The Greatest Match In History?

[phoenix_night]

South Africa 438-9 beat Australia 434-4 by 1 wicket

At the Wanderers cricket stadium in Johannesburg today, Australia shattered the previous record score for a One Day International, smashing 434 runs off 50 overs against South Africa (the previous record being the 398-5 amassed by Sri Lanka against Kenya a decade ago). Australian captain Ricky Ponting hit 164 off just 105 balls, including 12 fours and 9 sixes.



The new Australian record lasted all of 4 hours, as South Africa responded with 438-9, Mark Boucher hitting the penultimate ball of the match for 4 to beat Australia, win the series, and set a new world record. The star of South Africa's innings was Herschelle Gibbs, who bettered Ponting, hitting 175 of 111 balls (21 fours and 7 sixes).

The result secured a 3-2 series victory for South Africa, who had led 2-0 before being hauled back to 2-2 and then conceding the (then) world record total...

Ricky Ponting must be feeling sick...



Fantastic stuff!

I hope they make a DVD of this one...

Match Report.
Scorecard.

 

[Arachnaphobia]

That match was amazing. And some people say cricket is boring

 

[BCLG100]

Sometimes wish they'd show more than just the ashes on terrestrial tv over here.

 

[SoCalian]

ok, what do the two different mumbers in the score mean? most sports only go with a single number for the score.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Pretty stunning stuff - especially since almost all of the previous 390+ scores were against 2nd rank nations. To break the record by that much is astounding. Kind of like shaving three quarters of a second off the 100m world record. To break it by that much and still lose...

I guess the pitch must have been flat as a pancake, the outfield fast, and the boundaries close in ? Even so, it hardly makes sense.

I wouldn't, however, imagine it can be anything like the "greatest one day game of all time", as you need a bit of balance between ball and bat, and there was clearly none of that here. It's certainly not up to the WC semi-final in England between the same two nations.

 

[phoenix_night]

ok, what do the two different mumbers in the score mean? most sports only go with a single number for the score.

The first number is the score, the second number is number of batsmen out. Australia scored 434 runs, with 4 batsmen dismissed; South Africa scored 438, with 9 batsmen dismissed (10 out = end of the innings).

Anybody with Sky - highlights in 10 minutes on Sky Sports 1, and a couple of times more during the day.

 

[BCLG100]

ok, what do the two different mumbers in the score mean? most sports only go with a single number for the score.

first one was number of runs the ream got, second number was the number of people that team got 'out'

 

[MonwarH]

'The greatest' scorewise, of course. The match was pretty damn close, though not as close perhaps as some other cricket matches. Still, it was unbelievable. Cricket is the only game that can make people out of their sits in tension for 2 hours straight, I still have a hoarse voice.

 

[SoCalian]

a good baseball game can do that too.