Published: May 28, 2017, 10:40 AM (IST)
Edited: May 28, 2017, 06:25 PM (IST)
October 5, 2009. Just like England, Australia had showed up late for the tournament due to The Ashes. They were challenged in the league stage, especially by Pakistan. However, once they went past that barrier there was no stopping them. Two comprehensive victories in the semi-final and final gave them an easy title. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at the journey of an unstoppable juggernaut.
Jagmohan Dalmiya’s original idea of having a knockout tournament had been long scrapped, after the first two editions. ICC added four more teams in 2002 (and retained the format in 2004), but that ensured 8 out of 12 one-sided matches were one-sided.
In 2006 there was a preliminary round that eliminated two of the bottom-ranked four sides. For the next edition — in September 2008 at Karachi and Lahore — they decided to go with only the ICC ODI ranking.
However, four countries (England, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) were reluctant to tour Pakistan on security grounds. South Africa eventually backed out on August 22, 2008.
On August 24 ICC announced that the venue would be shifted, though they did not fix on a specific location. They also postponed the tournament till October the following year. Over this period, Sri Lanka, the first choice, was rejected after some deliberation, mostly due to the prevailing monsoon.
South Africa were eventually selected as the venue. Unlike 2004 and 2006, the tournament involved less travel, for the two venues — New Wanderers and SuperSport Park — were separated by about 35 km. Just like in the first three editions, the eight teams all stayed in the same city through the tournament.
It turned out to be an excellent tournament, both in terms of format and organisation. Both finalist captains, among others, echoed the opinion that it was the best edition. Sample this from Ricky Ponting: “It’s been an excellent tournament … This has certainly been the best and most enjoyable Champions Trophy that I’ve played in. To have the best eight teams, over a shorter period of time, people in this country and all over the world have enjoyed the one-day cricket played over the last couple of weeks.”
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Likewise, Daniel Vettori: “This is the best Champions Trophy we’ve had. I’ve said all along that every game has mattered and that is the most important thing. The reason people were getting tired of it was that there were a lot of irrelevant games and that hasn’t happened here.”
Bangladesh, still some time away from their rise, did not make the cut; neither did Zimbabwe, where cricket had taken a headlong plunge into an abyss hitherto unknown. The eight ‘big’ sides were split into two groups, just like the second stage of the 2006 edition. The tournament featured a handful of warm-up games before the main action started.
Group A
West Indies had done better than most teams in the Champions Trophy. In fact, at that point they were the only team to have played three finals (India had played two, and nobody else had featured in more than one).
Unfortunately, dispute with the board meant that they fielded a third-string (not even second) side here. These men were no match for a 17-year-old left-arm bowler who swung them at great speed. Mohammad Aamer picked up 7-1-24-3. Umar Gul joined hands with 8-2-28-3. And a 31-year-old off-spinner called Saeed Ajmal, in the second year of his international career, got 2 for 16.
West Indies had earlier been reduced to 47 for 7. There was some fight from Darren Sammy, but the real blows came from Nikita Miller, who got a 57-ball 51 to take West Indies to 133. Pakistan even had 10 overs to bat before dinner.
Gavin Tonge then bowled the spell of his life. He got them to swing off a length, and bowled the occasional snorter. He had Mohammad Yousuf dropped early before hitting him on the ribs. Tonge finished with 10-3-25-4. Pakistan became 76 for 5 when wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton took his fourth catch to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq, but Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi made sure there was no further problem.
West Indies replaced Tino Best with Kemar Roach in the next match; Roach paid back by yorking Shane Watson with the first ball of the match. Then, as Ponting (79) stood tall, Australia kept losing wickets, and at 171 for 7 it seemed West Indies would come out on top.
Then Mitchell Johnson unleashed a furious onslaught. He was slow off the block, getting a mere 10 off the first 22 balls he fetched. He finished on an unbeaten 73 from 47 balls. This included two consecutive sixes off Sammy; but he reserved the worst for poor David Bernard, whom he hit for 4, 6, 2, 4, 4 off consecutive balls.
Brett Lee gave him company till he was run out. Australia finished on 275 for 8.
West Indies began well. Devon Smith played a quick cameo before Andre Fletcher (54) and Travis Dowlin (55) added 86. At one stage they needed 152 in 153 balls with 9 wickets in hand. Then they collapsed. There were cameos from captain Floyd Reifer and Sammy, but in the end they collapsed for 225. It did not help that opener Dale Richards could not bat after he had dislocated a bone.
