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Published: April 28th 2007
Happy Birthday!
What a way to turn 27!Last October, I was totally bumbed about the prospect of watching the final of the World Cup on my birthday from some bar in Jamaica. Even worse, watching a team other than Australia in the Semi Finals coz we couldn´t get tickets to the Semi they were more than likely going to play in.
Thank goodness we stumbled upon the cruise ship over to St Lucia. The problem, as we found out upon arrival in the Caribbean, was not getting tickets for the matches, it was getting to and from the islands that were hosting them. Never mind the fact that we applied during the initial ticket allocation for Semi 1 and Final tickets and didnt get them. We got hold of the tickets and found out a way to get to the matches, so Jamaica - shove off!!
We woke up early this morning and had our second last buffet English breakfast on board the cruise ship, Carival Destiny. The sky was reasonably clear, over cast maybe but definitely nothing to worry the start of play. Bec was going to try and meet up with some old family friends so we covered
Bec and her boys
Watching the warm up - before the rain started... the short walk from the harbour to the ground and were seated by 8:15am. The seats were awesome, the row in front of the corporate boxes in the new Grenich Haines Stand, square of the wicket to the south. We had a fanatastic view of thousands of gold jerseys grouped together in the opposite North stand.
At 8:30, as the Aussies´warm up was getting into full swing the rain came. Drizzle really at first, but then turning to a shower. It stopped breifly for the toss that Ricky won and bravely chose to bat in conditions that should have suited the Lankan swing bowlers. Then came more showers. It stayed that way until 12pm. Delayed by 2 and a half hours, the sun finally came out and the Aussies took the field for a reduced overs game of 38 a side and a ten minute lunch.
Haydos the dominator for the tournament looked scratchy. Gilly looked tentative for the first four overs. Then BANG!! Gilly exploded for 149 runs off just over a hundred balls. When he was on 100, Haydos was on 38! Sixes and fours were flying everywhere. The bowlers had nothing. One six over midwicket
Rain rain go away
We waited 2 and 1/2 hours before play started came to within a few feet of landing on the roof of our stand. It ended up smashing into the railing of our teer about five rows away!
We new we had the game pretty much won but a short of ten minutes and Sri Lanka came out to bat. In between overs, Billy Bowden was scampering out to give bananas and sandwiches to the famished field umpire. At around 15 overs, the light started to go. Only ever so slightly but it was waning. The sun was setting behind our stand and with all the rain couds around, not much light was illuminating Bridgetown.
Sri Lanka were giving it a real go. Chasing 289, and having lost an early wicket, they were scoring at about a run a ball, maybe a bit more. They never got ahead of the old Duckworth Lewis Par score though. As the arvo continued to play out, so did the light. More showers came. The Lankans would have went off but they didnt want to in case they couldnt come back on and thus concede the World Cup. After 20 overs, the match was legal, meaning that both sides had batted the
Sucking out the water
Keeping the groundstaff very busy minimum 20 overs and could win under the D/L method if required.
Darker and darker it got. Watching the TV reply later, we were shocked at how well the TV cameras can enhance the light. To the naked eye, the batsman and fielders were getting harder and harder to see. The ball? Forget it. Wickets continued to fall and Aussies new they had it in the bag, but still the Sri Lankans played on. Darker and darker.
I said at the time it was just liked when we were kids and playing cricket out in the street in summer. You just wanted to keep playing coz if you stopped it meant you had to go inside for the night. Well the Sri Lankans, didn´t want to go home. Finally, with 3 overs left and no hope of winning, after flayling wildly at Glenn McGrath and Shaun Tait, Malinga and Vaas approached the umpires and it appeared they took bag light. We couldn´t really see that well coz it was pretty much dark, but the yellow patches on the field suddenly broke into a celebratory dance. The Aussies in the crowd went nuts. We went nuts.
The scored
The trophy
Captains ready for the toss flashed congratulatory messages. Equipment began to be moved out onto the field for the ceremony. Field markers were collected. Then after about five minutes it all went back into reverse. Off went the lights. Back went the equipment. The dark blue and yellow went back into orthodox cricketing positions and started playing again. Confusion reined. We had no idea. Turns out the umps got it completely wrong and thought that the game would have to be completed the next day.
Watching the TV replay of the match later, you could actually hear Ricky and Mahela telling the umpires that because each side had batted at leat 20 overs, the Aussies won on Duckworth Lewis. The umps disagreed and so they had to play in pretty much pitch black dark. The only person who knew where the ball was was the bowler. Non the less, both teams played it out and the Aussies went down in history as the only team to have won the World Cup Final twice in a day.
A 27th birthday to remember. A magnificent victory, but a totally avoidable and farcical end that took away from Australia´s total dominance of all opposition for the
tournament, Gilchrist´s fastest Final 100 and highest final score, and finally Glenn McGrath and John Buchanan´s send off.
Enjoy the pics, if you can even SEE the players in the DARKNESS.
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mum and dad Taylor
non-member comment
Cup final
Your little bro set up camp on the couch to watch the final at 11.30pm but only got to see the 1st innings! I woke him at 8.15am the next morning to see the" last" 2 overs but he just couldn't cope! Told him the about the controversity when he resurfaced at 12.00! Certainly was a finish to remember for all concerned! What a happy birthday for Doug!