The Greatest Game in The history of cricket...

[Shayne]

Sorry I had to move this to its own thread..

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From Cricinfo

South Africa v Australia, 5th ODI, Johannesburg
South Africa win the greatest match of all
The Bulletin by Andrew Miller
March 12, 2006
49.5 overs South Africa 438 for 9 (Gibbs 175, Smith 90, Boucher 50*) beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79) by one wicket
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details (http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/AUS_IN_RSA/SCORECARDS/AUS_RSA_ODI5_12MAR2006.html)
How they were out (http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/rsavaus/content/current/story/240507.html#Sambit)
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Herschelle Gibbs hit 21 fours and seven sixes in his incredible 175 © Getty Images

Seven years ago, in the semi-final of the 1999 World Cup, South Africa and Australia contested what has widely come to be regarded as the definitive one-day international. A total of 426 runs in two innings, twenty wickets in the day and world-class performances across the board - a match that built to a pulsating finale in which South Africa threw away their place in the World Cup final with what also came to be regarded as the definitive one-day choke.

Today, however, South Africa can be called chokers no longer, after burying the ghosts of 1999 with victory in a match even more extraordinary and nail-shredding than its illustrious forebear. Never mind 426 runs in a day, Australia had just posted a world-record 434 for 4 in a single innings - the first 400-plus total in the history of the game - with Ricky Ponting leading the line with an innings of cultured slogging that realised 164 runs of the highest class from just 105 balls. And yet they still lost - by one wicket, with one ball to spare, and with the Wanderers stadium reverting to the sort of Bullring atmosphere on which it forged its intimidating reputation.

At the halfway mark of the day, South Africa had been reduced to a near laughing stock. Ponting had been the kingpin as he reprised his World Cup-winning innings (http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/WORLD_CUPS/WC2003/SCORECARDS/FINALS/AUS_IND_WC2003_ODI-FINAL_23MAR2003.html) on this very ground in 2003, but every one of Australia's batsmen had taken their pound of flesh as well. Adam Gilchrist lit the blue touchpaper with an open-shouldered onslaught that realised 55 runs from 44 balls; Simon Katich provided a sheet-anchor with a difference as he creamed nine fours and a six in a 90-ball 79, and Mike Hussey - in theory Ponting's second fiddle in their 158-run stand for the third wicket - hurtled to a 51-ball 81. Australia's dominance seemed so complete that Andrew Symonds, the most notorious one-day wrecker in their ranks, was not even called upon until the scoreboard read a somewhat surreal 374 for 3.

Unsurprisingly, South Africa's bowlers took a universal pounding. Jacques Kallis disappeared for 70 runs in six overs and as the innings reached its crescendo, a flustered Roger Telemachus conceded 19 runs from four consecutive no-balls. The team had squandered a 2-0 series lead and were staring at a 3-2 defeat, and not for the first time this year, Graeme Smith's penchant for speaking his mind was looking like backfiring. With the Test series getting underway in four days' time, the need for a performance of pride had never been more urgent.

And so Smith took it upon himself to deliver, responding to his team's indignity with a brutal innings laced with fury. He made light of the early loss of Boeta Dippenaar, whose anchorman approach would not have been suited to the chase at any rate, and instead found the perfect ally in his former opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs. On a pitch that might have been sent from the Gods, the pair launched South Africa's response with a scathing stand of 187 from 121 balls, to send the first frissons of anxiety through the Australian dressing-room.
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Ricky Ponting produced a reprise of his World-Cup winning innings on this ground in 2003 © Getty Images

Smith made 90 from just 55 balls, and seemed set to trump Ponting's 71-ball century when he swatted the spinner, Michael Clarke, to Mike Hussey on the midwicket boundary. But Hussey's celebrations were manic and betrayed the creeping sense of foreboding that had taken hold of Australia's players. Just as South Africa had suffered for the absence of Shaun Pollock, so too was Glenn McGrath's constricting influence being missed. His understudies were simply not up to the task, with Mick Lewis earning an unwanted place in history as his ten overs were spanked for 113 runs - the most expensive analysis in any form of one-day international cricket.

