Those who have been following Cricket for over 12 years would not have forgotten Neil Johnson !! Remember ?? The guy who played 48 ODI's and 13 Test matches for Zimbabwe !! He could be forgotten for his 3 MOM awards in 1999 World cup !! He could be forgotten for his losing cause 132 not out at Lords against aussies in the world cup !! He should never be forgotten for his heriocs at Chelmsford in a League game against South Africa !!
If ever there was one performance that totally upset the calculations of a whole world cup , you could safely bet it was this one performance against South Africa on 29 May 1999 !!
The group was already wide open after India lost to ( Nah , Nah ,, Zimbabwe defeated India sans Sachin ) Zimbabwe !! May 29th had two group matches being played !! Hosts England taking on India and Undefeated South Africans taking on Zimbabwe !!
The stage was set such a way that England and India could lose the game and yet make it to the next round as it was just a formality for south africa to crush zimbabwe !! Afterall everyone thought the performance against india was once in a blue moon !!
Over 7 hours of cricket one man changed the equations around with calculators working overtime .Am not going to talk about the performance rather the after effects on other teams !!
Scorecard of SA vs ZIM here http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65218.html
Three teams were majorly affected by this result !!
England : Host Nation . Whole lot of expectation !! Comfortable victory against defending champions Srilanka in the World Cup opener !! Victories against Kenya and Zimbabwe and a solitary loss to South Africa !! They were comfortably placed at second position in the group into the final round !! The final game started with possibilities of england losing and yet making it to the next round !! Johnson playing elsewhere in the country had other plans though .Chasing a modest 233 rain interrupted the play at 73/3 off 20.3 overs in reply !! Think about a Indian Masala movie !! Cant get any better in sports !Enter rain , England didn really require the win !! very little did they know when they come out to bat the next day after rain the scenario had changed to a must win !! Ever heard of the word Panic !!! Yup !! England Panicked !! India went through
India : They had themselves to blame to have lost the game against Zimbabwe earlier !! Yet what the Zimbabwe victory against South Africa meant was crucial carry over points !! One can argue its a flawed points system !! That debate is for another day !! Since India had lost to SA , they couldn carry any points to Super Six which would not have been the case if Zimbabwe had lost !! England would hav scrampled through giving india 2 points . It would hav literally meant a quarter final match against New Zealand in super six !! U never know a big occasion some one would hav delivered !! Everyone who watched that game could see through the body language that the team really didn want to play a pointless game !!
South Africa : Simple !! They could hav avoided Australia in the Semis !! The real semis that took place is history though !!
I was 13 then , and i quite enjoyed South Africa getting defeated that day !! That was good for cricket !! Good for the world cup !! But when i look back , i wish South Africa could have won the game just bcos it could hav given my Team a better chance to reach the semis !!
But then i have no regrets on seeing that performance on Television !! That really meant what a single performance could do to the whole world cup !!
Sad that Zimbabwe Cricket never reached those highs ever after neither did Johnson !! But he will ever be remembered for his performance on that day !!
If ever there was one performance that totally upset the calculations of a whole world cup , you could safely bet it was this one performance against South Africa on 29 May 1999 !!
The group was already wide open after India lost to ( Nah , Nah ,, Zimbabwe defeated India sans Sachin ) Zimbabwe !! May 29th had two group matches being played !! Hosts England taking on India and Undefeated South Africans taking on Zimbabwe !!
The stage was set such a way that England and India could lose the game and yet make it to the next round as it was just a formality for south africa to crush zimbabwe !! Afterall everyone thought the performance against india was once in a blue moon !!
Over 7 hours of cricket one man changed the equations around with calculators working overtime .Am not going to talk about the performance rather the after effects on other teams !!
Scorecard of SA vs ZIM here http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65218.html
Three teams were majorly affected by this result !!
England : Host Nation . Whole lot of expectation !! Comfortable victory against defending champions Srilanka in the World Cup opener !! Victories against Kenya and Zimbabwe and a solitary loss to South Africa !! They were comfortably placed at second position in the group into the final round !! The final game started with possibilities of england losing and yet making it to the next round !! Johnson playing elsewhere in the country had other plans though .Chasing a modest 233 rain interrupted the play at 73/3 off 20.3 overs in reply !! Think about a Indian Masala movie !! Cant get any better in sports !Enter rain , England didn really require the win !! very little did they know when they come out to bat the next day after rain the scenario had changed to a must win !! Ever heard of the word Panic !!! Yup !! England Panicked !! India went through
India : They had themselves to blame to have lost the game against Zimbabwe earlier !! Yet what the Zimbabwe victory against South Africa meant was crucial carry over points !! One can argue its a flawed points system !! That debate is for another day !! Since India had lost to SA , they couldn carry any points to Super Six which would not have been the case if Zimbabwe had lost !! England would hav scrampled through giving india 2 points . It would hav literally meant a quarter final match against New Zealand in super six !! U never know a big occasion some one would hav delivered !! Everyone who watched that game could see through the body language that the team really didn want to play a pointless game !!
South Africa : Simple !! They could hav avoided Australia in the Semis !! The real semis that took place is history though !!
I was 13 then , and i quite enjoyed South Africa getting defeated that day !! That was good for cricket !! Good for the world cup !! But when i look back , i wish South Africa could have won the game just bcos it could hav given my Team a better chance to reach the semis !!
But then i have no regrets on seeing that performance on Television !! That really meant what a single performance could do to the whole world cup !!
Sad that Zimbabwe Cricket never reached those highs ever after neither did Johnson !! But he will ever be remembered for his performance on that day !!
Niel Johnson,Alistar Cambell,Paul Strang,Flower brothers,Heath Streak,Olongo is no ordinary minnow
ReplyDeleteThey may not be an ordinary minnow , but they came against an unbeaten SA team in 99 World Cup !! Not to mention the form carried on till then !! Kallis , Gibbs , Kirsten , Cronje , Pollock , Klusener , Donald n co !! To beat them like that and turn the tournament around was some taking !!
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