SA: Conquering Heroes!

South Africa win the greatest match of all

March 12, 2006

49.5 overs South Africa 438 for 9 (Gibbs 175, Smith 90, Boucher 50*) beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79) by one wicket

Seven years ago, in the semi-final of the 1999 World Cup, South Africa and Australia contested what has widely come to be regarded as the definitive one-day international. A total of 426 runs in two innings, twenty wickets in the day and world-class performances across the board - a match that built to a pulsating finale in which South Africa threw away their place in the World Cup final with what also came to be regarded as the definitive one-day choke.


Today, however, South Africa can be called chokers no longer, after burying the ghosts of 1999 with victory in a match even more extraordinary and nail-shredding than its illustrious forebear. Never mind 426 runs in a day, Australia had just posted a world-record 434 for 4 in a single innings - the first 400-plus total in the history of the game - with Ricky Ponting leading the line with an innings of cultured slogging that realised 164 runs of the highest class from just 105 balls. And yet they still lost - by one wicket, with one ball to spare, and with the Wanderers stadium reverting to the sort of Bullring atmosphere on which it forged its intimidating reputation.


At the halfway mark of the day, South Africa had been reduced to a near laughing stock. Ponting had been the kingpin as he reprised his World Cup-winning innings on this very ground in 2003, but every one of Australia's batsmen had taken their pound of flesh as well. Adam Gilchrist lit the blue touchpaper with an open-shouldered onslaught that realised 55 runs from 44 balls; Simon Katich provided a sheet-anchor with a difference as he creamed nine fours and a six in a 90-ball 79, and Mike Hussey - in theory Ponting's second fiddle in their 158-run stand for the third wicket - hurtled to a 51-ball 81. Australia's dominance seemed so complete that Andrew Symonds, the most notorious one-day wrecker in their ranks, was not even called upon until the scoreboard read a somewhat surreal 374 for 3.


Unsurprisingly, South Africa's bowlers took a universal pounding. Jacques Kallis disappeared for 70 runs in six overs and as the innings reached its crescendo, a flustered Roger Telemachus conceded 19 runs from four consecutive no-balls. The team had squandered a 2-0 series lead and were staring at a 3-2 defeat, and not for the first time this year, Graeme Smith's penchant for speaking his mind was looking like backfiring. With the Test series getting underway in four days' time, the need for a performance of pride had never been more urgent.


And so Smith took it upon himself to deliver, responding to his team's indignity with a brutal innings laced with fury. He made light of the early loss of Boeta Dippenaar, whose anchorman approach would not have been suited to the chase at any rate, and instead found the perfect ally in his former opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs. On a pitch that might have been sent from the Gods, the pair launched South Africa's response with a scathing stand of 187 from 121 balls, to send the first frissons of anxiety through the Australian dressing-room.


Smith made 90 from just 55 balls, and seemed set to trump Ponting's 71-ball century when he swatted the spinner, Michael Clarke, to Mike Hussey on the midwicket boundary. But Hussey's celebrations were manic and betrayed the creeping sense of foreboding that had taken hold of Australia's players. Just as South Africa had suffered for the absence of Shaun Pollock, so too was Glenn McGrath's constricting influence being missed. His understudies were simply not up to the task, with Mick Lewis earning an unwanted place in history as his ten overs were spanked for 113 runs - the most expensive analysis in any form of one-day international cricket.


Now it was Gibbs who took centre stage. The man who, memorably, dropped the World Cup at Headingley in that 1999 campaign has redeemed himself a hundred times over in the intervening years. But this was to be his crowning glory. With AB de Villiers providing a sparky sidekick, Gibbs carved great chunks out of the asking-rate, bringing up his century from 79 balls and rattling along so briskly that, by the 25-over mark, South Africa had 229 for 2 on the board, and needed a mere 206 to win. .

Only one contest could compare - the extraordinary C&G Trophy contest between Surrey and Glamorgan in 2002, when Alistair Brown scored 268 out of a total of 438 for 5, only for Glamorgan to track his side all the way with a reply of 429. In both instances, the sheer impossibility of the task galvanised the batting and turned the fielders' legs to jelly, and with Gibbs on 130, Nathan Bracken at mid-off dropped a sitter off a Lewis full-toss, and could only contemplate his navel as the Bullring roared its approval.


