Australia win 1999 nail-biter
Australia had lost two of its first three matches in 1999 but made it to the Super Six stage, where captain Steve Waugh’s unbeaten century against South Africa saw his side into the semi-finals.
Once again, Waugh’s men met South Africa with a place in the final on the line and they would need plenty of luck to reach the showpiece.
Put in to bat, Australia lost its final four wickets for six runs and set a meagre target of 213, lower than anything Geoff Marsh’s players had previously posted. South Africa eased to 48 without loss before falling to 61 for four but recovered with runs from Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes.
When both batsmen fell, another mini-collapse followed and with eight balls left, the last-wicket pairing of Lance Klusener and Allan Donald needed 16. Powerhouse Klusener struck a six, retained the strike and began the final over with consecutive boundaries to leave the scores level with four balls remaining.
South Africa needed to win to reach the final as a tie would see Australia qualify after finishing above it in the Super Six stage. Cue, one of the most fortunate moments in Australian cricketing history. Waugh packed the in-field and from the ante-penultimate ball, Klusener set off for a run.
Donald — who had nearly been run out the previous ball after backing up too far – was slow to react and, when he did, subsequently dropped his bat, allowing Damien Fleming and Adam Gilchrist to run him out at the keeper’s end, leaving the Proteas one run short.
Australia reached the final in dramatic, but undeniably fortunate, circumstances and took full advantage by beating Pakistan in the final to win its second ICC Cricket World Cup.
Favourable drop by Lloyd
Clive Lloyd
West Indies won the inaugural ICC Cricket World Cup in 1975 and four years later found thsmselves in the final again – facing hosts England. They racked up a competitive score of 286 for nine — thanks to Viv Richards’s majestic unbeaten 138 and Collis King’s quickfire 86 — before a second-innings drop ultimately proved Lady Luck was also aiding its cause.
England were making steady progress by reaching 79 for no loss at tea but unfortunately, that was after 25 overs – openers Geoffrey Boycott and Mike Brearley nurdling the gentle off-spin of Richards for singles instead of taking the game to its visitors at Lord’s. Boycott had taken 17 overs to reach double figures and shortly after tea he spooned the ball to wide mid-on where Clive Lloyd, normally an excellent fielder, contrived to drop it.
That gave the Windies more overs of England’s sluggish openers taking the game away from their own team as although the Boycott-Brearley partnership was eventually broken with the score on 129 in the 39th over, the damage was done. England’s bigger hitters down the order didn’t have enough time to chase the target down and from 183 for two, they lost eight wickets for 11 runs with a series of desperate hoicks and heaves as West Indies clinched a second World Cup by 92 runs. “I could have watched them [Boycott and Brearley] all day because I knew every over they batted was another nail in their coffin,” Lloyd later noted.
“A lot of people suggested I put [the catch] down purposefully just to keep him in. It's not true, but it wouldn't have been a bad tactic.”
England benefit from unreachable target
South Africa’s first ICC Cricket World Cup appearance in 1992 ended in heartbreak thanks to one of the most infamous rain interruptions in history.
In the semi-final against England, South Africa needed 22 from 13 deliveries when the umpires took the players of the field due to increasingly heavy rain. The delay lasted just 10 minutes but with television coverage dictating that the match end that day, two overs were lost and the target was reduced. Luckily for England, this was in the days before the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, with the Most Productive Overs rule being used instead – which only removed the runs scored by England in their two lowest-scoring overs.
That left the Proteas with the impossible task of still needing 21 but only having one delivery to get it — which Brian McMillan hit for a single. England won by 20 runs but batsman Allan Lamb, playing against the country of his birth, later said he believed South Africa would have won if not for the rain delay.
