south africa 1999 cricket world cup biggest chokers
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eureka
south africa 1999 cricket world cup biggest chokers
the biggest choke in cricket history was south Africa in the 1999 world cup they were in easy winnable positons in both the quarter final and semi final only to faulter in both and both to Australia it was the biggest choke of all time
Right on cue:
The Cricket Monthly FEBRUARY 20, 2019
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/ ... as-my-drug
Sidharth Monga: The 1999 semi-final - everybody talks about it. You did your job and you didn't do it. How difficult is it to get over it? Are you over it?
Lance Klusener: Yes. And you are right, but getting one off the last ball, that's not hard. I can do that. All the hard work was done. And then you just didn't do what you needed to do. Yes, we could have waited and hit the next ball for four. Yes, we could have waited and got bowled out and people would have asked: "Why didn't you run the ball before?" That's the tough way of looking at it. I am upset with myself that I had done all the hard work and then I didn't do the easy part. That's the regret. It's not just that game but lots of other games where we need two off the last ball and I miss a fricking ball that I have practised a thousand times. I think that's the regret I have. To look at it in hindsight, that's something that makes you frustrated. But who's to say you wouldn't get a good ball and hit it to cover or get bowled? "Oh, the ball before, you could have snuck one." And I would be living with the same story.
Do you watch that video again?
No. I was there. I don't need to watch it. I know what happened. It's always on somewhere. So I have seen it numerous times. I have never put it on. It is always playing somewhere.
Do you look away?
No, it doesn't bother me. I know what happens. I have seen the movie before. I made the movie.
The Cricket Monthly FEBRUARY 20, 2019
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/ ... as-my-drug
Sidharth Monga: The 1999 semi-final - everybody talks about it. You did your job and you didn't do it. How difficult is it to get over it? Are you over it?
Lance Klusener: Yes. And you are right, but getting one off the last ball, that's not hard. I can do that. All the hard work was done. And then you just didn't do what you needed to do. Yes, we could have waited and hit the next ball for four. Yes, we could have waited and got bowled out and people would have asked: "Why didn't you run the ball before?" That's the tough way of looking at it. I am upset with myself that I had done all the hard work and then I didn't do the easy part. That's the regret. It's not just that game but lots of other games where we need two off the last ball and I miss a fricking ball that I have practised a thousand times. I think that's the regret I have. To look at it in hindsight, that's something that makes you frustrated. But who's to say you wouldn't get a good ball and hit it to cover or get bowled? "Oh, the ball before, you could have snuck one." And I would be living with the same story.
Do you watch that video again?
No. I was there. I don't need to watch it. I know what happened. It's always on somewhere. So I have seen it numerous times. I have never put it on. It is always playing somewhere.
Do you look away?
No, it doesn't bother me. I know what happens. I have seen the movie before. I made the movie.
The rest of the Klusener interview is also worth reading. He seems pretty open and honest in his answers.
It's interesting what Klusener says about yorkers, then and now. He basically says bowlers would try to bowl 6 yorkers in a row, but he knew they'd miss at least two, which he'd hit for 6. He thinks there's more variety now...
But here is Carlos Brathwaite vs. Ben Stokes in the final over of the 2016 T20 WC:
https://www.icc-cricket.com/video/188168
No variety from Stokes there. Just four awful deliveries. In the aftermath, the media discussed whether it was sensible to bowl yorkers, but those balls weren't even close to yorkers. If that was what Stokes was trying to bowl, he was missing by a long way every time.
It's interesting what Klusener says about yorkers, then and now. He basically says bowlers would try to bowl 6 yorkers in a row, but he knew they'd miss at least two, which he'd hit for 6. He thinks there's more variety now...
But here is Carlos Brathwaite vs. Ben Stokes in the final over of the 2016 T20 WC:
https://www.icc-cricket.com/video/188168
No variety from Stokes there. Just four awful deliveries. In the aftermath, the media discussed whether it was sensible to bowl yorkers, but those balls weren't even close to yorkers. If that was what Stokes was trying to bowl, he was missing by a long way every time.
And here is Damien Fleming vs. Lance Klusener in the final over of the 1999 WC SF:
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/austral ... 2017-06-17
[Scroll down to the second video in the article.]