It was undeniably the decisive moment of the match. Bracken finished with a creditable 5 for 67, but this faux pas was written all across his features at the post-match presentations. Cashing in superbly, Gibbs hurtled to his 150 from exactly 100 balls, bringing up the landmark with his fifth six of the innings and the 21st of a bedlamic contest. He had reached a glorious 175 from 111 when Lee held onto a scuffed drive at mid-off. The stadium stood in acclaim, but with 136 runs still required and their main source of momentum gone, South Africa had plenty still to do.


Kallis and Mark Boucher regrouped with a steady partnership of 28 in six overs, but when the big-hitting Justin Kemp went cheaply, it took a blistering intervention from Johan van der Wath to reignite the chase. He drilled Lewis over long-off for two sixes in an over then added a six and a four in Bracken's eighth, as the requirement dropped from a tricky 77 from 42 balls to a gettable 36 from 22. He perished as he had lived, holing out to extra cover, and Telemachus followed soon afterwards, but not before he had clubbed an invaluable 12 from six balls.


And so it all came down to the final over, just as it had done at Edgbaston all those years ago. Brett Lee had seven runs to defend, and South Africa had two wickets in hand. A blazed four from Andrew Hall seemed to have settled the issue, but in a moment reminiscent of Lance Klusener's famous aberration, he smeared the very next delivery into the hands of Clarke at mid-on. Two runs needed then, and the No. 11, Makhaya Ntini, on strike. Lee's best effort was deflected to third man to tie the scores, and it was left to Boucher - with visions of Edgbaston swirling through his head - to seal the deal with a lofted four over mid-on. The most breathtaking game in one-day history had come to a grandstand finish, and all that remained was for the participants to pinch themselves.





Searching for a reason


Okay, why did that happen? Nearly 900 runs in one day, that doesn't happen - ever. Not in Twenty20, not in club cricket, not even in my back garden against my eight-year-old brother. So my question is why? I really want to know because I was there.


The pitch was a flat, quick deck with a carpet for an outfield, but games have been played in these conditions before. There've been plenty of flat decks and plenty of shorter boundaries with worse bowlers and big hitters. It's at altitude, the air is thinner, the ball flies further. Yes, but it's not the first game to be played on the high veld, no single batsman has ever gone massive here, Tests tend to be won [or lost] not dominated by the bat and ODIs do produce big scores, but nothing like this. Maybe there was a fix - come to think of it, there was a chap outside on a mobile phone with what looked like 22 leather jackets ... but that's a hideous thought.


Actually, the Wanderers, one of South Africa's most picturesque grounds set in the rolling, tree-lined suburbs of Johannesburg, does have previous. And usually to Australia's advantage. Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett batted all day in a Test in 1996-97 [I was there for that as well] and Adam Gilchrist smashed the then-fastest Test double-hundred as an emotional retort to personal abuse from the crowd in 2001-02. They won the 2003 World Cup here with a then-mammoth 359. And there was the Twenty20 earlier in the tour where the Australians fell two runs short chasing 200. If that was a signal of things to come, no one spotted it.


The key factor, though, was the absence of two players, Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock. This was a like-for-like loss - both bowl maidens in their sleep, causing much of the crowd to doze, and set the tone and pace for a day's play. Without them, anything can happen - and it did.


The game was cricket anarchy. Rules were ignored, conventional wisdom flown against, high-risks equalled high reward in every situation. Every gamble paid off, every scooped slog fell into space, every shy at the stumps missed. As the pressure and the run rate mounted so did the ferocity of the South African onslaught. Bat first, win the toss and bury the game - that is exactly what the Australians did and although they protested there was no "job-done" mentality, when you've just smashed a world record that's stood for ten years, you don't expect it to get beaten in the next three hours. South Africa has experienced a lawless past - for one glorious afternoon, the country re-visited it.


What was it like to be there? I'm not sure. The whole game was a blur of batting and you couldn't pick out the detail. Every time the bowler ran in, the ball disappeared to the boundary, often for six. Every time you looked at the scoreboard you had a double-take, could there really be that many overs left? Is that really the run rate?


