Australia in South Africa, 5th ODI, 2006

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The 5th One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Australia, played on March 12, 2006 at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, has been acclaimed by many media commentators as being one of the greatest One Day International matches ever played. The match broke many cricket records, including both the first and the second team innings score of over 400 runs. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored 434 for 4 off their 50 overs, smashing the previous record of 398-5 by Sri Lanka against Kenya in 1996. In reply, South Africa scored 438-9, winning by one wicket with one ball to spare.

Contents 1 Background 2 The match 3 Reaction 4 Scorecard 4.1 Records 4.1.1 Team 4.1.2 Overall 4.1.3 Individual 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Background

For some years, there had been an intense rivalry between Australia and South Africa in One-Day Internationals, dating from the semi-final of the 1999 Cricket World Cup, where South Africa could only tie against Australia in a match they needed to win to progress to the final. Some followers of cricket considered that to be the greatest game of all time.^[1][2] Earlier in the 2005–06 season, South Africa toured Australia, where they failed to reach the final of the three-team one-day series, including losing three of their four matches against Australia. They also lost the three Test series 2-0. It was also of constant irritation to the South Africans that the Australians were referring to them as 'chokers'.

This match was the final match of a five-match series in South Africa. South Africa won the first two matches comfortably, but Australia fought back to win the next two, making this the deciding match. Australia had to play the series without their best one-day bowler, Glenn McGrath, whose wife was suffering from cancer. The South African team also missed their best one-day bowler, Shaun Pollock, in the final match due to a back strain.

[edit] The match

Australian captain Ricky Ponting chose to bat after winning the toss. Adam Gilchrist and Simon Katich got the side off to a good start, both scoring fifties. A difficult catch by Andrew Hall diving to his left removed Gilchrist in the 16th over while the partnership was on 97. Ponting then scored his fastest century with 100 off 73 balls, and went on to his highest score at the Wanderers ground with 164 from 105 balls, including 9 sixes and 13 fours. Ponting and Katich put on 139 runs for the second wicket, before Katich was caught at third man by Roger Telemachus off Makhaya Ntini. Michael Hussey was promoted up the order and made 81. Ponting was dismissed after his drive shot was caught by Boeta Dippenaar in the 48th over. By the end of the innings, South Africa were under pressure with Telemachus beginning the 49th over with four consecutive no-balls. Australia made 40 runs off its last two overs;^[3] Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee helping the side past the world record with 27 and 9 runs respectively and Australia became the first side to ever score 400 runs in a One Day International.

News sites reported how Australia just smashed the world record.^[4][5][6][7]

With the series at two all, South Africa went out batting, giving it their all, requiring 8.7 runs per over from the start. The early loss of Boeta Dippenaar for 1 made the South African run chase seem more difficult. Herschelle Gibbs batted at number 3 and reached his 16th ODI hundred in 79 balls, beating his own South African record for the fastest score of a hundred that had previously been off 84 balls against Zimbabwe.^[8] Gibbs scored the second highest total by a South African with 175 off 111 balls. He and Graeme Smith had a 187 run partnership, bringing the South Africans back into the game. When Smith was out for 90, Gibbs shared another strong partnership, this time with AB de Villiers. Australia kept the pressure on after Gibbs' dismissal with consistent wickets, but big hitting by Johannes van der Wath and Mark Boucher kept the Proteas in the hunt. Nathan Bracken, in contrasting fashion to the rest of the match, bowled particularly well collecting 5 wickets and keeping his economy a respectable 6.7. By the final over of the match, South Africa needed 7 runs off 6 balls, with Boucher on strike. He pushed a single, giving the strike to Andrew Hall who hit a four, leaving 2 required off four balls. However he was out caught attempting to repeat the shot, leaving the side at 433-9. Ntini, the number 11 batsman, managed to get the bowler, Brett Lee, away for a single to third man and tie the scores. Boucher then hit a four the next ball (getting his 19th fifty in ODI cricket), with commentator Tony Greig exclaiming "one of the great one day matches of all time".

Both Ponting and Gibbs were awarded the Man of the Match, but Ponting declined it, saying that it belonged to Gibbs.^[9] Shaun Pollock was named Man of the Series, although he was resting for a back injury during this game.

[edit] Reaction

The huge score led Steve Waugh to say that 500 in an innings is the next possibility. Others have said that scores like this are bad for the sport, with Barry Richards saying There is such a propensity for hitting boundaries that bowlers have been taken out of game. This was said despite Nathan Bracken picking up career best bowling figures.

