. But they did their cause no
good with one no result and two defeats, and bowed out of the
competition. Their outstanding player was opener Neil Johnson,
who aggregated 367 runs including a gallant unbeaten 132 against
Australia at Lord’s.India’s campaign commenced amid unprecedented media hype. It was
made out that with a team of superstars, they had a realistic
chance of regaining the World Cup after 16 years. Not long after
the tournament commenced, it was accepted that the hype was
largely unrealistic. With losses to South Africa and Zimbabwe,
India were immediately on the back foot and though they came back
strongly with successive victories over Kenya, Sri Lanka and
England, it was obvious that there were chinks in their armour.
They finished second to South Africa in the group standings, but
started the Super Six with no points. Needing to produce
something out of the ordinary to proceed to the knock out stage,
they lost to both Australia and New Zealand, and a consolation
win against Pakistan did not help.India finished at the bottom of the Super Six table. In the end
it was a disappointing campaign, especially considering that they
provided some of the most joyful moments of the tournament.
Whatever the weakness of the bowling, the batting was a treat.
Rahul Dravid, with 461 runs, was the leading scorer in the
competition. Sourav Ganguly, with 379, was not far behind.
Ganguly got two hundreds while Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay
Jadeja got one each. No other country had more than two
centuries. Moreover, Ganguly’s 183 against Sri Lanka was the
highest score of the competition, and the second-highest score in
World Cup history. The next two highest scores were Dravid’s 145
against the same opponents and Tendulkar’s unbeaten 140 against
Kenya. India’s 373 for six against Sri Lanka was the secondhighest total in one-day internationals, while the second-wicket
partnership of 318 between Ganguly and Dravid in the same match
was the highest in any ODI. A poignant touch was added to
Tendulkar’s knock against Kenya, compiled just a day after he had
come back from Bombay following his father’s funeral. But the
mediocrity of their bowling meant that India’s campaign could not
go beyond the Super Six stage.
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Holders Sri Lanka had a nightmarish experience. The championshipwinning side of 1996 simply broke up, as both the batting and
bowling failed. With a record of two wins and three losses they
finished fifth in their group. England, after looking sure of a
place in the Super Six after wins early in the tournament, were
edged out by their defeat at the hands of India, as well as by
Zimbabwe’s upset win over South Africa. Likewise in Group B, West
Indies were challenging for a place in the Super Six until they
were edged out by both Australia and New Zealand. They did
however have the satisfaction of registering the quickest victory
in an ODI. They won their game against Scotland in just three
hours. Scotland were shot out for 68 in 31.3 overs and West
Indies raced to victory in 10.1 overs.Kenya and Scotland, not unexpectedly, lost all their five
matches. Bangladesh, however, notched up a point on behalf of the
associate members by their victory over Pakistan. They defeated
Scotland too and had the statistical satisfaction of a record of
two wins, three defeats and four points.