And this was for both teams. With each run scored by the home side, the crowd went mad. When Herschelle Gibbs struck one of his seven sixes, the crowd made so much noise you worried for the structure of the stands. When Mark Boucher struck the winning runs, they couldn't control themselves and for a brief period real anarchy took over as the crowd on the pitch out-numbered the yellow jackets chasing them.


But it wasn't always like this - the South African faithful had suffered several stages of mourning through the Australian innings as Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich made South Africa's best looked like school girls. First there was anger as Andrew Hall bowled badly, followed by disbelief as Ponting swept Jacques Kallis on one knee for six, then hope (Gilchrist out) then despair. The 400 was passed with three overs left to bowl. By the end of the Australian innings, the crowd was smiling - that is all you could do. The game was up, let's sit back and enjoy this immense display of hitting and witness how many records the Australians could break. Little did they know.


As with all sporting moments of brilliance there are failures and victims. In this particular game, they were collectively known as bowlers. Superiority of bat over ball was such that you felt a bit dirty, like watching a 7-6 thriller in football - amazing but only because both defences were rubbish. It didn't matter because the South Africans love the tacky excess of one-day cricket. It is for them what Test cricket is for England fans, so this was a day of nail-biting clichés, tense faces, unable-to-watch syndrome, the nerve-shredding Ashes emotions of "I am glad I was around to witness it but I never want to go through that again".


Similarly to the Ashes, this game was a culmination of on and off pitch drama that started before Christmas in Australia, came to a head in Durban on Friday where the visitors levelled the series with a one-wicket win, and exploded with unbearable tension on what surely is the greatest one-day game ever.


Cricket is heading in this direction, though, and however tempting it might be to say this game will never be matched, you'll be wrong. When Fred Trueman took his 300th Test wicket, they thought that'd never get beaten. Now 400 has been passed twice in the same game - 500 is next. I just hope I'm there to see it.



Ponting in awe of Gibbs


Ricky Ponting has praised Herschelle Gibbs's "amazing" batting that launched South Africa to a mind-blowing one-wicket victory after Australia set a world-record 434 for 4. Gibbs pummelled 175 from 111 balls in a sensational reply before Mark Boucher's unbeaten half-century sealed the win with a ball to spare in what is already being called the greatest one-day game in history.


"We had no defence mechanisms whatsoever against the way they were hitting the ball," Ponting told AAP. "Herschelle was out in the 32nd over for 175 - that's amazing batting. We obviously bowled very, very poorly, but they certainly played exceptionally well and deserved the win."


Ponting's batting was also special - his 164 came from only 105 balls - but he did not accept the joint Man-of-the-Match award, preferring to give it to Gibbs. "I don't know where that innings came from; I don't think I've played better," Gibbs said in The Guardian. "We were smashing the ball everywhere early on, but I looked up at the scoreboard and we still needed 350 to win. We couldn't have batted any quicker and the total still wasn't coming down."


Graeme Smith, who belted 90 off 55 balls, described their success as "a bit sick really". "The pitch was great but you can't sit down and plan to chase 434," he said. "We said it was a freaky game at the halfway point, so who knows. Our initial target was 185 in 25 overs but we got way past that. It's a massive night for all of us."


Ponting was angry at what has become a regular occurrence. "We can't defend totals," he said. "There was always a chance because we did it, but there is no way they should have scored that many runs." However, he told AAP it was "just an amazing day". "You just can't fathom the sort of batting that has taken place today," he said.



It all happened at The Wanderers


South Africa's 438 for 9 is the highest total in ODIs beating the previous best by, well, a few hours. In fact, the last 12 months have seen a couple of astonishing team totals close to the 400 mark, like England's 391 for 4 against Bangladesh and New Zealand's 397 for 5 against Zimbabwe. Click here for a full list of highest team scores. This also equals the highest total in List-A games (inclusive of domestic limited-overs games): Surrey had made 438 for 5 against Glamorgan at The Oval in 2002. Click here for the full list of highest team totals in List-A matches.