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/austral ... 2017-06-17
[Scroll down to the second video in the article.]
Famously, of course, Australia had to beat S. Africa in the previous game, just to make the SF.
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 7, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 10
'You've just dropped the World Cup'
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/ ... -world-cup
[Video in article.]
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 7, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 10
'You've just dropped the World Cup'
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/ ... -world-cup
[Video in article.]
Another worthy contender, Australia v. West Indies, 1996 WC SF:
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 11, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 6
Houdini in Mohali
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/ ... -in-mohali
[Video in article.]
(It's Fleming bowling again at the end.)
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 11, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 6
Houdini in Mohali
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/ ... -in-mohali
[Video in article.]
(It's Fleming bowling again at the end.)
The game mentioned in the second post of this thread -- NZ v SA, 2015 WC SF:
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 14, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 3
Heart-stopping, heartbreaking
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1176265
[The video in the article shows more crying South African players (Morkel, de Villiers, ...) than balls (just the final delivery). I'll have to search for better video.]
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 14, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 3
Heart-stopping, heartbreaking
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1176265
[The video in the article shows more crying South African players (Morkel, de Villiers, ...) than balls (just the final delivery). I'll have to search for better video.]
The Cricket Monthly MARCH 18, 2019
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 1
The unimprovable game
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1176611
[Video of last over in article.]
This is perhaps the most detailed description of an ODI I've ever seen!
And with so many quotable lines.
" "On the boundary," said Bevan, "I remember thinking, 'We're going to win this. No, we're going to lose this. No, we're going to win this.' Every over." "
"Two things demonstrate that a sporting contest has moved beyond greatness. The first is that, when you watch the video - even 20 years later, even when you know exactly what is going happen, even when you're a neutral - you still feel nervous. The second is that, at the moment of triumph, those on the winning side lose control of their limbs."
" "It was quite chilling," said Warne, "to see a man so shell-shocked that he kept opening his mouth without words coming out." "
" "Australia choked far more than we did in the closing overs, but the one moment of indecision cost us the game," said Boucher in his autobiography, Bouch: Through My Eyes. "They dropped a catch, bowled a no-ball that wasn't called, missed an easy run out two balls before the end… But that's the way it was." "
"South Africa were an ODI machine - but they were a machine with blood, with a brain, with anima. And that, given a combination of their uptight nature, a burgeoning fatalism about the World Cup, and an asphyxiating inferiority complex against Australia, meant they malfunctioned for one devastating moment."
"The movie with the most haunting ending in cricket history. Both Cronje and Woolmer, you suspect, took it to the grave when they died in shocking circumstances in 2002 and 2007."
GREATEST WORLD CUP MATCHES: NO. 1
The unimprovable game
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1176611
[Video of last over in article.]
This is perhaps the most detailed description of an ODI I've ever seen!
And with so many quotable lines.
" "On the boundary," said Bevan, "I remember thinking, 'We're going to win this. No, we're going to lose this. No, we're going to win this.' Every over." "
"Two things demonstrate that a sporting contest has moved beyond greatness. The first is that, when you watch the video - even 20 years later, even when you know exactly what is going happen, even when you're a neutral - you still feel nervous. The second is that, at the moment of triumph, those on the winning side lose control of their limbs."
" "It was quite chilling," said Warne, "to see a man so shell-shocked that he kept opening his mouth without words coming out." "
" "Australia choked far more than we did in the closing overs, but the one moment of indecision cost us the game," said Boucher in his autobiography, Bouch: Through My Eyes. "They dropped a catch, bowled a no-ball that wasn't called, missed an easy run out two balls before the end… But that's the way it was." "
"South Africa were an ODI machine - but they were a machine with blood, with a brain, with anima. And that, given a combination of their uptight nature, a burgeoning fatalism about the World Cup, and an asphyxiating inferiority complex against Australia, meant they malfunctioned for one devastating moment."
"The movie with the most haunting ending in cricket history. Both Cronje and Woolmer, you suspect, took it to the grave when they died in shocking circumstances in 2002 and 2007."
'The birth of the chokers tag'
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... semi-final
Daryll Cullinan
30 Oct, 2018
"We started off quite well with four wins to kick off the tournament. But then we seemed to have a dip halfway through, and that was where the 1999 World Cup turned for us.
