Cricket World Cup: A look back down the years

IT’S now the seventh time South Africa will compete in a Cricket World Cup.

We’ve come full circle, all the way back to Australia and New Zealand, since the exciting times of a quick readmission in 1992.

So here’s a quick recap of the agony and drama over the years:

1992: 22 runs off 1 ball

Who could ever forget that? South Africa shed tears.

Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson were at the crease when SA needed 22 off 13 balls.

Nowadays that target looks easy but back then it wasn’t quite so.

But anyway, the rain came and the ridiculous rules that applied wrecked SA’s chances.

England would go on to lose to Pakistan in the final.

1996: Lara’s demolition job

SA had totally dominated the group stages and were firm favourites.

But in the quarter-finals, SA came unstuck against a rampant Brian Lara who smashed a century in no time.

Ironically, he was dropped by stand-in ‘keeper Steve Palframan when on very little.

SA batted second on a wicket which saw the ball ‘turn sideways’ and that was that.

West Indies went on to lose against Australia, who in turn lost to Sri Lanka in the final.

1999: The run out

Oh dear. The moment of fame we did not want. In case you missed it… SA needed 9 off the final over, with Lance Klusener firing on all cylinders.

Two boundaries off the first two balls meant SA needed 1 run off 4 balls. The problem was SA was nine wickets down.

Then Damien Fleming went over the wicket. Klusener was tucked up. No run on the third ball.

On the fourth ball he mistimed a drive to mid-off and set off. Allan Donald did not.

There was a mix up and Donald was run out by miles.

In hindsight, it was a suicidal single. But, Donald should have gone when he saw Klusener coming.

Australia progressed on superior run rate and went on to demolish Pakistan in the final.

2003: How bad was that maths?

If SA fans thought it couldn’t get worse, they were wrong.

Playing at home, we had our worst tournament ever, not even getting out of the group stages.

And we did it in spectacular fashion… there was rain, a tie, and we lost on net run rate to Sri Lanka.

Mark Boucher blocked the last ball of regular play, thinking it was enough to get SA through. It wasn’t.

Guess who was standing at the other end? Klusener.

Australia smashed India in the final.

2007: Wrong tactics

This time around SA got through to semi-finals but lost to a rampant Australia.

Our batting was appalling, with Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis ‘charging’ Glenn McGrath.

It didn’t work. We lost badly.

The sight of Matthew Hayden pulverising Shaun Pollock (with Boucher standing up) was too much to bear.

Australia went on to complete an Asian triple, beating Sri Lanka in the final.

2011: Black Cap box up

This was a proper choke. Going well against the Kiwis in a quarter-final clash, we came unstuck chasing a gettable target.

Hashim Amla got out to a freak dismissal, Faf du Plessis ran out AB de Villiers, and then had a sledging match with New Zealand’s 12th man.

It was a forgettable day.