South Africa have broken the world record for the highest successful chase in ODIs. Australia now have the embarrassing record of being at the receiving end of the two highest successful chases in ODIs. The previous record was not too long ago - when they conceded 332 against New Zealand at Christchurch in December, another record-breaking match as the tables will indicate below.


A total of 872 runs were scored in this match, making it the highest match aggregate in ODIs, going past the previous highest of 693, made by India and Pakistan at Karachi in 2004. Click here for the full list of highest match aggregates.


Mick Lewis, who conceded a whopping 113 runs, has the most expensive bowling figures in a ten-over spell in ODIs. He went past Muttiah Muralitharan, who held the previous record not too long ago, in the second final of the VB Series against Australia. Murali went for 99 runs and certainly wouldn't mind settling for second place.


Australia have lost a bilateral ODI series for the first time since June 2002, when they lost a three-match series to Pakistan 1-2.


Herschelle Gibbs's 175 is the tenth-highest individual score in ODIs and the second-highest by a South African, after Gary Kirsten's 188 against UAE in the 1996 World Cup. Click here for the list of highest individual scores.


The blinding knocks by Ricky Ponting and Herschelle Gibbs rank among the three most explosive knocks by batsmen who have made 130 or more in an ODI innings. Sanath Jayasuriya's 134 off 69 balls against Pakistan at Singapore is on top, with a strike rate of 206.25. Gibbs is second with a strike rate of 157.65 (175 off 111 balls) and Ponting comes third with 156.19 (164 off 105 balls).


One can be pardoned for mistaking this to be a Twenty 20 match. Fans at the Wanderers could well have gone home with cricked necks, watching the number of hits sail over the ropes. As many as 87 fours and 26 sixes were hit in all, making it another world record. The tables below list out the top-five in each category.

Most sixes in a match Number Match At
26 South Africa v Australia Johannesburg, 2005-06
21 New Zealand v Australia Christchurch, 2005-06
21 Sri Lanka v Kenya Kandy, 1996
20 New Zealand v Australia Christchurch, 1999-00
20 Pakistan v Sri Lanka Nairobi, 1996-97


Most fours in a match Number Match At
87 South Africa v Australia Johannesburg, 2005-06
79 Pakistan v India Peshawar, 2005-06
73 Pakistan v India Lahore, 2005-06
66 England v Bangladesh Trent Bridge, 2005
65 New Zealand v Australia Christchurch, 2005-06



South Africa have won the greatest one-day international in the history of the game.


Andrew Hall seem to have the match in the bag when he pulled Brett Lee for four through the vacant midwicket region but, with two runs needed from four balls and two wickets in the bag, he spooned his very next delivery to Michael Clarke at mid-on. That meant that it would be the No. 11, Makhaya Ntini, on strike to face the decisive deliveries.


His first delivery was clipped down to third man for a single, which left the scores level and Mark Boucher on strike. He made no mistake.


48.2 overs South Africa 423 for 8 (Boucher 43*) need another 12 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)


Mick Lewis became the most expensive bowler in the history of one-day cricket, as his 10 overs disappeared for 113 runs, and suddenly South Africa needed 13 runs from 12 balls, and the match was more or less in the bag. Lewis's final over was cracked for four, two, one, four, two, four, as Mark Boucher and Roger Telemachus carried their side to the brink of the most glorious win in history. But when Telemachus spooned an attempted drive and was brilliantly caught by a sprawling Mike Hussey at long-off, a final twist was on the cards.


46.3 overs South Africa 399 for 7 (Boucher 31*, Telemachus 0*) need another 36 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)



When Justin Kemp steered Nathan Bracken to backward point to be caught for 13, South Africa were 355 for 6 and it seemed their heroic challenge was beginning to fade. Instead, Johan van der Wath strode out to the middle to transform the equation once again with another wave of blistering hitting.


van der Wath belted Mick Lewis over long-off for two sixes in an over then added a six and a four in Nathan Bracken's eighth, as the requirement dropped from a tricky 77 from 42 balls to a gettable 36 from 22. But then van der Wath holed out to extra cover, and the scales tilted again.

40 overs South Africa 342 for 5 (Boucher 10*, Kemp 14*) need another 93 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)


Jacques Kallis fell for 20 to a smart return catch from Andrew Symonds, as the Wanderers run-fest hurtled towards a thrilling conclusion. With ten overs remaining, South Africa needed 93 runs to win with five wickets still standing, and the crucial pair of Mark Boucher and Justin Kemp at the crease.

