49.5 overs South Africa 438 for 9 (Gibbs 175, Smith 90, Boucher 50*) beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79) by one wicket
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| Herschelle Gibbs, arms aloft, celebrates his hundred. He was finally dismissed for 175
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Seven years ago, in the semi-final of the 1999 World Cup, South Africa
and Australia contested what has widely come to be regarded as the
definitive one-day international. A total of 426 runs in two innings,
twenty wickets in the day and world-class performances across the board -
a match that built to a pulsating finale in which South Africa threw
away their place in the World Cup final with what also came to be
regarded as the definitive one-day choke.
Today, however, South Africa can be called chokers no longer, after
burying the ghosts of 1999 with victory in a match even more
extraordinary and nail-shredding than its illustrious forebear. Never
mind 426 runs in a day, Australia had just posted a world-record 434 for
4 in a single innings - the first 400-plus total in the history of the
game - with Ricky Ponting leading the line with an innings of cultured
slogging that realised 164 runs of the highest class from just 105
balls. And yet they still lost - by one wicket, with one ball to spare,
and with the Wanderers stadium reverting to the sort of Bullring
atmosphere on which it forged its intimidating reputation.
At the halfway mark of the day, South Africa had been reduced to a near
laughing stock. Ponting had been the kingpin as he reprised his World Cup-winning innings
on this very ground in 2003, but every one of Australia's batsmen had
taken their pound of flesh as well. Adam Gilchrist lit the blue
touchpaper with an open-shouldered onslaught that realised 55 runs from
44 balls; Simon Katich provided a sheet-anchor with a difference as he
creamed nine fours and a six in a 90-ball 79, and Mike Hussey - in
theory Ponting's second fiddle in their 158-run stand for the third
wicket - hurtled to a 51-ball 81. Australia's dominance seemed so
complete that Andrew Symonds, the most notorious one-day wrecker in
their ranks, was not even called upon until the scoreboard read a
somewhat surreal 374 for 3.
Unsurprisingly, South Africa's bowlers took a universal pounding.
Jacques Kallis disappeared for 70 runs in six overs and as the innings
reached its crescendo, a flustered Roger Telemachus conceded 19 runs
from four consecutive no-balls. The team had squandered a 2-0 series
lead and were staring at a 3-2 defeat, and not for the first time this
year, Graeme Smith's penchant for speaking his mind was looking like
backfiring. With the Test series getting underway in four days' time,
the need for a performance of pride had never been more urgent.
And so Smith took it upon himself to deliver, responding to his team's
indignity with a brutal innings laced with fury. He made light of the
early loss of Boeta Dippenaar, whose anchorman approach would not have
been suited to the chase at any rate, and instead found the perfect ally
in his former opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs. On a pitch that might
have been sent from the Gods, the pair launched South Africa's response
with a scathing stand of 187 from 121 balls, to send the first frissons
of anxiety through the Australian dressing-room.
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| An incredulous Ricky Ponting leads his troops off the field after Australia's remarkable defeat
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Smith made 90 from just 55 balls, and seemed set to trump Ponting's
71-ball century when he swatted the spinner, Michael Clarke, to Mike
Hussey on the midwicket boundary. But Hussey's celebrations were manic
and betrayed the creeping sense of foreboding that had taken hold of
Australia's players. Just as South Africa had suffered for the absence
of Shaun Pollock, so too was Glenn McGrath's constricting influence
being missed. His understudies were simply not up to the task, with Mick
Lewis earning an unwanted place in history as his ten overs were
spanked for 113 runs - the most expensive analysis in any form of
one-day international cricket.
Now it was Gibbs who took centre stage. The man who, memorably, dropped
the World Cup at Headingley in that 1999 campaign has redeemed himself a
hundred times over in the intervening years. But this was to be his
crowning glory. With AB de Villiers providing a sparky sidekick, Gibbs
carved great chunks out of the asking-rate, bringing up his century from
79 balls and rattling along so briskly that, by the 25-over mark, South
Africa had 229 for 2 on the board, and needed a mere 206 to win.
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Only one contest could compare - the extraordinary C&G Trophy contest
between Surrey and Glamorgan in 2002, when Alistair Brown scored 268
out of a total of 438 for 5, only for Glamorgan to track his side all
the way with a reply of 429. In both instances, the sheer impossibility
of the task galvanised the batting and turned the fielders' legs to
jelly, and with Gibbs on 130, Nathan Bracken at mid-off dropped a sitter
off a Lewis full-toss, and could only contemplate his navel as the
Bullring roared its approval.
It was undeniably the decisive moment of the match. Bracken finished
with a creditable 5 for 67, but this faux pas was written all across his
features at the post-match presentations. Cashing in superbly, Gibbs
hurtled to his 150 from exactly 100 balls, bringing up the landmark with
his fifth six of the innings and the 21st of a bedlamic contest. He had
reached a glorious 175 from 111 when Lee held onto a scuffed drive at
mid-off. The stadium stood in acclaim, but with 136 runs still required
and their main source of momentum gone, South Africa had plenty still to
do.
Kallis and Mark Boucher regrouped with a steady partnership of 28 in six
overs, but when the big-hitting Justin Kemp went cheaply, it took a
blistering intervention from Johan van der Wath to reignite the chase.
He drilled Lewis over long-off for two sixes in an over then added a six
and a four in Bracken's eighth, as the requirement dropped from a
tricky 77 from 42 balls to a gettable 36 from 22. He perished as he had
lived, holing out to extra cover, and Telemachus followed soon
afterwards, but not before he had clubbed an invaluable 12 from six
balls.
And so it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at
Edgbaston all those years ago. Brett Lee had seven runs to defend, and
South Africa had two wickets in hand. A blazed four from Andrew Hall
seemed to have settled the issue, but in a moment reminiscent of Lance
Klusener's famous aberration, he smeared the very next delivery into the
hands of Clarke at mid-on. Two runs needed then, and the No. 11,
Makhaya Ntini, on strike. Lee's best effort was deflected to third man
to tie the scores, and it was left to Boucher - with visions of
Edgbaston swirling through his head - to seal the deal with a lofted
four over mid-on. The most breathtaking game in one-day history had come
to a grandstand finish, and all that remained was for the participants
to pinch themselves.
