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Final reflections

Tuesday, March 25 2003

On Sunday, 23 March 2003, the day dawned bright at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. For head groundsman Chris Scott and his overworked staff, it was a case of mopping up the overnight rain and getting ready for the next deluge. The 'Men from the Met' were not confident that the main event - The 2003 ICC World Cup Final - would even take place, let alone be free of interruption.

A crowd of over 31,000 (not bad for a stadium whose capacity is 30,000) were in attendance, the umbrella salesmen had cried all the way to the bank and the two captains strode out to the centre for the unnecessary toss.

Australia like to bat first, to 'post the big numbers'. They love to dominate from the off. Adam Gilchrist is born for this more hectic form of the game. India are the great chasers - they see no target as too large. They have their own opening slugger - Virender Sehwag, who had only really fired on three cylinders in the previous games. Besides, India tried batting first against Australia the last time - 125 at Centurion was an ignominious failure for a side with so much talent. It was the only defeat either side had suffered on route to the final.

Prior to this year's final, there had been eight clashes between the sides in World Cup games. The score stood at 6-2 in favour of the Aussies who had won the last four. Strangely, on the two occasions that India had been victorious, they had taken first knock, but both events were more historical documents than recent events. India had to go all the way back to Delhi in October 1987 for their last victory - the days of Srikkanth, Kapil, Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.

The evergreen David Shepherd MBE was an umpire on both days when India had triumphed, but he had also stood for two Australian victories. It is likely that this game will be his swansong as far as World Cups go. Joining him in the middle was 'Slow Death' Steve Bucknor, the man from Montego Bay well-known for savouring every moment, for giving batsmen nervous breakdowns and standing in a record fourth successive final. If the Windies continue to struggle in the future, he's likely to make it five.

Anyway, enough of 'scene setting', enough of history. The toss was made, Sourav Ganguly called correctly and duly inserted the Australians, who themselves would have elected to bat if the coin had come down the other way - at least according to Ricky Ponting.

Despite the fact that India had produced the two highest accumulators of runs in the tournament, it was their seam bowling which had carried them to victory on so many occasions. Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra were the collective owners of 49 scalps thus far. Throw in Harbhajan Singh and you have four fifths of a splendid attack.

Once the decision to bowl first had been made, it was vital that early inroads were made into the Australian upper order. Seamers came, seamers went - generally to the boundary at a rate of knots. From 27 overs from the 'big three', the Aussies plundered 211 runs. Only Harbhajan Singh registered anything in the 'credit' column - and he was bowling as early as the ninth over when the wicket was at its most 'seamer-friendly'.

Gilchrist was no more brutal than usual, but the platform which he and fellow opener Matthew Hayden made for those to follow was more than useful. The first over of the innings summed things up perfectly for Ganguly and India - two no-balls, two wides and a total of 15 runs from a single Zaheer Khan over. After 20 overs, Damien Martyn and Ricky Ponting came together with the total on 125-2. That was as good as it got for India. Of the nine Indians playing in the final who had previously bowled in other games, eight were tried as Ganguly rang the changes.

It is most unusual for a batsman to hit twice as many sixes in an innings as fours, but that is precisely what Ricky Ponting did. Four fours, EIGHT sixes. One of them disappeared clean out of the ground and half way to Johannesburg city centre bringing Billy Bowden into the middle bearing a whole box of balls. I had visions of umpires stuffing their pockets with them 'just in case', but by and large Ponting was aiming - successfully - for the grandstands, so much so that 109 runs resulted from the last ten overs as Australia ended on 359-2.

Prior to the final, the Australian seam trio had bagged 53 victims - more even than their Indian counterparts. Not only that, they had played in less matches, had a better strike rate - better than a wicket every four overs - and were far more economical to boot. It was only when it came down to the fourth bowler comparison - Harbhajan Singh v Brad Hogg - that India held any sort of upper hand, but even then only a marginal advantage.

For India to have any chance in this game, someone needed to 'do a Ponting'. All eyes turned to Sachin Tendulkar, already the carver of 669 notches in the tournament. Screams of jubilation echoed around the stadium as McGrath's fourth ball thudded into the boundary boards at square leg, but joy turned to despair the very next delivery as the Little Master perished attempting the same shot. One player is not a team, of course, but when that one player is the greatest exponent of one-day cricket the world has ever seen......

Picking up the baton, Virender Sehwag and Ganguly ran with it to great effect for a while. When the Indian skipper was extracted by Brett Lee, to be followed in the following over by the oh-so-disappointing Mohammed Kaif, the writing was on the wall. With one eye on the weather which was by now closing in, Sehwag and Dravid pressed on regardless. A Duckworth/Lewis decision seemed very much on the cards, especially when the steady drizzle at the drinks interval turned into a deluge two overs later and the Australians were forced to trudge forlornly from the field of play.

To the delight of all but the more desperate Indian fans, the covers and tarpaulins were removed and play resumed after around three quarters of an hour. The Indian momentum was maintained for a while, but with the dismissal of Virender Sehwag for a run-a-ball 82 - brilliantly run out by Lehmann at mid off - the game was effectively ended as a contest. It was left to Glenn McGrath to administer the last rites when Zaheer Khan chipped the ball to Lehmann with the total on 234.

The 2003 ICC World Cup was done and dusted. Sachin Tendulkar rightly won the 'Player of the Tournament' award but the big prize belonged to Australia by the comprehensive margin of 125 runs. India were second-best on the day, second-best in the tournament. Make no bones about it - this is a very, very good Indian side. There should be no recriminations, no unscheduled redecorating of houses, nothing but praise. Sourav Ganguly has shown himself to be an astute, proactive captain and an inspired - and inspiring - leader. Only one member of the Indian team really fired on the big day, and that was the long-overdue dominating innings by Sehwag. If only Sachin... If only Srinath... Who knows?


Posted by Eddie