Mark Waugh is the most elegant batsman that I have ever seen. Made batting look so easy! #Genius #96DaysToGO #WC2015 Background Australia and the West Indies refused to send their teams to Colombo for their group stage matches against Sri Lanka, citing security concerns due to the Central Bank bombing a month before the start of the World Cup. That meant both sides forfeited two points each for not taking part in the match. Australia knew it needed to make up for the two lost points with stellar performances in the remaining games, and with Mark Waugh opening at the top of the innings for Australia his performances were going to be crucial. The Moment Australia opened its campaign against Kenya , whose frontline bowlers made early inroads accounting for the wickets of Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting inside the first eight overs. As Richie Benaud said on commentary Now theres a problem for Australia as the score fell to 26 for 2. But the Waugh twins was just the men for a crisis and the runs started to flow as the brothers added 207 runs in 32 overs - which was the first double-century partnership in World Cup history. Mark went on to notch his first century of the tournament and ended with a graceful 130 from 128 balls, at the time it was the highest score for Australia in a Cricket World Cup and drove Australia to a 97 run win. Australia’s following game against India was the first ever floodlit international in Mumbai, the match attracted a huge crowd with a very lively atmosphere and it was Australia who batted first having won the toss. Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor batted beautifully and it was Waugh who played second fiddle to his captain at first, as they put 103 in quick time with before captain Taylor was dismissed for 59. Indias spinners curbed the Australian batsmen, but they couldn’t get past Waugh who held the innings together despite running his brother out with a firmly hit straight drive that was deflected onto the stumps by Raju. Waugh then dominated a partnership of 75 with Stuart Law and in the process became the first man to score back-to-back World Cup centuries. He went on to get more and ended with 126 off 135 balls, including three sixes and eight fours. To almost advertise the greatness of the innings, Australia then went on to lose its last seven wickets for 26 runs, and leave Australia with a total of 258 All Out. He wasn’t done yet though, and it was his off-breaks that set the seal on victory in a tight game, cleverly outfoxing a rampaging Sachin Tendulkar who was in the process of taking the game away from Australia. Waugh had spotted Tendulkar stepping down the track early, and bowled it wide for Ian Healy to complete a great stumping. Tendulkar was out for 90 and Australia won by 16 runs and silenced the Wankhede Stadium. Waugh had his second Man of the Match in two games and a very special Cricket World Cup record.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 04:30:49 +0000
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