WORLD CUP FINAL Thread

[London Dave]

Magfan, that journo you quote is wrong...Jayasuriya was not captain in 96, Ranatunga was, so there goes the theory...

and as for your innnings of the series, I'd reckon Lara's ton in the first game was pretty special, as was Sachin's 98 v Pakistan, better than quite a few 100's I'd reckon.

bowling wise, you have a pretty good list, though I think Nehra's 6 for 23 v Poms a bit overated...in the top 10, but not top 5.

Ganguly's 'claimed' catch was pretty ordinary, but exactly what you'd expect from him. If India are to get any better as a side, they should give him the flick. The guy cannot play quick bowling. Will not get in line, consequently plays too far away from his body. Made second highest aggregate this comp, with 3 100's, 2 v the speedsters from Kenya, one v Namibia. Against 'test' nations, he made stuff all. A good player of ordinary bowling on flat tracks....look who cleaned him up...Bond made a mess of him v NZ, the poms got him for stuff all, made a GD v Paks....the bloke has a heart the size of a pea......and I've had great fun stating that on Indian Cricket boards for the last week!

[Fradam]

Well Ranatanga was still a lefhand batsman so the theory was still correct even though the name as wrong. Didn't do them much good though.

[Donny]

Part of an article written by MICHAEL GLEESON
25mar03

Captain Ricky Ponting said the world champions had taken one-day cricket to a new level.

And Michael Bevan said the World Cup winners could be the greatest one-day team of all time.

Yesterday Australia's previous World Cup heroes Paul Reiffel, Damien Fleming and Dean Jones all agreed this squad was the best ever.

Jones, who redefined one-day batting, said he had seen the best one-day performance of all time.

"It was the best-ever one-day performance Australia has ever had ....
they just had an answer for any question asked. And a good answer.

"It was the most compelling, destructive cricket performance I have ever seen."

Paul Reiffel, part of Australia's 1999 World Cup-winning pace attack, said Australia's unbeaten record made them hard to ignore.

"It's hard to compare sides. I think our two best ever one-day cricketers were the Waugh brothers and any side that has them in it has got to be a fair team.

"It's not about individuals, it's about the team and how they combine and maybe this is the best team."

Jones added that Ponting, after his pounding 140 not out, was about the best batsman Australia had produced in 30 years.

"They talk about Michael Bevan as one of the best one-day players, this guy (Ponting) - you look at his record, it's phenomenal.

"He is probably one of the best all-round cricketers, all-round batsmen, that we have had in the last 20, 30 years."

Bob Simpson said Damien Martyn's knock was more influential than even the 140 not out from Ponting.

"I think it was a magnificent performance by the Australian batsmen. I thought once they got the runs, it was all over," Simpson said.

"I thought Damien was the one that swung the game because Rick was struggling early on and Damien came in very calm and measured and helped his captain along the way."