Joint-favourites for the event when it commenced, Australia dulywon the World Cup in 1999
Partab Ramchand25-Mar-2003Joint-favourites for the event when it commenced, Australia dulywon the World Cup in 1999. But that bland statement covers up anexciting roller-coaster of a ride towards the title triumph. Downand virtually out as the preliminary stage concluded, Australiadisplayed nerves of steel, a never-say-die attitude and somesparkling cricket to become only the second team besides the WestIndies to win the trophy twice.Once again there were 12 participating teams, placed in twogroups. 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 comprisedAustralia, Bangladesh, Scotland, Pakistan, West Indies and NewZealand. The top three in each group qualified for the Super Sixstage that was played on a league basis, and the top four made itto the knock-out semi-finals.
© CricInfoThe sluggish manner in which Australia started their campaign didnot augur well for them. After their expected victory overminnows Scotland, they went down to New Zealand by five wicketsand to Pakistan by ten runs. At this stage, Australia were indanger of being knocked out at the preliminary stage. An emphaticwin over Bangladesh - a target of 179 being reached with 30.1overs to spare - still left them with a tough match against theWest Indies. Here Australia pulled off a strategic six-wicketvictory, deliberately batting slowly in reaching a modest targetof 111 in as many as 40.4 overs. Australia slowed their chase toa crawl, doing just enough to ensure they would enter the SuperSix on net run-rate while enabling West Indies to improve theirown side of the equation against New Zealand. Under tournamentrules, Australia would retain points won against fellowqualifiers into the Super Six stage. The intentional tacticbecame a hot debating point, but the fact remained that Australiasqueezed into the Super Six, pushing New Zealand into third spoton net run-rate. But they still entered the second stage carryingno points and faced an uphill task.From now on however there was no stopping Australia. They liftedtheir game and successively defeated India by 77 runs andZimbabwe by 44 runs. However they still had to beat South Africain their final Super Six game to edge New Zealand out. At 48 forthree in reply to South Africa’s 271 for seven in 50 overs, itseemed like curtains for the Australians. But Steve Waugh strokedhis way to a marvellous, unbeaten 120 after being dropped byHerschelle Gibbs on 56, perhaps the most expensive missed catchin World Cup history as later events proved. Australia won byfive wickets, with two deliveries to spare, and a rematchfollowed in the semi-final.This turned out to be the match of the tournament. In a pulsatingfinish, the teams were all out for the same total of 213. The tiemeant that Australia edged out South Africa for a place in thefinal, the crucial fact being that they finished higher in theSuper Six table - second to third - and that was determined bynet run-rate. The pressures behind them, Australia demolishedPakistan with single-minded ruthlessness in the title clash,winning by eight wickets with 30 overs to spare. The Waughbrothers were the twin batting pillars, Steve getting 398 andMark 375, each notching up a century. Not far behind was RickyPonting with 354. Australia was also well served in the bowlingdepartment. Shane Warne, with 20 victims, emerged as jointleading wicket taker in the tournament with Glenn McGrath (18)not far behind. The fast bowler also had the best figures of thecompetition - five for 14 against the West Indies.South Africa were also unfortunate in that after making much ofthe early running for the third successive World Cup, they wereeliminated before the final. In the preliminary stage, apart fromone shock loss to Zimbabwe, they did little wrong and easilytopped their group. In the Super Six, they continued their goodform by defeating Pakistan and New Zealand and at this stagelooked the team to beat for the title. Then came that crunchingdefeat against Australia followed by the heart-breaking tieagainst the same opponents in the semi-finals, ending theircampaign with a suddenness that was shattering. Lance Klusenerwas their star performer, with his bludgeoning hitting towardsthe end of the innings, and he finished the tournament with astrike rate of 122.17. Along with Allan Donald he figuredprominently in the bowling department too. He had 17 wicketsincluding a spell of five for 21 against Kenya while Donald took16. Gibbs (341) and Jacques Kallis (312) were the leadingbatsmen.If South Africa had the right to feel disappointed at the finaloutcome, Pakistan ended the tournament with mixed feelings. Ratedthird by the bookies on the eve of the competition, they reachedtheir fifth semi-final and second final. In the preliminary stagethey won their first four matches before going down to