Those who like cricket, readon..
those who don’t, what daheck.. read on anyways! (who knows, u might start liking it!)
Aus were tourin South Africa (SA)..
ODI series was goin on..
SA won da first 2.. 2-0 inseries..
Aus came back, winning da next 2.. series level 2-2
so, it all came down to dadecider 5th match at Wanderer’s..
Now, SA are (in)famously called da Chokers, since da days of da last World Cup.. its their unbelieveableability to crumble like a century old manuscript would, were u to touch it witheven a little pressure.. these guys have mastered da art of losing importantmatches better than da Indians, to some extent.. So da match at Wanderer’s wasa pressure match, a series decider with SA under pressureagain, losing da last 2 matches..(& da series in Aus) Well, Ricky won the toss &elected to bat on a track which looked pretty flat.. SA bowlers came steamingin.. lots of swings & misses initially.. but after sometime, Gilchrist andKatich started breaking lose as they usually do, putting up a decent 97 in 16overs.. Adam got out then, for 55 from some 40 odd balls, a typical Gilly-innings..
In walked da skipper, Ponting.. from then on, God knows what happened to da bowlers or I thinkRicky was just in that zone.. he & katich started piling runs, hitting dabowlers all over.. Katich made a cool 79 in 90 balls, again a veryKatichy-innings.. Hussey joined his skipper &then da duo went totally berserk.. seemed they had just lost it totally!treated the SA attack with absolutely no respect whatsoever..Hussey smashed asuperfast 81 off 51 balls! awesome batting display.. got out in da 47th over..
As for Ponting, he notchedup is 9000th ODI run.. also his personal best ODI score.. anabsolute masterful innings of 164 strokefilled runs, with 13 fours and 9 sixes! the no. of balls hefaced? well, only 105, an unbelieavable strike rate of 156 runs per 100 ballsfaced! out in da 48th over. Andy Symonds hit a quick 27 in13 balls.. remaining not out..
Aussies were good in da first15 overs.. 96 runs..
They were great in da next 20overs.. 157 runs..
and then they were ___(gimme a word for this) in da last 15 overs.. 181 runs.. guys, thats 181 runsin 90 balls!! a run rate of 12 runs per over!!!
would anyone care to total upthose figures? 96+157+181?
434!
It was only fitting that it was da Aussies who were da first to crack da 400 run barrier in ODIs! reached da figure in the 47th over.. where Telemachus went for 28 runs.. & only 4Aussies were out in that 300 ball, 434 run innings! Unbelievable?? Believe it!
for most ppl, it was game overat half time.. & am sure they turned their TV sets off then & there.. butme being a real diehard cricket fan, wanted to know how long it took daAussies to win.. so I kept da remote at quite a distance from me ;)
SA batting started asexpected.. Boeta Dippenar, da ever dependable opener got out for 1 in da 2ndover, to Nathan Bracken.. da first nail in da coffin..
Smith, da Proteas’ skipper wasjoined by Herschelle Gibbs.. seemed da talk they had, when GIbbs reached dapitch would have gone somethin like this..
Smith : wellHershy, lets have fun! these guys need a payback, whatsay?
Gibbs : you bet, cap! lets give’em da ’434 up urass’ attitude!
coz what followed was to beseen to be believed!!! if I said Ponting & Husseywent berserk.. these guys did that times 2! it was da scoreline which saideverything! 20 overs.. 180 runs!! then what happens? Smithgets out.. seems things will go in an exponential decline from then on.. oh, btw, Smith scored with astrikerate of 164.. made 90 awesome runs in 55 balls!! 13 fours and 2 sixes.. aCaptains knock.. but, a second nail in da coffin..
Gibbs was joined by ABdeVilliers..they put up 94 runs.. deVilliers got out scoring just 14 of those!! Gibbsscored da rest of da 80..& they took 9 odd overs to score them!!!! AB out.. da 3rd nail in da coffin.. they were giving a classicfight! but da next over, Gibbs iscaught.. and da stadium goes deadly silent.. a 4th (& possibly da mostimp) nail in da coffin..
Gibbs.. all know what adestructive batsman he is.. well, that night he notched up, what probably willbe, da innings of his lifetime! a total rocking, full-of-Aussie-bowling-disdaininnings of 175 runs.. scored in 111 balls, studded with 21boundaries and 7 sixes!! (and btw, just for the record, Nathan Bracken haddropped Gibbs, when he was on 130) Gibbs got out in the 32nd overwith the score on 299! guys, take a moment here.. thats 299 runs in 192 balls!! Gibbs had really showed that’434 up ur ass’attitude.. but sadly, couldnt shove it all up.. got out at a crucial time..leaving 2 new batters on the crease.. Kallis and Boucher..
seemed da game was going awayfrom da Proteas.. 299 for 4.. well, expectedly, da game slowed down & daAussies, getting some breathing space, were able to put in a few good overs..Kallis was c&b by Symonds, out for 21.. 327 for 5 in 38 overs..5th nail in da coffin..
in walked Kemp (Dhoni of SA, ina way) hopes raised.. known for bighitting, he wasnt able to deliver when his team needed him da most.. out for13.. 6th nail in da coffin..
all this while, Boucher keptscoring runs at almost a run a ball on da other end..
van der Wath (a replacement for da injured Pollock) walked in.. score 355 for 6 in 42 overs.. 8 overs, 80 runs..
da aussies experienced daWrath of Wath (they hit him for 76 in his 10 overs).. along with Boucher, putup 44 runs in 4 overs!! 35 runs in 18 balls!! & then, Wath is caught byPonting.. definitely seemed da end for SA.. 7th nail in da coffin..Telemachus joined Boucher, at 399 in the 47th over! Both scored 12 runs each intheir partnership of 24 runs in 2.x overs.. 8th nail in the coffin..
but at this time, da score wasan unbelievable 423! just 12 runs shy of victory, no, history!
but again, that Choker fearseemed prevelant..
Hal came in.. hit a much neededboundary! & then got out for a score of 7.. 9th nail in the coffin..
score 433
runs to win 2
balls 3
wickets in hand 1
& da no. 11 had to face Lee! all Ntini had to do was sneak a single in somehow, giving Boucher da strike.. Lee bowled in da blockhole.. but, Ntinimanaged to put some bat onto it & scampered for that imp single..bringing da scores level at 434!!
runs to win 1
balls 2
Boucher is set at 46 runs from42 balls.. Lee steams in... & watches da ball go over da mid on fielder fora boundary!! Boucher did it!
SA won da damn match!
SA were great in da first 15overs.. 140 runs
they were awesome in da next20 overs.. 175 runs
and then they were great &awesome in da next 15 ultra pressure overs.. 123 runs!
"Chokers, my foot!"they must be saying!
will this record ever break? idont think so..(SL NA)
but then, cricket is a funny game!(cliche!)