However, the clash was somewhat subdued by the fact that India and Pakistan clashed on the same day not too far away. Pakistan never lost momentum during their innings: there were cameos from Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, and Younis Khan at the top before Shoaib Malik (128 in 126 balls) and Yousuf (87 in 88) took control. They added 206 in 188 balls.
Pakistan should have scored more from there, but managed only 24 from the last 4 overs. A lot of this had to do with a fantastic last over from young Ishant Sharma, in which he conceded 2 singles and claimed 2 wickets. Even then, 302 for 9 was quite formidable…
India lost Sachin Tendulkar early: Aamer, having already impressed all and sundry in the previous match, caught the great man in two minds and forced an edge. Then Gautam Gambhir played a gem, heaving Gul into the stands over mid-wicket after dismissing him through cover. There was another four past mid-wicket.
India needed 213 from 218 balls. They had 9 wickets in hand. Everything was under control. Then Rahul Dravid pushed Gul to mid-on. For whatever reason, both men set off and then changed their minds, and Younis threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end to run Gambhir out.
Virat Kohli did not make an impact. MS Dhoni got a life when Kamran Akmal, to almost nobody’s surprise, dropped him. He survived a close leg-before appeal as well, off Afridi, but Simon Taufel ruled him out three balls later.
Suresh Raina gave the charge, smashing 46 in 41, but once he fell after a 72-run stand, India never stood a chance. Dravid was run out for 76 while attempting a third run. India crashed to 248.
Australia lost Watson early against India, but it did not matter: Tim Paine, Ponting, and Michael Hussey all got fifties. They reached 234 for 4 after 42.3 overs. Then it began drizzling. One of the light towers was struck by lightning and had to be switched off.
The match never resumed, which was bad news for India. They now had a solitary point, while Australia were on 3 and Pakistan 4, all of them with exactly one match in hand (having lost both matches, West Indies had already been eliminated). Unfortunately, Australia were to play Pakistan: if they won the match it would result in an exit for India.
Pakistan opened with Kamran and Afridi. For a while it seemed to have worked before James Hopes caught the latter. Kamran battled on for 44, but Watson and Hauritz put a stranglehold in the middle-overs.
Yousuf (45) and Misbah (41) probably delayed the final onslaught despite having wickets in hand. Overs 41 to 46 fetched a mere 34 with two set men at the crease. Then Lee got Yousuf with a short-pitched delivery. Paine dropped Umar Akmal, but even that was offset by the hilarious dismissal of Misbah.
It happened like this: Watson bowled an over-pitched ball well outside off; it was rightly called wide; as was expected, Misbah wanted to leave the ball, and in the process simply walked on to the stumps — just like that. Pakistan finished on 205 for 6; they would certainly had got more had they gone for the big hits earlier.
Watson and Paine took 35 off the first 4 overs. Mohammad Asif, back in the side as replacement for Aamer, was cross-batted by Paine over mid-wicket into the stands. Both men departed, but by then Australia were 59 for 2 in the 12th over.
Roughly at the same time, Praveen Kumar got Fletcher in the first over following a display of swing bowling of the highest order. With the ball moving to an alarming extent, Ashish Nehra got Kieran Powell and Smith in the space of 3 deliveries. Then Praveen got Reifer, and West Indies became 31 for 4.
Unfortunately, with no third seamer, Dhoni had no option but to fall back on Abhishek Nayar and — himself. Dhoni started with two horrible wide long-hops; Dowlin promptly dispatched both for fours, one pulled, one cut. Two balls later Dhoni had Dowlin chopping one on to the stumps.
Meanwhile, Ponting and Hussey continued serenely at Centurion, determined to knock India out of the contest. At one stage they needed a mere 66 in 112 balls with 8 wickets in hand. It could not get easier than that.
Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra made sure there were no easy runs. Bernard and Sammy, the two set men, both fell before West Indies reached 100.
Things had, meanwhile, taken a serious turn at Centurion: Ponting had perished while attempting an ugly slog-sweep; Ajmal bowled Callum Ferguson through the gate; Hussey was cleaned by a brilliant yorker from Naved-ul-Hasan; Asif, after being thrashed around in his initial overs, came back to have Hopes caught at mid-off and uprooted the off-stump with a perfectly pitched off-cutter to send Cameron White back; and Johnson fell to a straight, fast, deceptive ball from Ajmal.
All of a sudden Australia had only 2 wickets in hand. They needed 19. They had 25 balls in hand. Lee and Hauritz were at the crease. Peter Siddle was No. 11.
