Australia keep their nerve, even as South Africa lose theirs

Incredible finale for the greatest game

Peter English

South Africa blow it after Klusener blitz

Background

A dramatic finale for the greatest one-day game ever © Getty Images

The semi-final had turned more times than an insomniac before the last over of an addictive contest. Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald fired to restrict Australia to 213 and Steve Waugh's side was in serious danger of being overhauled easily before Shane Warne conjured 4 for 29. However, Lance Klusener swung mightily - too strongly for the deep mid-on Paul Reiffel, who dropped his 49th-over bullet and parried it for six - and South Africa wanted 9 from half a dozen balls. Klusener had only Donald for company.

Moment

Australia's plans for Klusener centred on yorkers about 30cm outside off stump, but despite being a dominant legside player he had no trouble blasting Damien Fleming's first two efforts for boundaries to tie the scores. Fleming's next ball was squirted to Darren Lehmann and Donald raced for the winning run before turning back; Lehmann had a short-distance under-arm but missed the stumps by what seemed like miles. Australia sensed the game was lost. Three balls left, one run for South Africa to win.

Player view - Damien Fleming

"After Lehmann's miss the batsmen didn't chat and a few guys said Klusener was asking the umpire what the score was. The scores were tied and the pressure seemed to be back on the batsmen. The final ball was the perfect yorker, Klusener mishit it and I sensed he was running, but Donald stayed. Fortunately the ball went to Mark Waugh, who was running in from mid-off, and he flicked it back to me. I did a slow underarm down the pitch and Adam Gilchrist waited and waited."

What happened next

Donald had dropped his bat in the mix-up and was well short when Gilchrist knocked off the bails to generate wild Australian celebrations. The result was a tie, but Australia went through to the final due to a superior run-rate at the end of the Super Six stage. Even Steve Waugh managed to feel a bit sorry for South Africa.

Peter English is the Australasian editor of Cricinfo

© Cricinfo

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Matches

Australia v South Africa at Birmingham

Players/Umpires

Allan Donald

Damien Fleming

Lance Klusener

Series/Tournaments

ICC World Cup