Ruling the World

Jonathan Northall

Description

Ruling the World tells the enthralling story of the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. From the early exchanges in the warm-up matches, up to the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, tales of classic stature and previously untold gems regularly arise. Each match is explored along with its unique backstory, with many key players contributing memories after more than a quarter of a century. Interviews with stars such as Derek Pringle, Phillip DeFreitas, Gladstone Small, Brian McMillan and Gavin Larsen help bring to life the greatest ever Cricket World Cup. Contributions from fans offer a unique insight into the high emotions in the stands as the tournament was played out. And exclusive behind-the-scenes access is granted by documents from the tournament's organising committee, including minutes from meetings and reports presented to the International Cricket Council. Ruling the World brings all the drama and excitement of 1992 to a new generation of cricket fans, and offers contemporary onlookers the chance to fondly reminisce.

Sujets

• Críquet
• Cricket

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 22 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785315138
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Jonathan Northall, 2019
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-486-5
eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-513-8
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
In the Beginning
Dramatis Personae
Lifting the Curtain
Early Exchanges
Raindrops and Other Drops
Rain, Damn Rain and Statistics
Happy and Glorious
Hitting Their Straps
Guilty as Charged
Revenge and Redemption
Friends Reunited
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Cornered Tigers and Injured Lions
Appendix 1: Scorecards
Appendix 2: Records
Appendix 3: Batting and Bowling Averages
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to the players, officials, broadcasters and personalities that were part of the tournament and gave up their valuable time to talk to me: Jonathan Agnew, Dr Ali Bacher, Peter Baxter, Mark Burmester, Charles Colvile, Malcolm Conn, Gerry Connolly, Andrew Cornaga, Phillip DeFreitas, Kevin Duers, Ross Dundas, Andrew Hudson, Barry Jansen, Vinod Kambli, Patrick Keane, Gavin Larsen, Jim Maxwell, Suresh Menon, Brian McMillan, Tom Moody, Dipak Patel, Derek Pringle, Meyrick Pringle, Jonty Rhodes, Mark Rushmere, Gladstone Small, Murphy Su a, Ian Taylor, Don Topley, John Traicos, Neil Weinart, Kepler Wessels, Peter Williams.
I would like to thank the research and archive staff that have been kind enough to answer my queries. They include Malcolm Deans (senior library assistant at Dunedin Public Library), Petar Djokovic (navy history officer at the Sea Power Centre - Australia), Deborah Fitz Herbert and Barry Friend (Hamilton City Libraries), Mike Gooch (information services officer at New Plymouth District Council), Simon Jacks (research librarian at the City of Ballarat), Jane Simmons (research and technology services librarian at Napier City Council Libraries), Mandy Vaccaro (information and library collections officer at Albury City), Greg Wakeling (operations officer at Ballarat Cricket Association), Jacque Zagotsis (local history officer at Berri Library).
I am indebted to Jamie Bell, director at the New Zealand Cricket Museum in Wellington, for his help and assistance in accessing the 1992 Cricket World Cup Committee records passed down by New Zealand Cricket.
My thanks also go out to Frank Duckworth, Tony Lewis and Steven Stern. I appreciate that all three have been generous with their time and the information they have provided.
I have spoken to fans who experienced the tournament either in person or via television, radio, or newspapers at the time: Delan Adikari, Paul Baker, Brian Beer, Chris Coleman, Nick Cummins, Dean du Plessis, Ian Gorton, James Gould, Kate Gross, Bill Hodges, Scott Kelman, Penny Kinsella, Scott MacLean, Nick Malarao, Andrew Menczel, Keith Miller, Angus Ogilvie, Richard Palmer, Akhil Ranade, Luke Reynolds, Jason Stewart, Richard Swan, Michael Wagener, Mitch Wallenhoffer.
Many thanks to Paul and Jane Camillin at Pitch Publishing for giving me this opportunity and believing in the project.
Finally, a massive thank you to my family, who have put up with my endless mutterings about 1992 for many months.
Apologies to anyone I have missed, but their omission is not due to their contributions being any less significant.
Foreword
by Kepler Wessels
The 1992 Cricket World Cup was a historic moment in South African sporting history. After the release of Nelson Mandela, South Africa made a whistle-stop one-day international tour of India. However, the 1992 World Cup was the first foray for the South African team into a major worldwide cricket event after 21 years of sporting isolation.
It was a privilege to lead the South African team back from the wilderness in this historic event. The South African team were a mature outfit with a lot of experience at domestic level but none in the pressure cauldron of the international arena. The team faced a daunting task, facing the best teams in the world after so many years out of the competition.