India, on the other hand, made sure they did their bit. West Indies were bowled out for 129 way before dinner, both seamers taking 3 wickets apiece. And as the players left for the 10-minute break, Lee and Hauritz continued…
Naved bowled a maiden to Hauritz. Every single ball was on the spot, either a yorker or a low full-toss or in the channel outside off. Australia needed 18 from 18.
Lee then shed off inhibitions and drove Ajmal past mid-off for four. These were crucial runs, but Ajmal came back well, leaving them to score 10 from 12.
As Roach was in the process of bowling a maiden to Dinesh Karthik, Hauritz on-drove Naved to the mid-wicket fence. But just like Ajmal, Naved came back well: Australia needed a mere 4 from the last over.
They were on 3 points. Pakistan were on 4. India had 1. That meant that even a tie would knock India out…
As Gambhir pushed Tonge for a single, Gul bowled a yorker that Lee just about kept out. The next ball was another yorker, but an inside edge resulted in a single. 3 from 4.
Hauritz then blocked the third ball and pushed the fourth for a single. 2 from 2.
A single by Lee off the fifth ball saw them through — for a tie was all they needed. Hauritz went for (and missed) a hoick off the last ball, Lee charged in for the bye. He should have been run out, but he was not.
Kamran was keeping wickets, you see.
The Indian innings was a mere 2 overs old when they learnt that they had been knocked out. They lost Gambhir and Dravid early, but Karthik dug in while that teenager called Kohli eased into the situation. He remained not out on 79 as India steered home in the 33rd over.
Group B
England’s late arrival meant that someone had to play the first two matches in Group B. Perhaps to live up to their reputation as gracious hosts, South Africa obliged.
The Sri Lanka match was not a good outing for them. But then, you could hardly blame them. Dale Steyn got Sanath Jayasuriya early, but Kumar Sangakkara got 54. Tillakaratne Dilshan raced to a 92-ball 106 before getting out in the 30th over. And Mahela Jayawardene carved out a 61-ball 77 without anyone realising. Sri Lanka piled up 319 for 8.
Sangakkara removed Lasith Malinga after one over with immediate results: Angelo Mathews sent Hashim Amla’s leg-stump cartwheeling. Graeme Smith batted gamely for his 44-ball 58 before he was bowled by Ajantha Mendis’ first ball: yes, the carrom ball.
Mendis was soon on a hat-trick after getting Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy off consecutive balls and had Mark Boucher dropped by Mahela — all this with his first 25 balls.
The cameos down the order did not help South Africa. When rain stopped play after 37.4 overs they were 206 for 7, 55 behind the Duckworth-Lewis par score. Mendis still had 3 overs left.
South Africa had to take out the anger on someone. Thus, when New Zealand crossed their way, they were bowled out for 214 inside 48 overs. Kallis were almost impossible to get away. Steyn bowled with fire to clean up the tail. Roelof van der Merwe bowled intelligently to slow down New Zealand in the middle overs. And Wayne Parnell stole the show with 5 for 57.
New Zealand fought hard. They got Smith early. Kallis looked like taking the match away before Shane Bond got him for a 39-ball 36. They even got Amla and Duminy, but AB de Villiers stood firm with an unbeaten 76-ball 70. With Boucher coming to his aid and Albie Morkel providing the finishing blows, South Africa won with almost 9 overs to spare, boosting their net run rate.
Sri Lanka were reduced to 17 for 4 the next day by James Anderson and Graham Onions. With the big guns all gone, the Thilina Kandamby (53) — so reminiscent of Arjuna Ranatunga at the crease — added 82 with Thilan Samaraweera (30) and another 82 with Mathews (52). Unfortunately, Stuart Broad’s two-in-two restricted them to 212.
Nuwan Kulasekara then rose to the challenge, removing Joe Denly and Andrew Strauss by 19. But Owais Shah (44) and Paul Collingwood (46) crushed the Lankan hopes before Eoin Morgan (62*) and Matt Prior (28* in 27 balls) sealed the match.
New Zealand now had to win their match against Sri Lanka. They did that comfortably. It began with Sangakkara dropping a bombshell at the toss: “We have left Murali out; it’s unfortunate that the best bowler in the world has to sit out, but he is the first guy who came up and said ‘I don’t think I should play here’. We are very lucky to have people like him.”
It is not every day that Brendon McCullum is overshadowed during a moderate score (46), but then, Jesse Ryder is not your usual man. Ryder brought up his fifty in 28 balls, and by the time he fell for a 58-ball 74 he had left McCullum far behind, on 44.