Now it was Gibbs who took centre stage. The man who, memorably, dropped the World Cup at Headingley in that 1999 campaign has redeemed himself a hundred times over in the intervening years. But this was to be his crowning glory. With AB de Villiers providing a sparky sidekick, Gibbs carved great chunks out of the asking-rate, bringing up his century from 79 balls and rattling along so briskly that, by the 25-over mark, South Africa had 229 for 2 on the board, and needed a mere 206 to win. .
Only one contest could compare - the extraordinary C&G Trophy contest (http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/2002/ENG_LOCAL/C+G/SCORECARDS/R04/SURREY_GLAM_C+G_19JUN2002.html) between Surrey and Glamorgan in 2002, when Alistair Brown scored 268 out of a total of 438 for 5, only for Glamorgan to track his side all the way with a reply of 429. In both instances, the sheer impossibility of the task galvanised the batting and turned the fielders' legs to jelly, and with Gibbs on 130, Nathan Bracken at mid-off dropped a sitter off a Lewis full-toss, and could only contemplate his navel as the Bullring roared its approval.

It was undeniably the decisive moment of the match. Bracken finished with a creditable 5 for 67, but this faux pas was written all across his features at the post-match presentations. Cashing in superbly, Gibbs hurtled to his 150 from exactly 100 balls, bringing up the landmark with his fifth six of the innings and the 21st of a bedlamic contest. He had reached a glorious 175 from 111 when Lee held onto a scuffed drive at mid-off. The stadium stood in acclaim, but with 136 runs still required and their main source of momentum gone, South Africa had plenty still to do.

Kallis and Mark Boucher regrouped with a steady partnership of 28 in six overs, but when the big-hitting Justin Kemp went cheaply, it took a blistering intervention from Johan van der Wath to reignite the chase. He drilled Lewis over long-off for two sixes in an over then added a six and a four in Bracken's eighth, as the requirement dropped from a tricky 77 from 42 balls to a gettable 36 from 22. He perished as he had lived, holing out to extra cover, and Telemachus followed soon afterwards, but not before he had clubbed an invaluable 12 from six balls.

And so it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston all those years ago. Brett Lee had seven runs to defend, and South Africa had two wickets in hand. A blazed four from Andrew Hall seemed to have settled the issue, but in a moment reminiscent of Lance Klusener's famous aberration, he smeared the very next delivery into the hands of Clarke at mid-on. Two runs needed then, and the No. 11, Makhaya Ntini, on strike. Lee's best effort was deflected to third man to tie the scores, and it was left to Boucher - with visions of Edgbaston swirling through his head - to seal the deal with a lofted four over mid-on. The most breathtaking game in one-day history had come to a grandstand finish, and all that remained was for the participants to pinch themselves.


How they were out

Australia
Adam Gilchrist c Hall b Telemachus 55 (97 for 1)
Incredible tumbling catch, scooped one-handed off turf at mid-on
Simon Katich c Telemachus b Ntini 79 (216 for 2)
Uppercut to third man
Mike Hussey c Ntini b Hall 81 (374 for 3)
Full toss swatted to long-on
Ricky Ponting c Dippenaar b Telemachus 164 (407 for 4)
Blazing cover-drive plucked above head on boundary
South Africa
Boeta Dippenaar b Bracken 1 (3 for 1)
Dragged onto off stump
Graeme Smith c Hussey b Clarke 90 (190 for 2)
Swatted to deep midwicket
AB de Villiers c Clarke b Bracken 14 (284 for 3)
Heaved to cow corner
Herschelle Gibbs c Lee b Symonds 175 (299 for 4)
Chipped drive to long-off
Jacques Kallis c&b Symonds 20 (327 for 5)
Diving return catch off firm drive
Justin Kemp c Martyn b Bracken 13 (355 for 6)
Toe-ended wide delivery to backward point
Johan van der Wath c Ponting b Bracken 35 (399 for 7)
Holed out to extra cover
Roger Telemachus c Hussey b Bracken 12 (423 for 8)
Spooned drive, brilliant sprawling catch
Andrew Hall c Clarke b Lee 7 (433 for 9)
Slap to mid-on
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo

http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/rsavaus/content/current/story/240507.html

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From the BBC


SA shatter record to beat Aussies

One-day international, Johannesburg: South Africa 438-9 beat Australia 434-4 by one wicket Scorecard (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/fds/hi/statistics/cricket/scorecards/2006/3/12271/html/scorecard.stm)
One-day international records broken (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/4799650.stm)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41431000/jpg/_41431618_gibbs203ap.jpg Gibbs was South Africa's matchwinner on a remarkable day


South Africa reached the highest target ever in a one-day international to cap an unforgettable day of cricket and win the five-match series 3-2.
Captain Ricky Ponting hit 164 off 105 balls as Australia shattered the record score with 434-4 and looked to be in an impregnable position in Johannesburg.
But with Herschelle Gibbs hitting a remarkable 175 off 111 balls and Graeme Smith 90, the hosts fought back.
Mark Boucher hit the penultimate ball to the boundary to complete the win.
The home crowd went delirious after seeing 872 runs scored in the day and Australia concede a head-to-head one-day series for the first time in four years.
Previously, no team had ever reached 400 before and this match will go down in history as one of the finest ever staged.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/img/v3/end_quote.gif You couldn't ask for a more exciting one-day match - it was great http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/img/v3/end_quote.gif


Ricky Ponting

Quotes: Reaction from players (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/4799704.stm)


Ponting's contribution in Australia's innings was overshadowed by what followed.
Michael Hussey helped him add 158 for the third wicket, contributing 81, as Australia shattered the previous best score - Sri Lanka's 398-5 against Kenya 10 years ago.
Australia won the toss on a perfect batting wicket at the Wanderers and were given an ideal start by Adam Gilchrist (55) and Simon Katich (79).
They put on 97 in barely 15 overs for the first wicket as an attack missing Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel and Charl Langeveldt struggled from the off.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifPhotos: Action pictures from Johannesburg thriller (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/photo_galleries/4799556.stm)


The opening stand was only ended by a stunning one-handed catch by Andrew Hall at mid-on - but that was soon forgotten in the carnage that followed.
Ponting began cautiously but was soon thumping sixes about on the same ground where he had hit an unbeaten 140 in the 2003 World Cup final.
He put on 119 with Katich off 93 balls - but that was just the warm-up act.
His partnership with Hussey occupied just 96 balls as the pair went ballistic with almost any ball on a length hit for four or six.
After Hussey had fallen to a catch in the deep, the 400 came up in the 48th over with Roger Telemachus producing four no-balls in succession.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41431000/jpg/_41431454_ponting_new203_2.jpg Ricky Ponting's fine innings was eclipsed by Herschelle Gibbs


By then, Andrew Symonds had joined in the party but Ponting finally holed out at deep extra cover in the same over, which cost 28 runs in all.
South Africa looked doomed to lose heavily once Boeta Dippenaar had fallen in the second over.
Gibbs and Smith had other ideas, however.
In less than 21 overs they put on 187 runs in extraordinary fashion, actually reducing the required run rate and making the unthinkable possible.
Gibbs was in no way put off his stroke when Smith was caught in the deep, accelerating to reach his century off 79 balls.
After hitting successive sixes off Symonds, he moved to 175 in the 32nd over with South Africa still only three wickets down and suddenly the hosts were favourites to win.
But trying to hit Symonds over the covers, he drove a catch to long-off and when Jacques Kallis was next to go - caught and bowled by Symonds - it set up a tense finish.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/img/v3/end_quote.gif I think we can probably rightly call this the best one-day international ever! http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/img/v3/end_quote.gif

From JB
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbtms/F2208934?thread=2464433&skip=700&show=20)
Have your say on TMS (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbtms/F2208934?thread=2464433&skip=700&show=20)


Nathan Bracken's final spell looked like it might settle matters Australia's way and he finished with figures of 5-67.
In his first over back, the 40th, he conceded just two runs, and in his following over he had Justin Kemp caught at point - and only three runs were scored.
Suddenly, 77 were needed from the last seven overs and it seemed too tall an order.
However, Johan van der Wath hit 35 off 18 balls and Telemachus 12 off six to throw the game wide open again.
Seven were needed off the final over with two capable batsmen, Boucher and Hall, at the crease.
When Hall clubbed Lee over midwicket for four, it left two wanted from four. He was caught next ball to bring Makhaya Ntini to the crease, and a single from him, plus a four driven over mid-on by Boucher completed the win. Australia's Mick Lewis suffered worst of all the bowlers, his 10 overs costing 113 runs - the worst figures ever and the first time a bowler has conceded more than 100 in a 50-over match.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/4797004.stm

