Many reasons have been given for why we like sport so much. Tribalism. Throwbacks to our fight-or-flight reflexes. Vicariously living through the talents of others. Freudian reactions to balls and big bats and sticks. Beer.
But what causes some sporting moments to become not merely great, but forever etched in our memories?
My deeply unfashionable Australian football team, North Melbourne won two premierships in the 90s under arguably the greatest player to ever play the game and a man with very Crassy nickname, Wayne “The Duck” Carey. It would be easy to name one of those grand finals. Or an Australian Olympic triumph. Or, in soccer, one of Arsenal’s great victories. Were I a bit more egotistical, I could say the sporting memory that matters most to me is one of my own local successes, in soccer or fencing.
Instead, my favourite sporting memory is not even a victory. It is however the greatest cricket match I have ever had the luck to watch from end to end. It had national pride on the line. It had the element of staying up, with my Dad, until 4am. It had heroics and drama, tragedy and comedy, agony and ecstacy.
It was the 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Final between Australia v South Africa, the mere mention of which has been proven to send South Africans stark raving mad (with apologies to our South African readership, if we have one).
Australia, starting the World Cup as favourites, wobbled and lost their first couple of games. Needing to win every game thereafter to make the semi-final, they did so… facing 2nd favourite South Africa in the last game of the group stage and winning, but not before Herschel Gibbs of South Africa dropped a catch which would have put star Australian batsman Steve Waugh out and left Australia on the ropes. Steve Waugh, legendary for his trash-talking (or “sledging”) visibly said something to Gibbs- popularly believed to be “You just dropped the World Cup”- and went on to the be the game’s high scorer, guiding Australia to victory. Australia and South Africa would meet again 4 days later in the semi-final in Birmingham, England.
Australia, batting first, scored 213. By comparison, 4 days earlier, South Africa had scored 271 and Australia successfully chased it down. Only tough innings from Waugh and Michael Bevan had let Australia clear 200. The consensus, both in our living room and around the world, was that South Africa would probably win, and Australia would have blown a second World Cup in a row despite dominating world cricket for 10 years.
The world’s greatest bowler, Shane Warne, was not having a bar of it. He dismissed three of the South African batsmen single-handedly, giving away very few runs in the process, and suddenly Australia looked to have one hand on the cup.
South African batsmen Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes steadied, scoring nearly 100 between them, and once again Australia’s dream looked done, before Warne got his 4th out (Kallis). South Africa collapsed and appeared to once again be finished, but Lance Klusener was not having a bar of that.
Klusener’s big hitting had been one of the features of the tournament (and won him the tournament MVP prize) and in a sport where averaging one run per ball is fast scoring, Klusener struck 31 off a mere 16 balls while his teammates fell around him. With 6 balls remaining, South Africa needed 9 runs with Klusener in full flight… but Australia needed only one more out.
Klusener struck 4 off the first ball of the 6. South Africa now only needed 5 runs from 5 balls The groan could be heard around Australia, which is a good trick at 4am.
Klusener struck 4 more off the next ball, levelling the scores with 4 balls to go. The game, it seemed, was over.
On the 3rd ball, high drama as Klusener hit the ball directly to a fieldsman. Cricket doesn’t have a hit-and-run rule, so Klusener didn’t run, but his partner Allan Donald at the other end started to run before realising his mistake and turning back… but the throw which would have run him out went wide by inches. It seemed to everyone watching that that must have been Australia’s last chance.
But of course, there was one more twist in the tale.
The events of the 4th ball must be seen to be believed. (the video below shows Klusener’s two crunch 4s before that final play)
Scared from the previous near-miss, Donald didn’t run, but nervous from the previous near-miss, Klusener did, forcing Donald to run too… but too late. This time, Australia made no mistake.
I screamed loud enough not only to wake my mother, but probably loud enough to wake the neighbourhood. Serves them right for not being awake to watch an Australian legend in the making. Aussie aussie aussie! Oi oi oi!
Because Australia had won that earlier game, the tie resulted in Australia moving on to the final and winning the trophy in a one-sided demolition of Pakistan.
Australia went on to win 3 World Cups in a row. South Africa is still yet to make a World Cup Final, most recently choking in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup, despite being one of the favourites every time. Funny how these things work out.
What’s your favourite sporting moment, and why?
PS: My second favourite sporting moment of all time is a cliché in this country: Cathy Freeman’s 400m sprint gold medal at the 2000 Olympics. Not only for the “Aboriginal girl becomes Australia’s beloved heroine” story, a potent cultural symbol in the struggle against racism, but because of the circumstances in which I watched that run: surrounded by friends, having persuaded a university security guard to unlock a TV room on campus so we could watch the race together (we were on campus setting up for, what else, a sports tournament to be held the next day). Sharing these moments seems to be integral to me to elevating them in my memory above merely “great.”
(Photo: GalaxyFM)