Then Martin Guptill joined in the fun with 66; Daniel Vettori biffed a 44-ball 48; and James Franklin played a breezy cameo. Only Jayasuriya escaped unscathed, with figures of 3 for 39, as New Zealand piled up 315 for 7.
Would Murali have made a difference? We will never know.
For a while it seemed Sri Lanka would pull it off, especially after Dilshan and Jayasuriya added 66 in 47 balls. Kyle Mills gave away 10 in his first over. Bond went for 17 in his first. Mahela scored a beautiful 85-ball 77, but nobody else lasted, and every wicket resulted in the inevitable string of dots that led to an increase in the asking rate.
Some brave strokeplay from Kulasekara (57* in 56) brought the target down to 77 from 55 balls, but by then Mahela had fallen. Thilan Thushara and Malinga hit a six each, but the target was too steep. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 277.
England now had to play both matches. Once again the middle-order rose to the challenge, taking them to 323 for 8: Shah (98 in 89) and Collingwood (82 in 94) both got runs, but it was really Morgan’s 34-ball 67 that made the difference.
Morgan started with a reverse-swept four off van der Merwe. Then he went a step ahead, this time with an even more outrageous reverse-sweep off Johan Botha — this time for six. He followed a flurry of fours with a hooked six off Steyn. When Parnell tried to cramp him for space, he moved away towards leg, made room, and hit him straight for six. He reached his fifty in 26 balls, celebrated it with 2 more sixes, and finally fell to a terrific catch by Smith.
The chase turned out to be a duel between Smith and the English seamers. The runs came, but so did the wickets, and none of his teammates crossed 36 as Anderson and Broad kept chipping away at the wickets.
Then, with only one way to go for it, Smith finally holed out to mid-on and walked back amidst a standing ovation. His 141 had come off 134 balls, and was more than half of South Africa’s 274 for 9. Parnell and Steyn batted out till the end.
With 2 points from 3 matches, South Africa had been knocked out. Sri Lanka were also on 2 from 3, but they were ahead (of both South Africa and New Zealand) on net run rate.
With 4 from 2 matches, England had already made it. New Zealand, with 2 from 2, could still make it — but they needed at least 1 point.
As things turned out, they need not have worried. Their fast bowlers were so good that Vettori had to bowl only 7 balls — that too to break the pesky last-wicket stand. Only Collingwood (40) and Ravi Bopara (30) did anything of note after England were reduced to 13 for 3. Bond took 3 for 21, but the surprise package was certainly the medium pace of Grant Elliott, who ended the England fight with 4 for 31. England were bowled out for 146.
McCullum (48 in 39) and Guptill (53 in 55) then eradicated whatever chance England had left in the match. However, there was a mini-collapse from 113 for 1 as Broad kept taking wickets: England eventually lost by 4 wickets after Broad took 4 for 39.
Not only did New Zealand qualify, their emphatic win also meant that they topped the group. This meant doomsday for England, who now had to face Australia: there was no way Australia would relent after their Ashes defeat that summer…
The semi-finals
The first semi-final started on expected lines. England probably erred by bringing in Sean Davies despite Morgan’s competent performance with the big gloves. The bowling attack was considerably weakened as well, with the injured Broad and Ryan Sidebottom making way for Tim Bresnan and Onions.
Not that it mattered: Strauss came out with an aggressive mood, cut Lee for four, top-edged Siddle for six, and was caught to square-leg — all that within 2 overs.
Shah fell for a duck. Denly and Collingwood added 55 before the collapse began, leaving England in tatters at 101 for 6. Luke Wright, the last recognised batsman, scored an uncharacteristically subdued 48. He had his reasons, for Bresnan — of all people — had cut loose at the other end.
Only one of Bresnan’s 11 fours was an edge. Of course, he slashed two consecutive balls for fours in the slog overs, but only after the slips had been taken away. He finally fell for a 76-ball 80; England recovered to 257.
Special mention must be made of Paine. He had an amazing day behind the stumps. There was not a single bye. He took 5 catches. While 3 of them were regulation wickets, the others were not: he flung himself to his left to catch Shah, and when the ball threatened to soar over him at Johnson’s pace as Collingwood top-edged one, he leapt in the air to take it one-handed. He also gathered the throw well, finishing off 2 run outs.
Had Paine played a decent knock he would have been a certain contender for Man of the Match. He fell in the second over after a delay in start caused by a swarm of flying ants. That was the only moment of joy for England, for Watson (136* in 132 balls) and Ponting (111* in 115) took care of the rest.