[FerrariSucks]

Good work South Africa

[biffon]

:5eek: i get cold shivers reading that... imagine the crowd:dancingemote: :respekt: :077: :077: :dancingemoto: :dancingemoto: :dancingemoto: :dancingemoto: :dancingemoto:

[FerrariSucks]

Would have been magic to be there

[biffon]

Searching for a reason
Edward Craig
March 12, 2006
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Did it really happen? Mark Boucher shows it did © Getty Images


Okay, why did that happen? Nearly 900 runs in one day, that doesn't happen - ever. Not in Twenty20, not in club cricket, not even in my back garden against my eight-year-old brother. So my question is why? I really want to know because I was there.
The pitch was a flat, quick deck with a carpet for an outfield, but games have been played in these conditions before. There've been plenty of flat decks and plenty of shorter boundaries with worse bowlers and big hitters. It's at altitude, the air is thinner, the ball flies further. Yes, but it's not the first game to be played on the high veld, no single batsman has ever gone massive here, Tests tend to be won [or lost] not dominated by the bat and ODIs do produce big scores, but nothing like this. Maybe there was a fix - come to think of it, there was a chap outside on a mobile phone with what looked like 22 leather jackets ... but that's a hideous thought.
Actually, the Wanderers, one of South Africa's most picturesque grounds set in the rolling, tree-lined suburbs of Johannesburg, does have previous. And usually to Australia's advantage. Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett batted all day in a Test in 1996-97 [I was there for that as well] and Adam Gilchrist smashed the then-fastest Test double-hundred as an emotional retort to personal abuse from the crowd in 2001-02. They won the 2003 World Cup here with a then-mammoth 359. And there was the Twenty20 earlier in the tour where the Australians fell two runs short chasing 200. If that was a signal of things to come, no one spotted it.
The key factor, though, was the absence of two players, Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock. This was a like-for-like loss - both bowl maidens in their sleep, causing much of the crowd to doze, and set the tone and pace for a day's play. Without them, anything can happen - and it did.
The game was cricket anarchy. Rules were ignored, conventional wisdom flown against, high-risks equalled high reward in every situation. Every gamble paid off, every scooped slog fell into space, every shy at the stumps missed. As the pressure and the run rate mounted so did the ferocity of the South African onslaught. Bat first, win the toss and bury the game - that is exactly what the Australians did and although they protested there was no "job-done" mentality, when you've just smashed a world record that's stood for ten years, you don't expect it to get beaten in the next three hours. South Africa has experienced a lawless past - for one glorious afternoon, the country re-visited it.
What was it like to be there? I'm not sure. The whole game was a blur of batting and you couldn't pick out the detail. Every time the bowler ran in, the ball disappeared to the boundary, often for six. Every time you looked at the scoreboard you had a double-take, could there really be that many overs left? Is that really the run rate?
And this was for both teams. With each run scored by the home side, the crowd went mad. When Herschelle Gibbs struck one of his seven sixes, the crowd made so much noise you worried for the structure of the stands. When Mark Boucher struck the winning runs, they couldn't control themselves and for a brief period real anarchy took over as the crowd on the pitch out-numbered the yellow jackets chasing them.
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[/URL]
Shaun Pollock was missing - surely this type of game couldn't have happened if he was playing? © Getty Images
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[URL="http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/inline/content/current/image/240516.jpg?"] (http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/inline/content/current/image/240516.jpg?)
But it wasn't always like this - the South African faithful had suffered several stages of mourning through the Australian innings as Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich made South Africa's best looked like school girls. First there was anger as Andrew Hall bowled badly, followed by disbelief as Ponting swept Jacques Kallis on one knee for six, then hope (Gilchrist out) then despair. The 400 was passed with three overs left to bowl. By the end of the Australian innings, the crowd was smiling - that is all you could do. The game was up, let's sit back and enjoy this immense display of hitting and witness how many records the Australians could break. Little did they know.
As with all sporting moments of brilliance there are failures and victims. In this particular game, they were collectively known as bowlers. Superiority of bat over ball was such that you felt a bit dirty, like watching a 7-6 thriller in football - amazing but only because both defences were rubbish. It didn't matter because the South Africans love the tacky excess of one-day cricket. It is for them what Test cricket is for England fans, so this was a day of nail-biting clichés, tense faces, unable-to-watch syndrome, the nerve-shredding Ashes emotions of "I am glad I was around to witness it but I never want to go through that again".
Similarly to the Ashes, this game was a culmination of on and off pitch drama that started before Christmas in Australia, came to a head in Durban on Friday where the visitors levelled the series with a one-wicket win, and exploded with unbearable tension on what surely is the greatest one-day game ever.
Cricket is heading in this direction, though, and however tempting it might be to say this game will never be matched, you'll be wrong. When Fred Trueman took his 300th Test wicket, they thought that'd never get beaten. Now 400 has been passed twice in the same game - 500 is next. I just hope I'm there to see it.

