South African Cricket’s Greatest Day!

I just wanted to record this on my blog. Even if a million other people write about this, I want to be able to look through my blog one day and remember this feeling.

South Africa have just humbled the mighty Aussies in a truly unbelievable way. I remember switching on the TV this morning to see that the Aussies were 280/2 after 37 overs!! I thought to myself that we are going to get seriously beaten today.

When the Aussie score ended on 434 (yes you read it right!), a world record by 36 runs, I knew we were going to be embarrassed.

But Graeme Smith & Co kept their heads (although just barely!) to reach 438 with 1 ball and 1 wicket to spare. My nerves were shattered. On air the battle hardened commentators’ voices got wobbly from emotion. They and all the “live” cricket websites from all the corners of the globe are calling this the “greatest One Day International ever”.

Ironically South Africa and Australia drew the previous “greatest One Day International ever” in 1999 but ultimately we “lost” because we had to win to reach the final. I’ll tell you that on that day it hurt like hell. I can honestly say that after the 1999 match I was so upset that I generally lost interest in cricket. No more though! What happened here today has wiped out those bad memories.

Another irony is Gibb’s role in both matches. He scored 100s in both matches, but in 1999 he dropped a catch through absolute folly. Today though by batting 175 from 111 balls he must have silenced those nightmares forever. Stuff like this happens once in a lifetime. He is actually lucky to have had this opportunity.

To the Aussies: I think they were gracious in defeat – as real sportsmen are. I can only tell them that we know how it feels. They can take away from this match that they were involved in something historical and that they behaved like gentlemen.

To me this was without question the Greatest ODI in history and I aim to read this post many times in the future!