Steve Waugh, Andrew Symonds feature in moments that shaped a generation of Aussie players
FROM Michael Bevan’s last-gasp four, to Gilly’s devastating century in the 2007 World Cup final and Herschelle Gibbs dropping Steve Waugh… these are the moments that shaped a generation of Aussie cricketers.
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WITH the international summer of cricket to be unveiled with the three-match one-day series against South Africa, we look back at the biggest ODI moments of the past two decades.
We canvassed a selection of Australian cricketers at all levels of the game – crossing several generations – to find out the moments which inspired them.
GILLY’S 2007 HEROICS
A popular choice, given his brilliant century to destroy Sri Lanka in the final of the 2007 World Cup came a little over a decade ago – when many of Australia’s currently up-and-comers were in their formative years.
Gilchrist blasted a dazzling 149 from just 104 balls, with eight sixes and 13 fours. And with it, he captured the attention of rising stars of the game around the country.
Rising Australian paceman Billy Stanlake and impressive South Australian batsman Jake Weatherald both vividly remember watching Gilchrist cut loose against a sorry Sri Lankan attack.
“The one I most remember is Adam Gilchrist’s 100 in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka,” Weatherald says.
“He had a pretty tough tournament and to come through with that was pretty special.
“I was just watching the final with my family – obviously as proud Australians it was a pretty big occasion. Being a left hander of course he is (one of my heroes), he’s a superstar person and a very good cricketer. He was pretty special to watch.”
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Mitchell Starc also nominated the 2007 World Cup as one which lit a fire inside the then 17-year-old.
“It’s hard to go past World Cups for Australia. I definitely remember staying up to watch the one in the West Indies,” Starc said.
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BEVAN’S MIRACLE FINISH
For a generation of Australian fans, Michael Bevan was THE MAN. His cool-as-you-like approach to chases is now the stuff of legend, but there’s one moment more than any other which has been written into ODI folklore.
With Australia staring down the barrel of a defeat at the SGC against the all-powerful West Indies – still the world’s most fearsome outfit in the mid-1990s – Bevan stepped up.
From 6-38, chasing 172 for victory, Bevan steered Australia to a point where victory seemed assured… until Paul Reiffel and Shane Warne fell one after the other, and the hosts suddenly needed five runs from three balls – and Glenn McGrath on strike.
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But McGrath scrambled off strike and Bevan drilled Roger Harper’s final delivery back over the bowler’s head for the grandest of finishes – leaving a memory etched into the mind’s of kids and adults across the land.
“One from before I was properly supporting cricket, but still sticks in my mind, is Michael Bevan’s four off the last ball,” says Tasmanian and Sydney Sixer Jordan Silk.
“It’s folklore, that. That’s one of my favourite memories for Australia in coloured clothing.”
GIBBS’ WORLD CUP-LOSING BLUNDER
Every Aussie cricket fan has this one seared into their memory, and for good reason.
The famous drop - where Herschelle Gibbs had it, then lost it, to give Steve Waugh a live en route to a matchwinning 120 not out as Australia secured an improbable victory and a path to the World Cup semi-finals.
Former Test wicketkeeper, and NSW captain, Peter Nevill certainly remembers it as vividly now as he did when it happened in the 1999 World Cup - even if he can’t confirm whether that infamous sledge took place or not.
“The big one was the ‘99 World Cup with Herschelle Gibbs dropping Steve Waugh, it’s pretty hard to go past that,” Nevill said.
“It’s pretty iconic. I’m not sure he said (‘you just dropped the World Cup’) or not, but don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
ANDREW SYMONDS’ BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT
In 2003 Australia was at the peak of their powers, with an all-conquering, star-studded team.
The genius of Warnie, the batting brilliance of Ponting and Gilchrist… and a versatile pace attack that could unlock any batting lineup.
It was a team so good that it was able to carry a woefully under-performing Andrew Symonds through the first 55 games of his ODI career - which to that point had delivered a pitiful return of two half-centuries.
But Australia’s World Cup hopes were in tatters when on the eve of the tournament Warne was turfed for failing a drug test, and then in their first game they found themselves well and truly on the ropes at 4-86 against Pakistan when the inconsistent Symonds came to the crease.
With his innings being beamed back to Australia in prime time, kids across the country witnessed his coming of age moment - one which would be the foundation for a stunning ODI and Test career.
T20 livewire D’Arcy Short was among those glued to the screen as Symonds went about his business.
“For me it was always just watching Andrew Symonds and the way he went about his one-day cricket, in the field and with the bat as well,” Short said.
