Andy Capostagno
It should have been the best of times, but far too often it was the worst of times. Australians will not remember the cricket and rugby world cups of 1999 in such negative terms, but the truth hurts. Here were two tournaments four years in the making, on comfortable growth curves from successful previous events. That the administrative shortcomings of both should have overshadowed the events on the field was nothing short of disgraceful.
The apologists will point to a couple of magnificent semi-finals, but the fact of the matter is that when the dust settles, world cups are remembered for what happened in the final. In the 1996 Cricket World Cup final there was Aravinda de Silva’s magnificent century to secure victory over Australia for the unlikeliest champions of all, Sri Lanka. In 1999 there was capitulation from Pakistan and an Australian victory which took all of 20,1 overs to complete.
In the 1995 Rugby World Cup final there was Joel Stransky’s extra-time drop-goal and victory for the underdog against a New Zealand side that the critics believed was truly unbeatable. In 1999 Australia beat a French side that had shot its bolt in a breathtaking semi- final against the All Blacks.
Armchair supporters the world over will have got up feeling as if they had feasted on candyfloss. The real losers, however, were the supporters who travelled to the tournaments, paying inflated prices for air travel and accommodation and then being ripped off and insulted at the venues.
Far from welcoming travelling support, the organisers of both tournaments discouraged what they called “speculative travellers”, a euphemism for genuine fans unwilling to pay the kickbacks built into the package deals of “official” travel agents. The suspicion is that the organisers would rather gather profits via the vast sums paid by television companies than have to bother themselves with messy herds of humanity otherwise known as crowds.
There are dark rumours that Sky television, faced with an unhappy vista of empty stands, manufactured a computer- generated crowd when Kenya played Zimbabwe in Taunton. When Scotland played South Africa at Murrayfield the public announcement system pumped out artificial crowd noise to make it sound as if people at home were missing a great occasion. Much more of such nonsense and we all might as well become couch potatoes. At least it would drive travel agents out of business.
Fortunately for the organisers of both events there were enough high points to just about keep things on an even keel. In the Cricket World Cup there was the long-running soap opera called Lance Klusener. The Natal all-rounder scored 281 runs off 230 balls and was to all intents and purposes the reincarnation of St Jude, patron saint of lost causes.
South Africa would never have reached the semi-finals without his prodigious (and nerveless) hitting, so it is churlish to point out that he, not Allan Donald, was responsible for the run out against Australia which put the Proteas on the plane home. For the one and only time in the competition Klusener made a serious error of judgment, setting off for a run which was not there, thus producing the tie which sent Australia through to the final.
The rugby semi-final between the same two sides failed to produce the same quality, but it was fabulously exciting at times, and it too ended in a tie when Jannie de Beer slotted a penalty in the seventh minute of injury time. The authorities have not yet got around to extra time in cricket, but at Twickenham it was the only fair way to separate two teams who had given their all.
Stephen Larkham’s winning drop goal was not as pretty as Stransky’s four years earlier, but it underlined the gulf between the teams; the Springboks could defend, the Wallabies – who leaked but one try in the whole tournament – could do that too, and a little bit more.
In both world cups the team which could have saved the tournament lost in the final. Pakistan were a composite of astonishingly skilled individuals. Teenage fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar bowled as fast as anyone ever has, wicket-keeper Moin Khan hit the ball almost as well as Klusener and captain Wasim Akram juggled his resources expertly. They were no match for Australia, the one side who got better with every match.
France produced the finest performance in their glorious history to beat the All Blacks. Left wing Christophe Dominici proved that there is still a place for little men with wit and pace in the game. He was the punk on the skateboard in comparison to Jonah Lomu, the driver of a powerful but not very manoeuvrable juggernaut. Four days later in the third- place playoff, Breyton Paulse proved that Dominici’s day in the sun was no fluke with the try of the year.
These were the peaks; there were too many troughs. Okay, so they were the world cups. That don’t impress me much.