Pakistan had a better start. Nazir and Kamran added 48 before they became 86 for 4. Then Yousuf (45) and Umar Akmal (55) played sensibly, adding 80 crucial runs for the fifth wicket.
At this stage they had 11 overs left. Unfortunately, they tried to take risks too early: Umar Akmal fell attempting a paddle-sweep; Afridi guided a straight ball to the wicketkeeper; and by the time both Gul and Naved had perished to needless slogs, Pakistan found themselves at 198 for 9. They had not even batted 45 overs.
The onus fell on No. 10 Aamer and No. 11 Ajmal, a little less than twice Aamer’s age. Aamer found the boundary twice off consecutive balls from Bond, past extra-cover and cover; both shots stayed on the ground. He followed with another off Mills. Ajmal responded with a flick and a leg-glance, both for fours. They eventually finished on 233 for 9.
McCullum started with an astonishing cross-batted heave into the stands off Aamer’s second ball. Aamer had his revenge when McCullum chased one way outside off and mistimed. Guptill pulled Naved for six, but when he tried an encore off Gul he ended up playing straight to Naved at mid-on.
Ajmal struck soon, getting a resilient Aaron Redmond caught and bowled off a doosra. Pakistan still had a chance when Afridi bowled Ross Taylor. At that stage New Zealand needed 108 from 121 balls: a couple of wickets might have pushed them back.
Perhaps in anticipation, Vettori promoted himself. The experience came in handy. He focused on rotating the strike with Elliott. By the time he fell for a 42-ball 41, New Zealand were on the brink of victory. Elliott (75*) saw them through.
The final
Both sides were on the verge of creating history, for whoever won the match would have become the first side to win the tournament twice. Unfortunately, even the third (and most crucial) knockout match turned out to be a one-sided affair.
The tone was set in Lee’s first over, when he beat McCullum thrice. McCullum, unable to put bat to ball even once in that over (he had a leg-bye off the last ball), was forced to concede another maiden to Siddle. Almost predictably, he slashed at Siddle and edged to Paine.
Lee and Siddle proved to be almost impossible to score off. The first 9 overs yielded a mere 18. There were a few desperate shots when they were replaced by Johnson and Watson, but a run rate below 4 did not help New Zealand’s cause. So, when Hauritz came on, Redmond gave him the charge, Hauritz pushed it wide, and Redmond was stumped by — guess who?
Taylor’s arrival did not improve things. Guptill, in pursuit of runs, hit one back to Hauritz. Taylor was caught at point. Elliott fell to a yorker from Lee.
And even after all that, the run rate still remained under 4.
Neil Broom (37) and Franklin (33) hung on grimly but failed to get the scoreboard moving. They added 65, but that took them 85 balls — certainly not the pace you need when the team was going at under 4 when you started.
Broom finally opened up in the 41st over, lofting Watson for fours over long-on and long-off. Then a misunderstanding led to his run out. Franklin, whose strike rate of 77 looked Afridi-esque given New Zealand’s run rate, left after being yorked by Lee.
Then, in the 43rd over, the unthinkable happened: when Ian Butler pulled Watson for four, the run rate went past 4 for the first time in the match. Unfortunately, a good over from Hauritz (2 runs and a wicket) once again restored things to normalcy.
Patel cut the last ball of the innings, from Lee, for four to bring up New Zealand’s 200. After hours of flirting with the 4-mark, they finally caught up.
All five Australian bowlers bowled their full quotas. Three of them — Siddle, Johnson, and Hauritz — went for under 3.70 an over.
Bond and Mills rocked Australia early in response, sending back Paine and Ponting inside the first 14 balls. Unfortunately, Watson (129*) and White (62) sealed the match with a 128-run third-wicket stand. Hussey fell cheaply, but Hopes ended things quickly by the 46th over.
Australia — and Ponting — lifted the trophy for the second time. The top two scorers in the tournament, Ponting and Watson, were both Australians. They were electric in the field. And their five main bowlers all went for 4.62 or less.
It was as ruthless, as clinical, as comprehensive a win Champions Trophy had seen.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 200 for 9 in 50 overs (Martin Guptill 40; Nathan Hauritz 3 for 37) lost to Australia 206 for 4 in 45.2 overs (Shane Watson 105*, Cameron White 62; Kyle Mills 3 for 27) by 6 wickets with 28 balls to spare.
Man of the Match: Shane Watson.
Man of the Series: Ricky Ponting.
