2007 World Cup - Tragedy, then triumph in darkness
by Manoj Vatsyayana
NEW DELHI, Feb. 5, (AFP) - The 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean
had what every glamorous event would like to avoid - the death of a
coach, a final completed in darkness, early eixts of favourites and only
a few close matches.
The 47-day event was not even a one-week old when Pakistan's coach
Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room in Jamaica. He was
initially thought to have been murdered before it was announced he died
of natural causes.
The former England batsman's death came hours after Pakistan's shock
defeat against debutants Ireland, the loss eventually leading to the
exit of the 1992 champions. Rahul Dravid's Indians made a horror start,
losing to minnows Bangladesh in their opening match despite having
exciting batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and
the captain himself.
It was one of the biggest upsets in the Cup history, eventually
leading to India's ouster and leaving millions of fans back home
disappointed.
Disappointment was also in store for spectators in Bridgetown when
the rain-hit final between Australia and Sri Lanka ended in
semi-darkness.
The officials believed that 36 overs had to be completed in Sri
Lanka's innings, apparently forgetting a minimum of 20 were needed to
obtain a result.
"It was a mistake on our behalf," match-referee Jeff Crowe said after
the match, the first of the nine Cup finals to be abbreviated. "I
should've known the rules. It was a human error, I guess, at the end of
the day."
Adam Gilchrist dominated the final, hammering a 104-ball 149 with a
squash ball in his left glove which seemed to help him hit straight. And
Australia were virtually assured of a record third successive title
after posting 281-4 off 38 overs, thanks to wicket-keeper Gilchrist's
blitz which contained eight sixes and 13 fours. Sri Lankan veteran
Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara made bold half-centuries but
their team finished at 215-8 as their target was revised to 269 off 36
overs following a rain interruption. Australia were involved in a few
tight matches in the 2003 tournament in South Africa, but so dominant
were they in the Caribbean that they hardly gave any chance to the
opposition. Four Aussies among top ten Four Australians - Matthew Hayden
(659), skipper Ricky Ponting (539), Gilchrist (453) and Michael Clarke
(436) - were among the tournament's top 10 run-getters.
Australian pacemen Glenn McGrath (26), Shaun Tait (23), Brad Hogg
(21) and Nathan Bracken (16) were among the top six bowlers.
McGrath, on his last appearance, also surpassed Pakistani paceman
Wasim Akram's Cup record of 55 wickets.Sri Lanka deserved to be in the
final for their consistency, Jayawardene (548) being the second-highest
scorer after Hayden and Jayasuriya (467) the sixth. Off-spin wizard
Muttiah Muralitharan was had 23 wickets and paceman Lasith Malinga was
the fifth best with 18. Malinga also became the first to bag four
wickets off as many balls, against South Africa.
Stephen Fleming's New Zealanders impressed but yet again failed to
cross the semi-final hurdle, while South Africa fell to Australia in the
penultimate round. While Bangladesh and Ireland exceeded expectations by
advancing to the second round, England and the West Indies failed to
make the last-four. England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was dismissed as
vice-captain and banned for one match after capsizing a pedalo in the
sea after his team's defeat to New Zealand. West Indies skipper Brian
Lara quit after his team's campaign. |