Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Cricket World Cup

I have been a huge fan of this game during my school days... watching even a draw-headed test match before my exams.. but somehow it dwindled when I came to college.. Now again... I hav revived some interest with the World Cup underway... I am writing this post just a few hours before the start of the Aus-SA semifinal clash. At this point..I vividly remember '99 World Cup.. According to me it was really an interesting World Cup.. Who can forget the famous Aus-SA semifinal match..! I had my full support for SA once India had bowed out in the Super Six stage.. I can still remember Lance Klusener ( one of my most fav cricketers)'s awesome innings.. Really... it was such a treat to watch him.. But that was not enough to get the South Africans to the finals due to famous run-out. For a moment I was shocked.. but all this is a part of the game.. and there can never be a better cricket game than this. Just some time back I happened to read this interview of the late coach Bob Woolmer one month before his death.. In this Bob has shared his experience about the match.. He has also shared the scenario of the dressing room after the match.

Here are a few lines from Bob's reply when asked about the scenario after the match.

After about twenty minutes,Hansie got everyone around and said 'look guys we have given our best shot, it turned out not to be good enough. We are professional cricketers. We shouldn't dwell on this, we have to get over this. We must all take credit for how we played, lets all take the blame for how we lost.It was a wonderful thing he did, he got the team together. We had a final chat as a team together in a circle. It was a poignant moment in my career, seeing such a strong man Hansie Cronje, lift the team at a very very low time.

Hansie Cronje had done much to the South African team, to mould them as a team.. and was a great captain for his team-mates to look up to.. But in the end what was he remembered for?? Only for his mistake in the involvement of the match fixing scandal.
But thats the way of life.. The society remembers us more for our mistakes than the good.

Anyways.. its all in the game of life and we need to keep going..