Wonders at Wanderers

Every one of us hopes to see a miracle at least once in their lifetime. Few people actually get to witness one. I can proudly say that I am one of them!! I am referring to the humbling of the Mighty Aussies by a resurgent and spirited Proteas at the Wanderer’s stadium in Johannesburg on 12^th March 2006. This is a red letter day in the history of One Day International Cricket. A day when breaking records which stood for decades was passé.

This match had a script which was oscar-worthy.. a story wherein heroes became villains in a space of a single delivery.. (Words can’t express the feeling I had when Andrew Hall scooped the ball to mid-on when he could have just nudged it for a single! I would have literally kicked his a** if he had happened to be anywhere close to me). The match was see sawing all way up to the last over with each side trying their mighty best to out beat the other. The South Africans held their nerve till the end and that made them come out of it victorious.

Applause must be given not just for the fact that SA overwhelmed such a huge score, but for the intent with which they went about the task. Gibbs and Smith provided the resurgence after the loss of Dippenaar, and that too scoring at 10 runs/ over!! Gibbs, for one played the innings of his life. At one point, he just couldn’t do anything wrong! Gibbs silenced his critics with a magnificent 175 of just 142 balls. Credit must be also given to Mark Boucher who in spite of the climbing run rate maintained his cool to play a stellar knock.

Earlier in the day, the Aussies knocked out the earlier highest score in ODI which was held by Sri Lanka with ease. Ponting once again showed why he should be considered one of the best batsmen of this era. His 164 was the back bone of their mammoth score. Everyone in the Australian side chipped in (if I can batsman scoring 50’s as chipping in!!) Gilchrist, Katich, Hussey.. you name it.. everyone scored and scored HUGE!

Scoring 434 runs, Ponting must have assumed that they could rest their heels! Little did they know that the story was far from over. The resilience shown by the Proteas until the death overs is praise worthy. They have redefined the phrase “Nothing is Impossible”. It has now become “Impossible is Nothing!!!”. Ponting might have won the World Cup twice and have been consistent in keeping Aus as the Numero Uno team for many years, but this defeat will be a black scar in his illustrious career which cannot be masked away.

We now observe a minutes silence for the sad demise of one of the great arts called “Bowling”. Nothing can be taken away from the batsmen for scoring those runs, however the bowlers also shouldn’t be blamed for this. Both the team had pretty good bowlers, but each one of them was made to eat dust! Cricket regulation boards around the world and especially ICC must do a whole revamp of ODI. I know it is heavily favored towards batsmen, but cricket has always been a contest between bat and ball, not between the bats of both teams. Tell me why any one would want to be a bowler after such a slaughtering. If this trend continues, the day is not far off when you’ll have the bowling machine bowling. All 11 members will be batsmen then. Scores of 600 – 700 will be the order of the day. One question though?? Is it cricket? At least not the way I perceive it.

All said and done, it was a very memorable experience for me. Something which will be fresh in my mind for many years. The 'elated' feeling has still not sunken in! so surreal was the experince!