Cricinfo's headline for the match was South Africa win the greatest game, while The Sydney Morning Herald called the match The greatest the world has seen;^[10] The Advertiser called it the Greatest of all time;^[11] The Age The best one dayer;^[12] iafrica called it The greatest match ever^[13] and IOL the greatest match ever played.^[14]

[edit] Scorecard

Australia innings
Batsman	Method of dismissal		Runs	Balls	4s	6s
+A. C. Gilchrist	c Hall	b Telemachus	65	44	9	0
S. M. Katich	c Telemachus	b Ntini	79	90	9	1
* R Ponting	c Dippenaar	b Telemachus	164	105	13	9
M. E. K. Hussey	c Ntini	b Hall	81	51	9	3
A. Symonds	not out		27	13	3	1
B. Lee	not out		9	7	0	0
Did not bat: D. R. Martyn, M. J. Clarke, N. W. Bracken, S. R. Clark, M. L. Lewis
Fall of wickets: 1–97 (Gilchrist, 15.2 ov), 2–216 (Katich, 30.3 ov), 3–374 (Hussey, 46.1 ov), 4–407 (Ponting, 47.4 ov)
Extras	(lb 4, w 5, nb 10)		19
Total	(for 4 wickets, 50 overs)		434

South Africa bowling statistics
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
M. Ntini	9	0	80	1
A. J. Hall	10	0	80	1
J. J. van der Wath	10	0	76	0
R. Telemachus	10	1	87	2
G. C. Smith	4	0	29	0
J. H. Kallis	6	0	70	0
J. M. Kemp	1	0	8	0

South Africa innings
Batsman	Method of dismissal		Runs	Balls	4s	6s
*G. C. Smith	c Hussey	b Clarke	90	55	13	2
H. H. Dippenaar		b Bracken	1	7	0	0
HH Gibbs	c Lee	b Symonds	175	111	21	7
A. B. de Villiers	c Clarke	b Bracken	14	20	1	0
J. H. Kallis		c & b Symonds	20	21	1	0
+M. V. Boucher	not out		50	43	4	0
J. M. Kemp	c Martyn	b Bracken	13	17	1	0
J. J. van der Wath	c Ponting	b Bracken	35	18	1	3
R. Telemachus	c Hussey	b Bracken	12	6	2	0
A. J. Hall	c Clarke	b Lee	7	4	1	0
M. Ntini	not out		1	1	0	0
Fall of wickets: 1–3 (Dippenaar, 1.2 ov), 2–190 (Smith, 22.1 ov), 3–284 (De Villiers, 30.5 ov), 4–299 (Gibbs, 31.5 ov), 5–327 (Kallis, 37.4 ov), 6–355 (Kemp, 42.1 ov), 7–399 (Van der Wath, 46.3 ov), 8–423 (Telemachus, 48.2 ov), 9–433 (Hall, 49.3 ov)
Extras	(b 4, lb 8, w 4, nb 4)		20
Total	(for 9 wickets, 49.5 overs)		438

Australia bowling statistics
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
B. Lee	7.5	0	68	1
N. W. Bracken	10	0	67	5
S. R. Clark	6	0	54	0
M. L. Lewis	10	0	113	0
A. C. Symonds	9	0	75	2
M. J. Clarke	7	0	49	1

[edit] Records

[edit] Team

• Second highest total in an ODI (highest at the time): 438-9.(Sri Lanka scored 443-9 against the Netherlands four months later)
• Third highest total in an ODI (also the highest at the time): 434-4.
• Highest successful run chase in an ODI: 438 runs

[edit] Overall

• Highest aggregate runs in a match: 872, beating the previous record of 693 ( India v Pakistan in 2004).
• Most sixes in a match: 26, later equalled by New Zealand v Australia, 3rd ODI, Hamilton, New Zealand, February, 2007.
• Most fours in a match: 88.

[edit] Individual

• Herschelle Gibbs's 174 is the tenth-highest individual score in ODIs and the second-highest by a South African.
• Gibbs's innings is the third fastest in terms of strike rate for scores above 130, while Ponting's is the fourth fastest.
• Ponting hit the second fastest 150 off 99 balls (one fewer than Gibbs's 150 off 100 balls). This record was surpassed by Sanath Jayasuriya's 95 ball 150 against England in July 2006.ODI 2389
• Mick Lewis became the most expensive bowler in the history of ODI cricket for a single match, becoming the first bowler to have over 100 runs hit off his 10 overs. He ended with 0-113.

[edit] See also

• Australian cricket team in South Africa in 2005-06

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Australian, One-day records smashed
• cricinfo match home