”We decided not to chase Duckworth Lewis, but the target of 269 instead,” Eric Simons, beleaguered coach of the national cricket team, said on Tuesday.
There was an international outcry after South Africa drew with Sri Lanka on Monday because of the faulty information received by Mark Boucher in the 45th over of their World Cup-match against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead in Durban.
Boucher and his batting partner, Lance Klusener, wrongly believed that the six he hit in the 45th over, would have been sufficient to win South Africa the match. But from the last delivery of Muttiah Muralitharan’s over Boucher played the ball defensively to mid wicket instead of trying to squeeze it past the fielder for a single.
That single, or a score of 230, would have made South Africa’s passage to the Super Six-phase safe if rain interrupted play and the Duckworth Lewis-method was introduced.
The hard rain forced the two umpires, Steve Bucknor and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, to suspend play. Afterwards Sanath Jayasuriya, the Sri Lankan captain, said he had a piece of paper in his hand and knew it was a draw if the Duckworth Lewis-method was introduced after 45 overs.
The South African camp refused to point out the man who’s inability to read a piece of paper might have cost the team a place in the Super Six phase of the world’s most prestigious competition.
Simons defended his team’s actions: ”We did not want to chase the Duckworth Lewis-method, but rather the target of 269.
”If we had tried desperately to hit 13 or 14 runs in an over to reach the Duckworth Lewis-target, and it did not start raining, we could have been in trouble.
”Our information from the weather buro was that there was a small chance of rain later on. In a case of rain, it would only be light showers with a good chance of clearing up after 30 minutes.
”Lance Klusener, Boucher’s batting partner, also told Bouch that rain would not be a factor. He is a fisherman and a Natal boy.
”When it started raining two overs before the final suspension of play, we tried to get Nicky Boje on the field, but he was not allowed to convey the message.”
It was a classical example of bizarre history repeating itself. The team drew with Australia in the 1999 World Cup in Edgbaston and was denied a passage to the final because Australia qualified thanks to a better net-runrate.
In 1992 Brian McMillan and David Richardson had to score 22 runs off the last 13 deliveries against the England team of Graham Gooch at the semi-final-stage of the World Cup. Rain interrupted and the target was revised to 22 runs off 1 ball.
The 1992 horror has returned to cause national distress. Andrew Samson, official statistician to the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said he thought the players themselves contributed to the confusion by erroneously reading that the revised target on the top of the Duckworth Lewis-sheet of paper meant that you had won the game. But at the top of the sheet it is clearly stated: ”target to tie the score.”
Omar Henry, chairman of the national selectors, said he was not in the South African dressing room after the heartbreaking experience, but shares Samson’s view that the players might have misread the revised target as meaning a winning
score, instead of a tied one. – Sapa