“The 2003 World Cup is the one that sticks in my mind.”
STEVE WAUGH’S UNBELIEVABLE CATCH
With the mighty West Indies - at their intimidating best in 1989 - closing in on victory at 5-189 chasing Australia’s target of 227, Roger Harper slapped Craig McDermott back over his head for what looked like a nailed-on boundary.
Instead, the lofted shot lingered in the air long enough for Steve Waugh to track back from a deepish mid off and give himself a chance at a miracle catch.
However there were some clear dangers in his way.
The burly 193cm frame of Merv Hughes was also charging towards the ball from his position at long-on, but more worryingly the sightscreen loomed in the corner of Waugh’s eye - and then there was the fence which was also fast approaching.
As we know from Waugh’s later collision with Jason Gillespie - when the two collided attempting a catch, leaving the fast bowler with a broken leg and Waugh with his nose smeared across his face - the Iceman has no fear in these situations.
So Waugh blocked out all the distractions, calmly pocketed the catch and composed himself enough to run behind the sightscreen - avoiding the fence - to complete the dismissal.
Australia won by eight runs, thanks in no small part to what the legendary Richie Benaud described as “one of the greatest catches I saw in any class of cricket”.
It certainly caught the attention of a nine-year old Michael Klinger.
“It was an awesome catch but there was a bit of controversy because they didn’t know if he should’ve been out because he ran around the back of the sightscreen,” Klinger said.
“I still don’t know what the rule was supposed to be. These days the sightscreens aren’t in the field of play so you don’t have to worry about it, but I remember as a kid that controversy… they kept replaying it again and again. That’s the one that stands out for me.”
THE STANDOUT KNOCKS
Some moments you see on TV and they stick in the memory for the sheer enormity of the skill on display, or the importance of the moment they captured.
But then there are the times you’re at the ground to witness greatness - and they can be life-changing moments, as good mates Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell found growing up in Victoria when they both witness stunning knocks at the MCG that inspired them to become cricketers.
“I was actually there, a nine year old kid in the stands, when Adam Gilchrist scored 150 at the MCG in a one-dayer against Sri Lanka,” Maxwell said.
“That’s one moment I really remember, having actually been there and been able to watch him go to town and hit some sixes around the ground. It was pretty special.”
Finch was even younger, and only had eyes for Victorian and Australian legend Dean Jones.
“Being from the country, my family didn’t go to many cricket games when I was a young kid – but we went to one at the MCG and there were 82,000 there,” Australia’s one-day captain explains.
“Australia was chasing a big score and we were gone, so the family had made the call to go home in order to beat the traffic.
“Honestly, Australia was gone. No chance of winning. But we ended up staying, thinking it was going to take hours to get home anyway so we may as well stay and watch it, and Dean Jones played one of the great innings and got Australia home.
“Especially with it being Deano as well – because he was a Victorian, it meant the world to me and helped inspire me to be a cricketer.”
THE MISCELLANEOUS MOMENTS
Afternoons spent playing backyard cricket, listening to the international action on the TV in the background was how Sean Abbott caught the bug.
“I came from a rugby league playing family and I remember one barbeque where we had the cricket on,” he said.
“I wasn’t playing cricket properly yet but I enjoyed watching it and playing backyard cricket.
“And I remember looking at the screen, we were chasing down some massive total and everytime I went back inside to have a look at the TV screen at the score, we were none down.
“0-50, 0-100, 0-150 and I remember thinking ‘wow, this is amazing’. We chased down about 300 which was a lot a few years ago and from memory we got it one or two down.
“That would’ve been my strongest early memory of ODI cricket.”
BBL king and one of the world’s biggest hitters remembers being inspired by a more recent event - when James Faulkner played the innings of a lifetime to drag Australia to victory at the Gabba and deny England once again.
Australia fell to 5-120 in pursuit of England’s total of 300, and things looked grim again when it came down to the last wicket… and Australia only had 244 on the board.
But Faulkner channelled his inner-Michael Bevan, and steered them home with an incredible display - smashing two sixes in the penultimate over and three consecutive fours from the first three balls of the final over to seal the win.
“I think England might’ve won just one game on tour and that innings that he played was unbelievable and really stands out,” Lynn said.
“The grit, the determination and that attitude that as an Australian you never give up.
“That’s the attitude he went in with, and a lot of our top order batsmen had a hard look at ourselves to see what you’re capable of even if it’s tough through the top or middle order of the innings. That never say die attitude is what we’re all about as Australians.”
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