Rough road to final four (15 June 1999)
All's well that ends well and, thanks to Steve Waugh's magnificence and Herschelle Gibbs' costly generosity, the three best teams have made it through to the World Cup semifinals
15-Jun-1999
15 June 1999
Rough road to final four
Barbados Nation
All's well that ends well and, thanks to Steve Waugh's
magnificence and Herschelle Gibbs' costly generosity, the three
best teams have made it through to the World Cup semifinals.
If the quartet was not decided until the fourth ball of the
final over of the final Super Sixes match at Headingley on
Sunday, when Waugh edged Australia's winning runs against South
Africa and Gibbs was left to rue his carelessness in dropping
him at 56, it simply heightened the excitement.
It is what the tournament as a whole needed. South Africa,
Australia and Pakistan, in that order, were the favourites from
the start and have justified the assessment.
It also vindicated the new format that had the stated aim of
carrying the most consistent teams into the semifinals although
it did not justify the points allocation.
It was clearly an anamoly that Zimbabwe would have been in the
last four with only three first-round wins to their name, while
Australia, had they been beaten by South Africa on Sunday, would
not, in spite of five overall victories - three in the first
round and two in the Super Sixes.
New Zealand, who made it into the last four with four victories
overall, were, as always, underestimated outsiders. Their
doggedness and spirit carried them through, just as it did in
three previous World Cups.
Zimbabwe were the surprise packet this time, as Sri Lanka were
in 1996, but not as strong and certainly not as uninhibited and
innovative. Their first-round wins over India and South Africa,
when they were superior on the day, carried them into Super
Sixes and were almost enough to get them into the semis.
Out of place
As enthusiastic and improved as they were, they would have been
out of place in such an elevated position.
The West Indies and England, above both New Zealand and Zimbabwe
in the bookmakers' early odds, had no cause to gripe at their
premature demises.
Neither was good enough and, certainly in the West Indies case,
committed enough.
Inevitably, all the semifinalists had hiccups along the way.
Only the West Indies in 1975, the first, and Sri Lanka last time
won the Cup with a 100 per cent record, and even Sri Lanka's was
artificial as Australia and the West Indies, uncertain of the
security, would not venture into Colombo for their first-round
matches.
South Africa, seemingly unbeatable in every other match, were
thoroughly outplayed by the Zimbabweans, their plucky
neighbours, for their only reversal in the first round and lost
a battle of nerves against Waugh and Australia on Sunday when,
suddenly, they looked shattered and vulnerable in the field.
Australia were the ones who were disjointed at the start. It was
said their tough tour of the West Indies had taken its toll and
that Steve Waugh's captaincy was too negative.
They went down to New Zealand and Pakistan in their second and
third group matches and only squeezed into the Super Sixes by
trouncing the West Indies. Even then, they did not look likely
champions and were told as much by their Press and by their
former players turned television critics.
Waugh would have known the criticism to be justified and he used
it as a stimulus. Now Australia face South Africa again on
Thursday for a place in the final with five consecutive wins to
their account. No other team in the tournament has strung
together such a sequence.
Stereotype
Pakistan have been, well, Pakistan. They field some of the most
exciting and talented cricketers on earth who can, overnight,
become the most ragged and unpredictable. If it is a stereotype
it has not developed without cause.
They overpowered the West Indies, New Zealand and Australia in
the first round, yet succumbed to Bangladesh, a result that
caused raised eyebrows for more reasons than one.
In the Super Sixes, they released a stranglehold on South Africa
and then fell to their great rivals India, a cup final in
itself.
So they went to the Oval last Friday with three successive
defeats and an early exit from the tournament at the back of
their minds. As they can, they turned it on, crushing Zimbabwe
by the most resounding margin of the tournament, 147 runs.
Not only did it guarantee them their spot in the last four -
where they will meet New Zealand at Old Trafford tomorrow - but
there was the further satisfaction that the result also meant
India's elimination.
They comfortably overcame the New Zealanders in the first round
but they are likely to find altogether tougher opposition second
time round.
The New Zealanders showed their fighting qualities to best
advantage with their delayed victory over India in the gloaming
at Nottingham on Saturday.
It was a match they had to win to move on and tomorrow's will be
the same.
In such situations, they tend to make the most of their teamwork
and their limited talent.
It is, for good reason, theirs is the least considered of the
semifinals. Australia and South Africa contested such an epic on
Sunday that the sequel is attracting all the attention. The
understated New Zealanders like it that way.
Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)