South
Africa had a habit of crashing out of World Cups in spectacular
fashion. During the 1992 semi-final against England in Sydney, the rain
rule resulted in their elimination. In 1999, with one run needed off
three balls and with one wicket left, they conspired to tie the
semi-final against Australia in Edgbaston, allowing Australia to go
through due to superior net run-rate. In the 2003 edition, South
Africa's inglorious streak was extended courtesy a mathematical
confusion.
South Africa got off to a bad start by losing to West Indies and New Zealand. Sri Lanka started off well but they were jolted when they lost to Kenya in Nairobi. The match between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Durban was a knock-out.
Sri Lanka batted first in the day-night encounter and they notched up 268/9 thanks to a wonderful 124 from Marvan Atapattu and a 78-ball 73 from Aravinda de Silva. South Africa started well with Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs sharing a 65-run opening stand. The introduction of the spinners stifled their progress with de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan chipping in with regular wickets.
The weather was deteriorating in Durban and the equation boiled down to 57 off 45 balls. Lance Klusener was struggling with his timing while the Sri Lankan spinners were struggling to grip the ball. In the 45th over, a message was passed to Mark Boucher that South Africa needed 229 by the end of the 46th over, courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis method, to be safe. Boucher smashed Muralitharan for a six to deep mid wicket off the fifth ball and got the score to 229. He believed that the job was done and on the sixth ball, he defended it to mid wicket and did not take the run. With the rain becoming heavier, the umpires took the teams off the field.
However, the mood in the South African camp darkened immediately. The instructions to Boucher were wrong. 229 was the par-score, meaning the score needed for a tie. South Africa needed to take a single off the last ball in order to win and go through. The match ended in a tie and Sri Lanka went through to the super six while South Africa were eliminated. It was the second consecutive time that they had crashed out due to a tied game. This time it was doubly worse because South Africa were hosting the tournament and one of the favorites.
Speaking after the match, South Africa skipper Shaun Pollock said, "You can look at all the ifs and the buts but at the end of the day, it doesn't really help much." On television, former South African batsman Andrew Hudson said, "42 million South Africans are going to go to bed tonight hoping it is a bad dream." However, Frank Duckworth, one of the co-creators of the Duckworth-Lewis method, told the Indian Express that South Africa lost due to its own mistakes. "Both Pollock and Jayasuriya had the same papers with the run-rates. Sanath read it right and Shaun didn't. As far as we are concerned, the rules were agreed upon by all countries before the tournament and no-one complained." The early exit from the World Cup resulted in Pollock getting sacked as the skipper.
South Africa got off to a bad start by losing to West Indies and New Zealand. Sri Lanka started off well but they were jolted when they lost to Kenya in Nairobi. The match between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Durban was a knock-out.
Sri Lanka batted first in the day-night encounter and they notched up 268/9 thanks to a wonderful 124 from Marvan Atapattu and a 78-ball 73 from Aravinda de Silva. South Africa started well with Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs sharing a 65-run opening stand. The introduction of the spinners stifled their progress with de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan chipping in with regular wickets.
The weather was deteriorating in Durban and the equation boiled down to 57 off 45 balls. Lance Klusener was struggling with his timing while the Sri Lankan spinners were struggling to grip the ball. In the 45th over, a message was passed to Mark Boucher that South Africa needed 229 by the end of the 46th over, courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis method, to be safe. Boucher smashed Muralitharan for a six to deep mid wicket off the fifth ball and got the score to 229. He believed that the job was done and on the sixth ball, he defended it to mid wicket and did not take the run. With the rain becoming heavier, the umpires took the teams off the field.
However, the mood in the South African camp darkened immediately. The instructions to Boucher were wrong. 229 was the par-score, meaning the score needed for a tie. South Africa needed to take a single off the last ball in order to win and go through. The match ended in a tie and Sri Lanka went through to the super six while South Africa were eliminated. It was the second consecutive time that they had crashed out due to a tied game. This time it was doubly worse because South Africa were hosting the tournament and one of the favorites.
Speaking after the match, South Africa skipper Shaun Pollock said, "You can look at all the ifs and the buts but at the end of the day, it doesn't really help much." On television, former South African batsman Andrew Hudson said, "42 million South Africans are going to go to bed tonight hoping it is a bad dream." However, Frank Duckworth, one of the co-creators of the Duckworth-Lewis method, told the Indian Express that South Africa lost due to its own mistakes. "Both Pollock and Jayasuriya had the same papers with the run-rates. Sanath read it right and Shaun didn't. As far as we are concerned, the rules were agreed upon by all countries before the tournament and no-one complained." The early exit from the World Cup resulted in Pollock getting sacked as the skipper.
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