Its Only Cricket

2nd ODI, Indore : India beat England by 54 runs, lead 7 ODI series 2-0.. Story.. Guest Article.. Scorecard.
England in India : Schedule, TV Telecast Channels, Tickets, Squads, Grounds, Records, History, More info.

South Africa came second..

Filed under Cricket

Just a few days back, I wrote that to win in cricket, you need to play well and be luckier than your opposition. And without a doubt, Sough Africa is the most unlucky team in the world of cricket. Consider the following..

They were asked to make 22 runs off one ball in 1992 World Cup against England, when they were coasting along in their chase and a passing shower came down. When the match restarted, this is what Duck-worth Lewis has given to them, 22 runs and one ball. To a surprise, South Africans were playing there first ever World Cup, as they were suspended from cricket for 20 years and had made it to the Semi-finals. Then it was a tie in 1999 World Cup semi-final, when Allan Donald ran himself out with 3 balls remaining and just one run to make.. and Lance Klusener at the batting end. Australia advanced cause they had won the previous encounter between the two teams.. this was the rule made specifically for that World Cup.
1999 World Cup Semifinal.png
Then came 2003 World Cup when Mark Boucher blocked one or two balls as he thought the six off previous ball from Murlidharan has got them enough runs on the board to win through Duck-Worth Lewis system, if the rains comes.. Rain did came, but has Duck-worth Lewis system been favourable to them. Ever?? They had just one more run to make!!

Check out this for an alternative of DuckWorth-Lewis system, suggested by an engineer from Kerla - V. Jayadevan.

And now when they played such a brilliant "fighting cricket" in Australia and stood at the commanding position at the end of day 3, with 96 runs ahead and 9 wickets in hand, rain spoiled the fourth day and probably their confidence as well. They still made brave move and gave Australians to chase whatever they could.. .and then the man playing his 100th test, having already made a century to make it memorable, made another one and even better one on the last day pitch to win the match for his country.. Hats off to a brilliant captains innings..

Although nothing is called as second best in cricket as only two teams play, I am sure South Africans deserves some praise. Keep fighting Proteas, someday will be your day!!





Related Articles

Cricket
Top Topics Today

Itsonlycricket.com


Get new posts in email

feeds
Random Pics

fun Puneforum