Now and again I will post on a topic that has nothing to do with religion, atheism, creationism, faith, reason or evolution.This is one of those posts.
A few weeks ago, Cori’s brother suddenly had the great idea to buy tickets to a cricket match. The match: Australia vs. South Africa; the date: Sunday, 12 March 2006; the venue: Wanderers stadium, Johannesburg.
Yesterday Cori and I went with her brother and two friends to watch the match, totally unaware that it would turn out to be the best one-day international match in cricket history. It is totally beyond anyone’s imagination how one side can break a world record by batting 434 in 50 overs, and then be beaten by their opponents. Totally unheard of. Totally unbelievable!!
All sorts of long held cricket records were falling thick and fast as the match progressed, and sporting history was made when Boucher hit those last four runs to win the match with one ball to spare. It is an understatement to say that the match was incredible. For those in the stadium, it is an event that they will never forget – a once in a lifetime experience. The crowd atmosphere of 30 000 cricket fans is something I will always remember; my ears were still ringing when I lay in bed last night.
I’m glad though, that I can one day say to my grandchildren: I was there!
Thank you to Rutger who bought the tickets. Thank you to Miguel and Belinda who joined us for the match. And thank you to Cori for letting us use her camera to take the photos that appear in this post.
For match report, click here. To read about the reaction to this match, click here. For a nice photo gallery, click here.
Well done, South Africa. Well done.
3 comments:
WoW! You are one of the most luckiest people in the world! Being an ardent cricket fan, I can clearly corelate with the feelings you experienced... Lucky Man! Great performance by both the teams!
Thank you for your comment, PDB! Both teams played fantastically, but after the match I have a renewed respect for the Australian side. Not only did they play superbly, but they also showed a great deal of professionalism and sportsmanship. When Gibbs eventually went out after hitting his record 175 runs, some of the Australian players went up and congratulated him on the field. During the award ceremony, Ponting gave away his share of the best man prize to Gibbs. From what I heard, Smith didn’t congratulate the Australians for their superb play during his award ceremony speech (I didn’t see the award ceremony – I was too busy looking for my sunglasses which I had dropped from the top of the stand).
I will always support South Africa, and I’m glad that they won. But I feel that Australia practice better sportsmanship, and I think that – overall – this makes them the better team.
Kevin
Aus did indeed act "out of character" for our expectations of them (but thank goodness for Shane Warne!). I have high respect for, in particular, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Hussey. Hopefully we do ok in the tests...
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