The tournament had its highs and lows from a results point of view. Beating Australia during the first match at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a golden moment. Going on to beat India in Adelaide to qualify for the semi-final was an awesome achievement. Especially in light of the fact that victory was achieved while waiting for the result of a referendum to continue with political reform in South Africa. Had the decision been to oppose reform, further participation in the competition would not have been a possibility.
The loss to England in the much-publicised semi-final in Sydney was a major setback. Had rain not intervened, no one knows what the outcome would have been. Suffice to say that under the current Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system, South Africa would have gone through to the final. In fact, the rain rule that was applicable at the time was changed after that World Cup, and Duckworth-Lewis came into being.
The tournament itself was a tremendous competition, played according to a very fair format. All the teams played each other once, and the top four teams went through to the semi-finals. All matches had significance, and only the strongest teams participated in the event.
Pakistan, led by the impressive Imran Khan, pulled off a superb victory against the odds after starting the tournament in poor fashion. England had a fantastic run to the final and played some superb cricket. The hosts, Australia, after starting the tournament as favourites due to an excellent run prior to the event, never got out of the starting blocks, which came as a surprise to everyone.
I m very happy that Jonathan Northall is writing this book about a compelling World Cup where the matches were entertaining, close and of a high standard. I wish him every success with the book, and it is certain to be an enjoyable read.
Introduction
South Africa was told that it would not be allowed to enter the 1992 Cricket World Cup. In July 1991, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had readmitted the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) back into the fold after it had been suspended in 1970 for the government policy of apartheid. However, they were told in no uncertain terms that a place in the following year s one-day cricket showpiece event would not be available. The ICC chairman, Colin Cowdrey, was very clear on this point. The World Cup Committee had other ideas.
On a Sunday morning in August 1991, the committee met at the offices of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) in Melbourne. The meeting convened at 10am and was chaired by the ACB s Malcolm Gray. In attendance on behalf of the ACB were David Richards (chief executive) and Des Rundle. Gray s New Zealand Cricket (NZC) counterpart, Peter McDermott, was joined by board colleagues Barry Paterson and Graham Dowling.
On behalf of the ICC, secretary Lt Col John Stephenson attended the meeting. Pre-empting disagreement around South Africa s exclusion, Cowdrey had presumably sent The Colonel to restore discipline. Stephenson was secretary of the MCC as well as the ICC and was renowned for his military discipline as well as his negotiating skills. The decision was thought to be an act of appeasement to avoid conflict with the West Indies and Pakistan. They had both been opposed to restoring South Africa to international cricket.
The meeting started cordially, with Gray welcoming Stephenson to his first full committee meeting in Australasia. The committee was subjected to an overview of the feasibility study for admitting South Africa into the following year s tournament. In the discussion that followed, it became evident that Cowdrey s statement of exclusion was in accordance with the sentiments of at least some of the ICC members. The minutes of that meeting mention that the mood of many countries at the July ICC meeting had been against South Africa s inclusion despite having supported the UCB s application for Full Membership . Peter McDermott echoed these reservations, on behalf of NZC, but confirmed that there was still support if South Africa s government approved. Malcolm Gray was clear that the ACB was supportive of inclusion.
At this point, The Colonel queried why this was even being discussed when South Africa had not made an application to enter. In the days before the meeting, the UCB s executive director, Ali Bacher, had stated that South Africa would only play in the tournament if there were full support . Such a point of order, for an issue that was a political minefield, appeared to aggravate Gray. He fired back that an application was not required. Furthermore, Gray continued by questioning Cowdrey s authority to make comments at the July press conference, when South Africa was readmitted to the ICC, to exclude its team from the tournament. One can only imagine the debate that Sunday morning.
The meeting concluded with an agreement not to exclude South Africa. A programme would be required to extend the tournament for eight additional matches. The estimated cost would be A$600,000 and would have to be recouped from international television sales to make the proposition viable. The marketing potential, according to Colin Bryden in his book Return of the Prodigal , was the primary motivator for including South Africa in th