Cricket World Cup’s Greatest Moments – Confusion In Durban




Mark Boucher

Mark Boucher

Eleven years after the rains robbed South Africa of a place in the final in 1992, the rain gods returned to haunt the Proteas, this time in their own backyard. It was a do-or-die Group B clash between Sri Lanka and South Africa with the home team needing nothing less than a win to go through to the next round.

After Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat, Marvan Atapattu and Aravinda de Silva steered the island nation to a commendable 268. The Proteas needed a good start and the Herschelle Gibbs gave the South Africans just that, scoring 73 of 88 balls. The Lankan spinners responded with wickets but Pollock and Boucher brought the South Africans back into the game as the match was poised to go down to the wire.

A slight drizzle that was always looming finally became heavy as Pollock was run out. It was the 45th over of the innings as the rains got heavier. There was no way the match was going the distance. The score read 223/6 at 44.4 overs and the South African dressing room sent a message out to the middle that the score needed out to be 229 at the end of the over for them to be ahead on Duckworth-Lewis method, assuming that no wickets fell.  Boucher swung the next ball over mid-wicket for six and punched the air in jubilation as the score now read 229/6. He safely defended the last ball and as anticipated the umpires called of play.

As they were walking back to the pavilion, there was confusion all around. The news was that 230 was required for a win while 229 was good enough only for a tie. The instructions sent out were wrong! The rain grew heavier and play was called off as the South Africans were left helpless and were eliminated. The South African World Cup nightmare continued!

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Monish Menon

Author:

Hi, I am Monish Menon from Hyderabad and currently working at Franklin Templeton Investments as a Compliance Business Analyst. Sport has always been my passion since I was a kid and I invest all my non-existent free time by watching, playing, writing and analyzing various sporting events across the world. Apart from being a diehard Manchester United fan and a Ferrari supporter, I believe that Roger Federer is still the best tennis player and Sachin Tendulkar is God. I play club cricket and I also am a part of my organization’s cricket and football squad. Being such a sports fanatic, writing about it is something that came naturally to me and I am glad that I got an opportunity through thesportsmirror.com to share my thoughts with the rest of the world. For other articles written by me, you can visit my blog at www.monishmenon.wordpress.com

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