|
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins,
Chief Cricket Correspondent
Deadly Warne turns semi-final tide
Final cheers: Australia players react with a mixture of disbelief and pure joy after the last act in the gripping World Cup semi-final had been played out at Edgbaston
Photograph: Dan Chung
EDGBASTON (South Africa won toss): Australia tied with South Africa THE greatest game does not get more exciting than this. After goodness knows how many twists and turns and despite another ferocious piece of hitting at the death by Lance Klusener, a desperate run-out in the final over left South Africa one run short of the 214 they needed to win the World Cup semi-final outright. The match was tied, but Australia went through to the final against Pakistan on Sunday because they finished higher than South Africa at the end of the Super Six stage. In the end, the sides were separated only by net run-rate: a tiny, tantalising but crucial difference of 0.19. That, at least, was the difference according to the rules. This match itself, the second wonderfully close encounter between two fine sides in the space of five days, was won by Australia largely because they had a high-class spin bowler on a pitch that turned and South Africa did not. What a time this was for Shane Warne's magic to return. When South Africa were coasting and Australia were desperate for a wicket, he produced a leg break to Herschelle Gibbs that pitched outside the stumps and plucked off the off bail. It was no less unplayable than the famous ball to Mike Gatting that first established Warne's claim to immortality. Suddenly, with one of those instantaneous shifts of fortune that makes cricket, at its best, the uniquely tense and unpredictable sport it is, this was a different game. Warne, a champion reincarnate, took two more wickets with his next seven balls, one of them cruelly unjust when Hansie Cronje was given out caught at slip off a leg break that struck his boot rather than his bat, although in the flurry of dust, David Shepherd, the umpire, could not be blamed. That, after all, is cricket, too. When Michael Bevan followed up with a direct hit from mid-off to run out Daryll Cullinan as Jacques Kallis called for a panicky single, all the Australian propaganda about South Africa's tendency to fold under pressure began to look spot-on. Kallis, however, had already defied the team's physiotherapist to play and justified his decision by bowling ten overs off the reel and taking one for 27. Now he kept Warne at bay for six more overs amid palm-sweating tension and, in Jonty Rhodes, he found an equally spunky partner. Steve Waugh, who had retrieved a bad Australia start with another fine innings, took a chance - an unnecessary one, it seemed - by bowling his two bit-part bowlers together: Tom Moody at one end and Mark Waugh at the other. The pressure was relaxed and, after 16 overs without a boundary, the runs began to flow again. Kallis and Rhodes put on 84 but, with the ball turning, Mark Waugh could not be hit with impunity and his eight overs cost only 37. The runs still had to be scored at more than seven an over, with McGrath still to return and Warne having two overs left, when Rhodes pulled Reiffel to Bevan at deep square leg to usher in the final, fantastic phase. Pollock signalled his intentions by swinging his first ball high towards mid-wicket. In hindsight, however, it would have been better for South Africa had Klusener come in then because there is no one in the world who hits it harder than he does. Kallis was out in the 45th over, with 39 still needed, scooping to extra cover off the fifth ball of Warne's final over, off which Pollock, middling it at last, had struck a successive six and four. Fifteen runs came from the over, but Kallis was gone now and Boucher made the mistake of trying to play more big shots himself rather than aiming for singles to give Klusener as much of the strike as possible. McGrath and Fleming were magnificent in their closing overs. Fleming bowled Pollock off the inside edge in the 46th over and Boucher departed, crestfallen, three overs later, swinging and missing. In the same over, with what now seemed a distant 16 runs needed, Elworthy was run out after the third umpire, Steve Bucknor, had inspected several replays of Reiffel's throw to McGrath and the flick on to the stumps that left Elworthy short of his ground. Still, however, Klusener stood between Australia and their fourth World Cup final. Somehow he middled a waist-high full toss from McGrath so hard towards Reiffel on the long-on boundary that he could only parry it over the rope. That left nine to be scored from Fleming's final over. Two thunderous fours past extra cover reduced it to one from four balls, but in the frenzy of a finish like this even experienced cricketers cannot think rationally. Klusener dragged the third ball to mid-on and Donald, backing up, would have been run out had Lehmann's throw hit the stumps. He hit the fatal fourth ball to mid-off instead. Mark Waugh stopped it, Donald faltered, Klusener ran. Fleming collected Waugh's throw, underarmed the ball back to the wicketkeeper and Donald, setting off far too late, was run out. Eleven Australians coverged in joy. The South Africans returned to the frozen silence of another World Cup disappointment. They had won the toss on a cloudy morning and decided to field, Pollock justifying the decision with his finest bowling of the tournament. Only Ponting threatened a substantial innings, timing the ball superbly until Donald made him the first of his four wickets, caught at extra cover from his first ball. Steve Waugh and Bevan, infinitely patient at first, stopped the rot and then accelerated, Waugh playing two or three breathtaking shots on such a slow pitch. Once Pollock had claimed the Australia captain, only Bevan ensured that South Africa's target would be demanding in the conditions, but Gibbs responded with a series of glorious strokes and, at 48 for one in the thirteenth over, South Africa were going to win. Warne decreed otherwise, proving yet again that no one should ever write off Australia.
South Africa won toss
AUSTRALIA
† A C Gilchrist c Donald b Kallis 20
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Gilchrist 3), 2-54 (Gilchrist 14), 3-58 (Gilchrist 15), 4-68 (S R Waugh 4), 5-158 (Bevan 32), 6-158 (Bevan 32), 7-207 (Bevan 60), 8-207 (Bevan 60), 9-207 (Bevan 60).
SOUTH AFRICA
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-48 (Kirsten 14), 2-53 (Cullinan 1), 3-53 (Cullinan 1), 4-61 (Kallis 2), 5-145 (Kallis 42), 6-175 (Pollock 19), 7-183 (Klusener 7), 8-196 (Klusener 15), 9-198 (Klusener 16). BOWLING: McGrath 10-0-51-1 (w 1; 1 six, 4 fours; 5-0-22-0, 1-0-2-0, 2-0-13-0, 2-0-14-1); Fleming 8.4-1-40-1 (w 3; 5 fours; 2-0-10-0, 4-1-7-0, 2.4-0-23-1); Reiffel 8-0-28-1 (3 fours; 5-0-17-0, 3-0-11-1); Warne 10-4-29-4 (w 1; 1 six, 1 four; 8-4-12-3, 2-0-17-1); M E Waugh 8-0-37-0 (1 six, 2 fours; one spell); Moody 5-0-27-0 (2 fours; one spell). Score after 15 overs: 53 for 3. Match tied Match award: S K Warne. Umpires: D R Shepherd (England) and S Venkataraghavan (India). Third umpire: S A Bucknor (West Indies). Referee: R Subba Row (England).
Compiled by Bill Frindall
|  |
| ||
| Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website. |  |