The Common Man Speaks

When Australia DELIBERATELY batted slow in this WC match

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The 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup had a number of unforgettable moments, right from South Africa’s heartbreaking exit to India scoring a mammoth 373 against Sri Lanka to the one-sided final between Australia and Pakistan. But there was another significant on-field antic that has been forgotten over the years. This was in the league match between Australia and West Indies played at the Old Trafford, Manchester.

West Indies were put into bat by Australia. Their innings started on a disastrous note and continued the same till the end of their innings. They kept losing wickets and were 20/3 at one stage when Brian Lara departed for just 9. The Windies never recovered and were bowled out for a paltry 110. The dangerous Glenn McGrath was at his best as he had figures of 5 for 14 in 8.4 overs.

Wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs, who opened the innings, was the only West Indian to show any fight as he remained not out on 49. He became the first opener in World Cup history to carry his bat throughout the innings. Interestingly, the second highest contributor in the West Indian innings were the 22 extras.

In reply, Australia reached the target of 111 with just 4 wickets down. This sounds like a normal one-sided match but it wasn’t as simpler as it looked.

In the 1999 World Cup, the next stage after the league matches was the Super Six. The rules were such that if a team enters that stage and along with it the team they beat also makes it to that stage, the former will get extra points. In other words, if Team A beats Team B and they both enter the Super Six, Team A will automatically get extra points for having beaten Team B earlier. Similarly, Australia, which had to reach the target in 47.2 overs to qualify, had lost to New Zealand, so they didn’t want them to qualify. They wanted WI to qualify for the aforementioned reasons.

Once it was confirmed that Australia was going to win the match easily within the stipulated overs, this equation started playing in the batters Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan’s minds. Hence, they started batting as slowly as possible, so that the West Indies gets a better net run rate and would, hopefully, enter the Super Six. This would mean that Australia will get more points automatically in that stage.

The crowd at the Old Trafford, obviously, got bored and started raising slogans to see Waugh and Bevan batting at a snail’s pace. All of us, who were watching it on TV got bored too. I remember Phil Simmons bowling his gentle medium pace and the two batters blocking him as if they were facing a dangerous fast bowler in a test match. Australia eventually took as many as 40.4 overs to reach the target of just 111. Bevan remained not out on 20 off 69 balls and Waugh took 73 balls for his 19 not out! (See the whole scorecard HERE)

The Aussies faced flak from the media after that match. Matthew Engel of The Guardian wrote, “Some have thought the complexities of the qualification system unfathomable. Yesterday the Australians fathomed them, and the result was a dreadful and shameful game of cricket.”

But Australian tactics didn’t work as West Indies still didn’t qualify for the Super Six and New Zealand did. This didn’t affect Australia though. They went onto win the 1999 World Cup easily and everything about their match against the West Indies was forgotten.

The Australian batting brings back memories of the 1994 Wills World Series ODI between India and (again) West Indies in Kanpur when Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia didn’t even try chasing 63 in 54 balls. They kept blocking and eventually India lost! Of course, there is no similarity in the end result and what the two Indian batters did was more unfathomable than Waugh and Bevan’s actions. Prabhakar and Mongia were ultimately banned from playing any further matches in the series.

Also read: He was selected for ‘83 World Cup, but could play in ‘99

When team Mumbai almost AGAIN defeated Australia

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One of the fondest memories for Mumbai cricket fans who started watching the game in the 90s would be their team’s victory against the mighty Australians in 1998 at the Brabourne Stadium. That three-day match saw Sachin Tendulkar score his first ever first-class double century.

It was also the first time I set foot inside a cricket stadium in my life and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. But even after Tendulkar and his team’s terrific display of batting, none of us thought that Mumbai’s Ranji team would go on to defeat Australia in two-and-a-half days. Read more about that match HERE.

It was a practice match before the three-match test series Australia was to play against India. Similarly, in 2001, Australia was set to play against Mumbai again before the test series. The 2001 test series turned out to be one of the best ever, especially due to the historic second test at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.  

But before the test series commenced, the match between Mumbai and Australia, again at the Brabourne Stadium, brought back terrific memories of the 1998 match between the same teams.

Tendulkar wasn’t playing this one as he was rested. But before the start of the match, a news article quoted the Master Blaster motivating team Mumbai by saying, “Don’t forget what we did in 1998.” [I can’t find that article now]

Sameer Dighe and Steve Waugh [File photos]

Mumbai batted first and soon started struggling at 82 for 5 with Amol Muzumdar and Vinod Kambli out for 1 and 0 respectively. But captain and wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe’s counterattack (84) with Sairaj Bahutule (51) and later with Romesh Powar (65*) took Mumbai to a good score of 328 for 9 at which they declared the innings.

When Australia turned out to bat, skipper Steve Waugh scored an unbeaten 106. However, nobody else from their line-up got going and the team was all out for just 203. The Aussies couldn’t get the services of Mark Waugh as he was injured soon after the match commenced.

Mumbai’s top order showed more maturity in the second innings as both the openers Vinayak Mane and Wasim Jaffer scored half centuries. They declared the innings at 191 for 8. Out of all the Mumbai wickets, Shane Warne picked up 7. Australia were given a target of 317 after the first session of the third day.

It looked like the match will end in a draw but there was drama in store in the last session. Australia’s top order collapsed and they were reduced to 64 for 5 at one stage and 80 for 6 soon after. Bahutule rocked the Australian top-order by scalping 4 wickets. He was getting the ball to talk.

I remember watching the last day of the match at my cousin’s place and we were super excited as we anticipated the repeat of 1998. Plus, Australia had only 9 wickets to play since Mark Waugh was injured.

But his twin and the Aussie skipper saw the day through (34*) with some gutsy support from Damien Fleming who battled 72 balls for his unbeaten 22.

Although Mumbai couldn’t win again and repeat 1998, they gave a scare to the best test side of the world. Tendulkar’s motivation before the match had a positive impact on the team.

Interestingly, Australia had fielded a much stronger side in the 2001 match against Mumbai in comparison to the one they did in 1998. And most importantly, there was no Tendulkar in the 2001 encounter. It goes onto show Mumbai’s talent backed by some terrific fighting spirit back then. Today, not even a picture (forget video) of that match is available. There’s only the scorecard available HERE.

Mumbai’s skipper and wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe, who top-scored in the first innings, was selected in the Indian team for the third test match at Chennai in the following series. His 22 not out in the fourth innings of the match became instrumental in India winning the test and subsequently the series by 2-1.

Also read: Forgotten innings – Nayan Mongia’s historic feat vs Australia