1996
Nobody gave Sri Lanka a chance before the World Cup - they were 100-1 outsiders - but their fairytale victory was completed with a comprehensive defeat of Australia in the final in Lahore today. No true sporting underdog has ever won a major tournament with such relentless conviction. After demolishing England and India in the quarter- and semi-finals, Sri Lanka brushed Australia aside with ease. Aravinda de Silva made a wonderfully pure 107 not out, to add to three wickets, two catches, and one of the more inevitable Man-of-the-Match awards, and Arjuna Ranatunga glided the winning runs with 22 balls and seven wickets to spare.
Nobody gave Sri Lanka a chance before the World Cup - they were 100-1 outsiders - but their fairytale victory was completed with a comprehensive defeat of Australia in the final in Lahore today. No true sporting underdog has ever won a major tournament with such relentless conviction. After demolishing England and India in the quarter- and semi-finals, Sri Lanka brushed Australia aside with ease. Aravinda de Silva made a wonderfully pure 107 not out, to add to three wickets, two catches, and one of the more inevitable Man-of-the-Match awards, and Arjuna Ranatunga glided the winning runs with 22 balls and seven wickets to spare.
1987
If Australia must have felt bad, spare a thought for India. On this day they lost the fifth and final Test inBangalore, and with it a home series against Pakistan for the first time. It was also Pakistan's first Test win in India for 35 years, and ended a frightening run of 11 draws in a row between the two sides. There were just 16 runs in it: India needed 221 on a pitch turning square, and despite a regal display from Sunil Gavaskar, who made 96 in his last Test innings (the next-highest score was extras, with 27), Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed sealed the deal. It was a sad way to end for Gavaskar, but at least he went out with all sorts of records, including most Tests (125),most runs (10,122), and most centuries (34).
If Australia must have felt bad, spare a thought for India. On this day they lost the fifth and final Test inBangalore, and with it a home series against Pakistan for the first time. It was also Pakistan's first Test win in India for 35 years, and ended a frightening run of 11 draws in a row between the two sides. There were just 16 runs in it: India needed 221 on a pitch turning square, and despite a regal display from Sunil Gavaskar, who made 96 in his last Test innings (the next-highest score was extras, with 27), Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed sealed the deal. It was a sad way to end for Gavaskar, but at least he went out with all sorts of records, including most Tests (125),most runs (10,122), and most centuries (34).
In 1962 Indian cricket captain Nari Contractor fractured his skull when ducking into a short ball from West Indian speedster Charlie Griffith during India’s tour match against Barbados. He underwent an emergency operation and played no further international cricket. Frank Worrell, Polly Umrigar, Bapu Nadkarni, Chandu Borde and journalist K.N. Prabhu all donated blood.
In 2007 Andrew Flintoff was caught drinking in the early hours the day before England’s World Cup game against Canada; the next day he was stripped of the vice-captaincy. On the same day Ireland beat Pakistan, eliminating them from the World Cup after only five days and Bangladesh beat India, putting a question-mark over their further progress in the tournament.
In 2008 Bill Brown, Australia's oldest living Test cricketer, died at the age of 95. He played 22 Tests, scoring 1592 runs at 46.82.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If You like this post then share your comments: