2003 - World Cup of Controversy

This world cup was dogged by controversies before it even started and during the event as well.  This was supposed to be the free and fair World cup since it was hosted in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe and ICC and SA wanted to make a statement to the world.  Shane Warne tested positive for a banned substance and sent home before the matches started,  New Zealand refused to travel to Kenya , Olonga and Andy Flowers black arm band protest accompanied by England's refusal to travel to that country.

The first match was a cracker and SA finished second best due to another gem from Brian Lara who had made it a habit of scoring against the South African bowling and the hosts were left panting from day 1.  There was a similar innings of Stephen Fleming against the same opposition opening the batting and the predictability and lack of variety of the SA bowling was getting exposed time and again.  The other big innings from Andrew Symonds put paid to Pakistan hopes in their first encounter after Australia had lost 4 for almost nothing.  I saw the match highlights again last week on Star Cricket and that was a brutal counter attack from "Roy".  Pakistan, I guess never recovered after that and I presume if you get on the opposite side of an innings like that, it is very difficult to get a move on and build the momentum.  India on the other hand had a stroll against Netherlands before being caught out against Australia.  The Indian spectators did not take the defeat too lightly and they were only pacified after India started putting in some match winning performances in the Nehra match against England where Ashish was deadly under lights.

The matches were following a predictable pattern with the James Anderson match ( Pakistan vs England ).  James Anderson exposed the familiar Pakistan frailities against top quality swing bowling under lights. The balls to remove Yousuf  (then Youhana ) and Inzamam were absolute beauties. Probably he had watched Nehra in the previous game.  Chasing under lights was becoming more and more difficult because of the dew and the lights freshening up the pitch exposing the sub continental teams.

The India Pakistan match where the broadcasters hoped to break even after the losses of the boycotted matches ,insipid encounters involving the minnows was an exciting match for all Indians of course. The very size of the Pakistani total was making all the indian watchers sweat during the lunch time.  SRT however had other plans and didnt bother about the batsmen getting out at the other end.  Remember that  Abdul Razzaaq dropped SRT  and " Pata hai, Tuune *****   " quote   from Wasim.  Dravid and Yuvraj got India past the winning line after Tendlya had fallen for a masterly 98.   India meanwhile also beat NewZealand in the Super 6s and were winning almost everything in sight and were on a roll.

Australia meanwhile was quietly progressing but they had a disastrous match against England which many would remember as the Michael Bevan match.  With Andy Bichel , he made sure that Australia came through with a smart level headed innings and was hailed as the best finisher after these efforts .  This made him the perfect foil for the aggressive top order of the team.

The semi final line up was set and Australia was playing Srilanka and India was playing Kenya . Kenya had qualified by default since they had a super six walkover from New Zealand as well.  South African think tank had some hard explaining to do for messing up the rain calculations and they were as a result one run short of the required target and possibly a place in the semi final.

India was having an easy match against Kenya and everyone in India was hoping that the Australia juggernaut will be halted by the SriLankan spinners.  Australia meanwhile were well aware of the slippery ground of 1996 and played with utmost caution and professionalism.  This match was characterised by the Gilchrist walk ,  whether he would have walked if Australia was 20 for 1 is a moot point . But now the image had been set and he had no option but to walk every single time he thought he was out - Precedents created by Accidents. 

India easily won their encounter against Kenya and this was the first time that 2 momentum sides were meeting in the final and it was obvious that one who blinks first would get knocked out.   Ganguly won the toss and put Australia in  and Zaheer bowled a dreadful over giving 15 runs.  Suddenly Australia seized the intiative by putting the sword to Srinath and though Hayden went quickly ,  still Australia were motoring along with Ricky Ponting and Gilchrist putting away almost everything that the spinners and pacers offered. By the time Australian innings was finished, the writing was on the wall.  Getting 7 + in a world cup final was never easy and despite the Sehwag innings, the great opportunity of winning the world cup was well and truly over. 

Big centuries for winning causes from Symonds, Fleming and Lara , great swing bowling from Nehra & Anderson,  Michael Bevan's innings against England,  Gilchrist walk against Sri Lanka , miscalculations of DLL which made the electronic scoreboard display the total after each over in the subsequent matches,  Shane Warne ( not surprising !! ) and India's golden chance of winning GOLD  were the moments to remember from this World Cup.   The ICC initiative of spreading the game to other countries was still not taking off despite including so many teams in the World Cup.