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Posted by BV Swagath on April 10, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

Host nations have never been lucky enough to lift the World Cup. And the trend has continued in this ninth edition of the Cup as well. The West Indies have been eliminated and most people say deservingly so looking at their sorry cricket. They have been sent packing by a professional South Africa which beat them by 67 runs at the National Cricket Stadium in St. George's in Grenada. The victory margin and the total of 289 for 9 from Windies might sound misleading but the fact was that it was a one-sided affair at Grenada. SA played with all the grudge after their humiliating loss against Bangladesh!

On a sunny day with beautiful batting conditions, Brian Lara played in the hands of the South Africans, he asked them to bat first. South Africa are known to choke under pressure when it comes to chasing down targets with the exception of the Wanderers Miracle. But Lara is Lara, always doing the unpredictable. There was lot of energy in the West Indians at the start, they were pumped up by some real crowd backing for probably the first time in the tournament. The players also looked fresh after a long break. Graeme Smith became the first man to be dismissed in the day courtesy of a poor shot which got him caught behind off Corey Collymore. South Africa were put in a strangle at 21 for 1 in the 7th over.

The shackles were broken by AB de Villiers, who is always very positive and carefree in his strokeplay. But the surprise was Jacques Kallis, who played an aggressive game, so unlike him and Lara with that was forced to hold back the third powerplay because of the dominating second wicket partnership. Kallis was batting as if he had nothing to lose, he was batting with an injured foot, his ligaments in his ankle were swollen and taped. Dwayne Bravo's first over was taken for 18 runs by him and that was only one of those many overs that were going to bat West Indies out of this key contest. Kallis was eventually bowled by Chris Gayle in the 36th over, but by then plenty of damage was done by a knock of 81 from 86 which had 6 fours and a six and the partnership for the second wicket was 170.

AB de Villiers didn't stop at all and even if he was curtailed by a serious hamstring pull which was due to cramps. He had got a runner in the form of his skipper. The young opening bat just went berserk whenever the ball was pitched up and the sixes just kept on coming effortlessly despite the ground being a big one. At the other end it was Herschelle Gibbs, another man playing with an injury. Well one can't really say 'effortlessly' for the shots that de Villiers had played, in fact he was in severe pain with every ball he had played, but it cost the opposition so badly that the 23-year-old kept on smiling in pain. Fortunately, West Indies could keep his innings down to 146, saving themselves from an embarrassment of allowing a double century in ODIs. De Villiers was caught paddling a Collymore delivery, his 146 came in 130 balls (a maiden century) with a dozen boundaries and five massive hits out of the ground. His departure was in the 44th over with SA at 261 for 3.

With AB de Villiers departing, Lara finally found some courage of taking the third powerplay which was taken in the 45th over, what a joke it is! You had Gibbs who has the record of smashing six sixers in an over and Boucher his partner is equally destructive, so it was going to be more than a cakewalk. Both these batsmen grabbed the opportunity with both hands to take South Africa to an untouchable 356 for 4 at the close thanks to all the length balls that were bowled in the death. It looked to be minnow bashing from Boucher and Gibbs as they collected as many as 77 runs in the five overs of the third powerplay! Gibbs helped himself to an unbeaten 61 from 40 with 4 fours and three sixes while Boucher wasn't lucky enough to stay not out, but he did get a 23-ball 52 with two fours and five sixes! Despite all the carnage, Collymore managed figures of 2 for 41 in his 10! The fielding from West Indies was shocking, they failed to hit the stumps whenever they had the opportunity to run out batsmen by a big distance, the misfieldings as expected followed as the heads dropped down.

Chasing a mountain, West Indies were off to a dismal start losing Chanderpaul very early to Pollock. The promising thing for Windies at this stage was the batting of Devon Smith (who had come in for Marlon Samuels in the game). It was a mixture of nice composure and sweet timing that kept the left hander from Grenada busy while Gayle was finding his feet at the other end. It was a brilliant catch from the half fit AB de Villiers, diving forward to end Devon's stay in the middle with Andre Nel being the bowler. Devon Smith made 33 from 27. Windies lost the big wicket of Chris Gayle in the 12th over when he was brilliantly run out by Ashwell Prince from mid wicket following a hesitation between Gayle and Lara in the running. Gayle departed after making 32 from 35.

A special innings from Brian Lara wasn't going to come as he came down the track only to chop a Kallis delivery onto his stumps. Lara got 21 and his side slipped down to 119 for 4 in the 20th over, that was probably the last hope for the homeside. A stunning one handed catch from a leaping Gibbs at short mid wicket sent Bravo home and the next man to be out was debutant Kieron Pollard (coming in for Dwayne Smith in the match), who was also bowled after giving the charge to Kallis. Windies were 169 for 6 but they managed to reach 289 for 9 in the end. Ramnaresh Sarwan played a good innings of 92 from 75 with 10 fours and a six. He was helped by some lousy bowling from Graeme Smith.

The South Africans failed to clean up the tail which is the only minus of the day. They allowed no. 10 Daren Powell to almost get to a maiden half century! Powell was unlucky to be unbeaten on 48 from 36 balls that came with two fours and three sixes. The wicket takers for the Proteas were Pollock, Kallis and Smith with two wickets each while Ntini and Nel managed just the one scalp. Graeme Smith had figures of 2 for 56 in just 5 overs of mediocre off breaks! There was no doubt at all about the choice for the Man of the Match although Jacques Kallis pushed the adjudicators with a couple of wickets to go along with his half century.

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