On this day: When flying Jonty caught Inzamam off guard
Twenty-nine years ago, in the Cricket World Cup in 1992, South Africa fielding great Jonty Rhodes’ flash fielding announced his arrival.
Published : Mar 08, 2019 00:30 IST
However hard and bitter it may be, Pakistan lost to South Africa by the target score rule of the Benson & Hedges World Cup at the Gabba.
Light drizzle in the morning session did not hamper South Africa’s progress, but a downpour at 3.15 pm local time robbed one hour's play.
The umpires applied the target score decision and Pakistan's innings was shortened to 36 overs; 14 accounting for one hour’s loss of play.
At the break, Pakistan was 74 for two in 21.3 overs and after resumption, its target to win was 120 off 14.3 overs.
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Imran Khan and Inzamam-ul-Haq went on a bludgeoning spree, but Jonty Rhodes’ common sense and flash fielding, all in the spur of the moment, put an end to the dangerous partnership.
Rhodes getting rid of Haq was the piece de resistance of the Cup so far.
Rhodes dived headlong to dislodge all the three stumps to run out Haq and took a catch to see the back of Ijaz Ahmed.
The Inzy run out
It was good going with Imran and Haq around. South Africa had to break the partnership which posed a real danger to its Cup advancement ambitions. While 10 of them watched with desperation, Rhodes was calm, cool, yet active.
Haq raced for a leg-bye, but Imran at the other end stayed rooted to his crease. Rhodes, placed at backward point, covered ground, picked the ball, dashed towards the stumps and leaping forward, broke the stumps. It was a super effort.
| The run out was the turning point of the crucial World Cup fixture; Pakistan eventually lost by 20 runs |
Brief scores: South Africa 211/7 in 50 overs (A Hudson 54, H Cronje 47 not out; W Akram 2/42, I Khan 2/34) beat Pakistan (revised target of 194 in 36 overs) 173/8 (Inzamam-ul-Haq 48, I Khan 34; A Kuiper 3/40, B McMillan 2/34) by 20 runs
This is an extract from the match report that was first published in The Hindu on March 8, 1992