31.5 overs South Africa 299 for 4 (Gibbs 175, Kallis 1*) need another 136 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)


Herschelle Gibbs's joyride came to an end on 175 from 111 balls, as Australia saw a glimmer of salvation amid the wreckage of their bowling performance. Having just smacked the sixth and seventh sixes of his monumental performance, Gibbs got underneath his next attacking stroke against Andrew Symonds, and chipped a simple chance to Brett Lee at long-off.

Australia were cockahoop and little wonder, but with batsmen of the quality of Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher at the crease, the chase was still very much on.

30 overs South Africa 279 for 2 (Gibbs 156*, de Villiers 14*) need another 156 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)


Herschelle Gibbs hurtled to 150 not out from just 100 balls, and brought up the landmark with his fifth six of the innings and the 21st of a bedlamic contest, as South Africa continued to close in on the most remarkable run-chase in the history of one-day cricket.


Needing the small matter of 435 for victory, Gibbs kept the flows coming at a torrent, with Mick Lewis taking the brunt of his onslaught, with 72 runs coming from his seven overs. Brett Lee returned to the attack as Ponting played the last of his three Powerplays and for a moment Australia seemed to be regaining some control, but then AB de Villiers slotted him over the top for a one-bounce four, and the momentum had been maintained.


de Villiers eventually fell just after the drinks break, caught on the cow-corner boundary as he heaved Nathan Bracken into the deep. But Gibbs was still there, and as Jacques Kallis came out to join him, South Africa were still in the box seat.

27 overs South Africa 247 for 2 (Gibbs 131*, de Villiers 7*) need another 188 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)


Graeme Smith produced an innings laced with fury and Herschelle Gibbs blazed a 79-ball century to give their side a fighting chance of pulling off the most extraordinary run-chase in one-day history. By the halfway mark of the innings, South Africa had rattled along to 229 for 2, and needed a mere 206 to win with eight wickets in hand. Given everything that had gone before, few doubted they could achieve it either.

Only one contest could compare - the extraordinary C&G Trophy contest between Surrey and Glamorgan in 2002, when Alistair Brown scored 268 out of a total of 438 for 5, only for Glamorgan to track his side all the way with a reply of 429. Just as South Africa had discovered in the absence of Shaun Pollock, Australia badly missed the accuracy and reputation of Glenn McGrath.


In McGrath's absence, the likes of Mick Lewis and Stuart Clark were proving to be mere cannon fodder. Smith made a brilliant 90 from 55 balls before holing out to deep midwicket, but Gibbs and the combative AB de Villiers were still going strong - aided by some increasingly nervy Australian fielders. On 130, Gibbs had a massive let-off when Nathan Bracken at mid-off dropped a lobbed drive off a Lewis full-toss, and could only contemplate his navel as the Bullring roared its approval. Something remarkable was afoot.


15 overs South Africa 120 for 1 (Smith 52*, Gibbs 53*) need another 315 runs to beat Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79)


Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs played their shots to keep the decisive fifth one-day international at the Wanderers alive. Even though South Africa needed the small matter of 435 to win, the pair had added an unbeaten century partnership in double-quick time. After 15 overs they were well up with the required run-rate of almost nine an over, with Smith in particularly bullish form, on 52 from 36 balls.


South Africa's response got off to the worst possible start when Boeta Dippenaar - a centurion in Friday's match at Durban - played on to Nathan Bracken's second delivery and was bowled for 1. Even so, Dippenaar is not one of nature's strokeplayers, and his early departure allowed Smith and Gibbs to resume their prolific partnership.


With runs flowing freely on a brisk outfield and against an attack lacking the steadying services of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee was cracked for 41 runs in his first five overs and the support cast of Stuart Clark and Mick Lewis leaked runs as well. Ponting opted not to play his third and final Powerplay, and instead brought on the spin of Andrew Symonds, in a bid to slow the scoring rate.