...
We were given three days off before the semi-final. I don't know if that had an effect, because we always backed ourselves to beat Australia in that game. By that stage of the tournament, the pitches had started to dry out. We knew that because of how Edgbaston had played during the New Zealand game. We were prepared.
But on the day, there was something quite puzzling, in that after we won the toss we bowled first. ... These days teams don't mind chasing, but back then it was still seen as quite a challenging thing.
...
Then we got to the point where it seemed like we were going to get over the line even though we couldn't really sense it from the change room. The dressing rooms were behind closed doors, so as the game goes on, the players are actually a bit detached from the whole affair. But at one stage one of the Australians popped their heads in and said, "Well done."
...
In that final over, I was sitting with Woolmer, Gary Kirsten and Peter Pollock. I remember thinking someone should run out onto the field with gloves or something like that - just stop the game for a little while.
...
I don't really know what happened afterwards, because I went to Bermuda for six months. But I think that was the birth of the chokers tag. And that was a genuine choke."
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... semi-final
Daryll Cullinan
30 Oct, 2018
"We started off quite well with four wins to kick off the tournament. But then we seemed to have a dip halfway through, and that was where the 1999 World Cup turned for us.
...
We were given three days off before the semi-final. I don't know if that had an effect, because we always backed ourselves to beat Australia in that game. By that stage of the tournament, the pitches had started to dry out. We knew that because of how Edgbaston had played during the New Zealand game. We were prepared.
But on the day, there was something quite puzzling, in that after we won the toss we bowled first. ... These days teams don't mind chasing, but back then it was still seen as quite a challenging thing.
...
Then we got to the point where it seemed like we were going to get over the line even though we couldn't really sense it from the change room. The dressing rooms were behind closed doors, so as the game goes on, the players are actually a bit detached from the whole affair. But at one stage one of the Australians popped their heads in and said, "Well done."
...
In that final over, I was sitting with Woolmer, Gary Kirsten and Peter Pollock. I remember thinking someone should run out onto the field with gloves or something like that - just stop the game for a little while.
...
I don't really know what happened afterwards, because I went to Bermuda for six months. But I think that was the birth of the chokers tag. And that was a genuine choke."
Proteas Write Fresh Chapter in History of Heartbreak
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3788049 ... heartbreak
'...forensic dissection of just what went wrong for South Africa at the now 19(!) ICC events where they have underachieved...'
"A fifth exit at the semi-final stage of a 50-over World Cup, and the third time it's been at the hands of Australia. And while there was no 'choke' the Proteas can put this one down to a timid approach to the game that was in stark contrast to their seasoned rivals. ... soon the Proteas were 4-24.
It was nearly much worse - David Miller's first ball edge fell just short of second slip, but a timely rain delay allowed the Proteas to regroup and they recovered to post 212, with Miller hitting a century. Then they lost their nerve all over again with the new ball in hand - Marco Jansen delivered a series of wides, Kagiso Rabada overstepped and was smashed for a six from the free hit - as Aussie openers Travis Head and David Warner launched a blitz that knocked off more than a quarter of the required runs in just six overs. The Proteas put down four catches early on, but to their credit fought back through their spinners. But in the end, the cool head of Aussie captain Cummins steered Australia home..."
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3788049 ... heartbreak
'...forensic dissection of just what went wrong for South Africa at the now 19(!) ICC events where they have underachieved...'
"A fifth exit at the semi-final stage of a 50-over World Cup, and the third time it's been at the hands of Australia. And while there was no 'choke' the Proteas can put this one down to a timid approach to the game that was in stark contrast to their seasoned rivals. ... soon the Proteas were 4-24.
It was nearly much worse - David Miller's first ball edge fell just short of second slip, but a timely rain delay allowed the Proteas to regroup and they recovered to post 212, with Miller hitting a century. Then they lost their nerve all over again with the new ball in hand - Marco Jansen delivered a series of wides, Kagiso Rabada overstepped and was smashed for a six from the free hit - as Aussie openers Travis Head and David Warner launched a blitz that knocked off more than a quarter of the required runs in just six overs. The Proteas put down four catches early on, but to their credit fought back through their spinners. But in the end, the cool head of Aussie captain Cummins steered Australia home..."