[Shayne]

Gibbs Shocked By Record Win
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View larger image
(http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,12088-5514691,00.html)
South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs (R)
Reuters
http://xtramsn.co.nz/homepage2/staticImages/fusion_sport/related_links_header.gif Related Links
South Africa Win Record-Breaking Match (http://xtramsn.co.nz/sport/0,,12026-5514095,00.html)

http://xtramsn.co.nz/homepage2/staticImages/fusion_sport/related_links_footer.gif13/03/2006
Ken Borland - Reuters
Herschelle Gibbs was stunned after his knock of 175 led South Africa to win the highest scoring one-day international with a world record 438 for nine against Australia on Monday.

The hosts triumphed by one wicket to clinch the series 3-2.

"I don't know where that innings came from and I don't think I've played better," Gibbs said after his 111-ball match-winner.

"I woke up this morning with the same feeling as when I scored a hundred in the 1999 World Cup - that today was going to be a different sort of day. It's only happened to me twice and I still can't believe it."

Captain Graeme Smith was equally flummoxed after South Africa overhauled Australia's daunting total of 434-4 with one ball to spare.

"Chasing 434 is a bit sick, unbelievable. But at the change of innings we said it was a freaky game, so who knows," said Smith, who scored 90 off 55 balls.

"You can't sit down and plan to chase 435 but we knew momentum was going to be the key. Our initial target was 185 in 25 overs and we knew we had a chance after we got way past that.

"It's nice to win a tight game against Australia and it's a massive evening for all of us. It's been an emotional roller-coaster and tomorrow will be all about recovery."

Australian captain Ricky Ponting acknowledged the manner of the win would give South Africa the momentum going into the three-test series starting on Thursday in Cape Town.

"South Africa will get something out of it, we must just try and forget about it," said Ponting, who ended up on the losing side despite smashing 164 off 105 balls.


"Mental Scars"

"We'll have pretty much a different group of bowlers for the tests, so hopefully there won't be too many mental scars from this game.

"There was always a chance they could score 434 because we did. But the odds must have been pretty high although it was a great wicket and the ground's very small.

"But there's no way they should have scored that many runs."

Australia had become the first team to score over 400 runs in limited overs cricket, easily surpassing the previous record of 398-5 scored by Sri Lanka against Kenya 10 years ago.

The record did not last for very long.

Although Ponting contributed more than a third of the runs, he was dismissive about the achievement.

"I couldn't care less because we lost the game. Today was all about winning the series," he said.

Smith also paid credit to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who scored an unbeaten half-century off 43 balls to seal victory.

"Mark Boucher was great at the end, his experience really shone through and the other boys at the end were really controlled and clinical.

"But I think I'll struggle to be involved in such a great game again.

"Credit should go to both sides and the stadium atmosphere was really special, while the pitch was so good that if a bowler was going for seven an over he was doing a good job."

[Poison]

What a game....:smiley32: :smiley32: :smiley32: :smiley32:

Imagine the party afterwards...:sport22: :dancingemote: :sport22: :sterb041: :naughty: :crazy: :eck34: :059: :rauch15: :hahahaha: :dancingemoto: :dancingemoto: :dancingemoto: :rauch23:

[biffon]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7389815230213349576&q=cricket

game highlights for those that missed it! :D

[Chuckey]

What an amazing day! I love watching Australia lose, even if it were in tidly winks!

[Raevoyn]

I think we talk the same language, Chuckey, I too love watching those Aussies loose in anything that they play .... They still have a flawless record for away losses in Rugby since 2003 I think!

[Chuckey]

I knew you were a solid dude, Raevoyn!

[Raevoyn]

Some Awesome people here!