The Hindu : Sport : Walsh's sporting gesture; Malinga's superb hat-trick

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Walsh's sporting gesture; Malinga's superb hat-trick

Rakesh Rao

Memorable moments from gripping World Cup matches

1987: Pakistan vs West Indies

Result: Pakistan won by one wicket.

Mention of this match brings to mind Courtney Walsh's great sporting gesture that helped Pakistan pull off a last-ball victory. It was indeed the most gripping match of the 1987 World Cup.

Playing at Lahore, Pakistan needed 13 runs off the last over as it chased 217 for victory with the last pair of Abdul Qadir and Salim Jaffer left to accomplish the mission.

Walsh appeared the best bet for the final over since he had given away only nine runs in his first five overs and another 17 off the next four. Pakistan needed one run off the final delivery to tie the match and prevail on wicket aggregate.

Sportsmanship

Firmly in his delivery stride, Walsh stopped at the wicket as he saw Jaffer backing up too far. He could have removed the bails and earned a run-out verdict.

Walsh simply raised his eyebrows to indicate to Jaffer what he could have done. The crowd missed the gesture but television viewers around the world registered this one moment of great sportsmanship forever in memory banks.

A messed up run-out chance off the third ball of the final over still meant Pakistan needed eight to win off the last three deliveries.

Qadir smashed a huge six to send a crowd of 40,000 into raptures. Finally, it was Qadir (16 not out) who emerged the hero for Pakistan as he slashed the last delivery to third man for two runs to script one of the most memorable victories for Pakistan.

For those who watched this cliff-hanger may also remember the visuals of Qadir being chaired off the ground past an exhausted Vivian Richards who lay on his back after the leg-spinner had hit the winning runs.

2007: Sri Lanka vs South Africa

Result: South Africa won by one wicket.

This was one contest where Sri Lanka nearly pulled off an improbable victory and South Africa almost reinforced its tag of ‘chokers'.

With South Africa needing four runs to win with five wickets and 32 deliveries remaining, the script looked most predictable.

Just when South Africa's first points in the Super Eights appeared a foregone conclusion, Lasith Malinga performed the unprecedented. He took four wickets off four successive deliveries, spread over two overs, to raise the prospects of the most dramatic finish seen in World Cup history.

The flamboyant bowler ‘yorked' Shaun Pollock and had Andrew Hall caught at Upul Tharanga at cover to bring down South Africa to 206 for seven after 45 overs.

The next over by Chaminda Vaas produced just a single and a charged up Malinga came looking to become the fifth man in World Cup history to perform a hat-trick. Jacques Kallis faced Malinga's hat-trick ball — the first of the 47th over. As it turned out, he edged to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara and off the next, Makhaya Ntini was ‘yorked.' South Africa was 206 for nine with 24 deliveries to be bowled. Eventually, after 11 dot balls, the nervous pair of Charl Langeveldt and Robin Peterson took South Africa home.

Langeveldt's haul

Peterson edged a delivery from Malinga to the third-man boundary. In the midst of all the excitement, pushed into the background was Langeveldt's career-best haul of five for 39 that restricted Sri Lanka to 209 in the final over. If Sri Lanka had a respectable total on the board, it was due to Tillakaratne Dilshan's 58 that lifted the team from 98 for five.

Even though the Lankans lost, the match will always be remembered for Malinga's spell. His four-of-four provided an improvement over the four hat-tricks performed in the World Cup.

(To be continued)

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