50 overs Australia 434 for 4 (Ponting 164, Hussey 81, Katich 79) against South Africa


Ricky Ponting produced one of the most sensational one-day innings of all time as Australia powered to a world-record total of 434 for 4 - the first 400-plus score in the game's history. In a display of cultured slogging that first broke his opponents' resolve then scattered their dignity to the highveld, Ponting creamed 164 sublime runs from 105 balls, with 13 fours and an astonishing nine sixes. It was the finest exhibition of clean-hitting that the Wanderers crowd had witnessed ... since Ponting's last performance on this ground, in the World Cup final in 2003, when he belted 140 not out against India to secure Australia's defence of the title.


By the time Ponting was finally plucked on the cover boundary by a leaping Boeta Dippenaar (a foot either side and he would instead have registered his tenth and most spectacular six of the innings), South Africa had been reduced to a pale imitation of a cricket team. Andrew Symonds - not a bad man to bring out to bat at 374 for 3 - and the promoted Brett Lee helped themselves to 27 runs from the final 14 balls of the innings, and Graeme Smith was left wondering how the series could have gone so wrong.


Smith will need little reminding that his team had led this series 2-0 after two matches, with Australia crumbling for just 93 in the second game at Cape Town. But now, with the Test series getting underway in just four days' time, Ponting and pals had served a stark reminder of where the balance of power really lies. A day that began with Shane Warne fuelling the war of words between the two camps culminated with the sight of Roger Telemachus losing the plot so spectacularly that, just prior to his fortuitous dismissal of Ponting, he managed to serve up four consecutive no-balls that were smeared for a total of 19 runs.


South Africa's bowling figures were a universal horror story. Telemachus went for 87 in his ten overs, Makhaya Ntini, Andrew Hall and Johan van der Wath fared little better, while Jacques Kallis - whom Ponting carted for consecutive leg-side sixes to bring up his fifty and open the floodgates - was clattered for 70 runs in just six overs. And, in one of the most comprehensive team batting performances of all time, each of the four Australians to be dismissed racked up at least a half-century in their time at the crease. Mike Hussey, Ponting's supposed sidekick during their 158-run stand for the third wicket, contributed the small matter of 81 from 51 balls, with nine fours and three sixes.


In theory, this innings ought to have been a good contest between bat and ball. With a hint of moisture in the surface and good bounce and carry being generated for South Africa's pace attack, Australia's openers had some early moments of discomfort. But far from being cowed by the occasional ball that beat the outside edge, Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist embarked on a thrilling counterattack. With the metronomic Shaun Pollock still absent from South Africa's attack, the remaining seamers lacked the wicket-to-wicket discipline to cope with Australia's intent.


Gilchrist, as ever, was at the forefront of the assault. He survived a tough chance on just 8, when Herschelle Gibbs parried a scorching one-handed leap to his left at point, and thereafter he was in the mood to open his shoulders. Ntini was punished for every error in line with pushes down the ground for four and whips off the legs through midwicket, and Gilchrist's half-century had come from just 35 balls when Hall at mid-on took an incredible one-handed tumbling catch, as he swooped low to his left to intercept a fierce pull shot.


Such brilliance ought to have been an uplifting moment for South Africa, but at 97 for 1 in the 16th over, Gilchrist had done the damage and Ponting was in the mood to cash in. At first he was measured in his approach, restricting himself to clipped boundaries off his legs as Katich, hitherto the more silent partner, took up the cudgels by hoisting van der Wath for a vast six over wide mid-on. He had made 79 from 90 balls before Ntini got one to climb on him and Telemachus at third man completed a simple lobbed catch.


At the halfway mark of the innings, Australia were already cruising towards a vast total, but when Hussey started climbing into Kallis, clubbing him for four, six, four to bring up the fifty partnership, South Africa truly had no place to hide. The final ten overs of the innings realised 133 runs, with sixes being smacked almost at will - seven in consecutive overs, including - appropriately enough - Symonds' heave down the ground off Telemachus to bring up the 400.


It was a performance of awesome power and intent, and it came almost ten years to the day since Sri Lanka posted 398 against Kenya on their way to the 1996 World Cup. Ponting had that World Cup feeling himself today, as Johannesburg was treated to a re-run of that 2003 tour de force that few at the time imagined could ever be bettered.