Bangladeshin a shock defeat. Comfortably topping the pool however, Pakistanwere on top of the points table as the Super Six commenced.At this second stage Pakistan lost to South Africa and India, butqualified for the penultimate round with a whopping 148-runvictory over Zimbabwe. And the manner in which they coasted to anine-wicket win over New Zealand marked them out as the rightteam to take on Australia in the title clash. In the allimportant game, however, Pakistan never had a chance after beingdismissed for 132 in 39 overs, and Australia romped home in themost lop-sided World Cup final ever.But Pakistan had their share of outstanding performers. SaeedAnwar got two hundreds on his way to an aggregate of 368 whiletheir 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 outstandingwicket-keeper of the tournament in Moin Khan, who had 16dismissals.New Zealand, in making their fourth World Cup semi-finals, playedmuch good cricket. They finished third in their group, thehighlight being their upset victory over Australia. In the SuperSix stage a no result, a defeat and a victory was enough to earnthem a place in the penultimate round, where they were sweptaside by Pakistan. New Zealand’s leading batsman was Roger Twose,who aggregated 318 runs, but their best player was probably GeoffAllott. 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 achance of proceeding beyond the preliminary stage in aheavyweight group, Zimbabwe upset India and South Africa, notonly qualifying for the Super Six but, along with Pakistan,carrying through four points. With this sort of start, even onevictory in three matches at the second stage would have seenZimbabwe through to the last four. But they did their cause nogood with one no result and two defeats, and bowed out of thecompetition. Their outstanding player was opener Neil Johnson,who aggregated 367 runs including a gallant unbeaten 132 againstAustralia at Lord’s.India’s campaign commenced amid unprecedented media hype. It wasmade out that with a team of superstars, they had a realisticchance of regaining the World Cup after 16 years. Not long afterthe tournament commenced, it was accepted that the hype waslargely unrealistic. With losses to South Africa and Zimbabwe,India were immediately on the back foot and though they came backstrongly with successive victories over Kenya, Sri Lanka andEngland, it was obvious that there were chinks in their armour.They finished second to South Africa in the group standings, butstarted the Super Six with no points. Needing to producesomething out of the ordinary to proceed to the knock out stage,they lost to both Australia and New Zealand, and a consolationwin against Pakistan did not help.India finished at the bottom of the Super Six table. In the endit was a disappointing campaign, especially considering that theyprovided 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 thecompetition. Sourav Ganguly, with 379, was not far behind.Ganguly got two hundreds while Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and AjayJadeja got one each. No other country had more than twocenturies. Moreover, Ganguly’s 183 against Sri Lanka was thehighest score of the competition, and the second-highest score inWorld Cup history. The next two highest scores were Dravid’s 145against the same opponents and Tendulkar’s unbeaten 140 againstKenya. India’s 373 for six against Sri Lanka was the secondhighest total in one-day internationals, while the second-wicketpartnership of 318 between Ganguly and Dravid in the same matchwas the highest in any ODI. A poignant touch was added toTendulkar’s knock against Kenya, compiled just a day after he hadcome back from Bombay following his father’s funeral. But themediocrity of their bowling meant that India’s campaign could notgo beyond the Super Six stage.
© CricInfoHolders Sri Lanka had a nightmarish experience. The championshipwinning side of 1996 simply broke up, as both the batting andbowling failed. With a record of two wins and three losses theyfinished fifth in their group. England, after looking sure of aplace in the Super Six after wins early in the tournament, wereedged out by their defeat at the hands of India, as well as byZimbabwe’s upset win over South Africa. Likewise in Group B, WestIndies were challenging for a place in the Super Six until theywere edged out by both Australia and New Zealand. They didhowever have the satisfaction of registering the quickest victoryin an ODI. They won their game against Scotland in just threehours. Scotland were shot out for 68 in 31.3 overs and WestIndies raced to victory in 10.1 overs.Kenya and Scotland, not unexpectedly, lost all their fivematches. Bangladesh, however, notched up a point on behalf of theassociate members by their victory over Pakistan. They defeatedScotland too and had the statistical satisfaction of a record oftwo wins, three defeats and four points.