Cricket - World Cup
Darren Gough
"I don't know who won that final, did anyone see?"
"A farcical ending spoiled a good game of cricket"
I don't know who won that final, did anyone see? I was watching it on the bus with the Yorkshire boys on the way back from Scotland and it was an absolutely disgraceful ending to a World Cup. Australia deserved to win it, there's no doubt about it, but the farcical ending spoiled a good game of cricket. Take nothing away from Australia though, the way Gilchrist played was unbelievable. He's not even had a good World Cup so to play an innings like that in the final was brilliant.
Gilchrist is that sort of player. To be so out of form and then turn it on like that was unbelievable. It was amazing batting to watch. Hayden, who's been smashing it around all World Cup, was just a passenger in the partnership. Gilchrist smashed it everywhere - straight, square of the wicket, sweeping, glancing. He was also batting with half a squash ball in his glove to stop his hand from turning around on the shot, so whoever came up with that idea deserves a lot of credit!
I remember bowling against Gilchrist at the Oval when he was in that kind of mood. We got 240 and they knocked them off in 26 overs. He got a hundred in no time and when he plays like that there's no more destructive player in world cricket.
Unfortunately, the rain delays played such a big part that the toss virtually decided the match. Australia won it and the pitch started doing all sorts in Sri Lanka's innings. A couple of the balls pea-rolled, such as Clarke's to Jayasuriya, and the outfield obviously got slower.
The usual rule if it rains that much is to start the match again on Sunday but that's a stupid rule. If you complete 50 overs in the first innings, what's the point of starting again the next day? It happened to us in New Zealand once where we bowled 50 overs, it rained, and we lost the toss the next day and had to bowl again! So we bowled 100 overs on the trot and were knackered! New Zealand knocked off the runs easily. Some of the other World Cup matches have resumed and finished the following day so to press on regardless like that was shambolic. Sadly, that wasn't all that went wrong. They brought on the presentation party when the match wasn't over, finished in the dark and then messed up the press conference. The tournament organisers were apologising for not handling the tournament better and then one of the backdrops fell down when Malcolm Speed was talking! It was like some sort of comedy scene and I must confess I did have a chuckle!
"He was batting with half a squash ball in his glove to stop his hand turning"
But it was a shame for the World Cup final to end like that because the best two teams were in it and it was all set for a belting final. They should have come back and finished it the next day. Hopefully they'll learn some valuable lessons from this for the next time.
Many people are saying it was the worst World Cup ever and they may be right if only for the tragic circumstances surrounding Bob Woolmer's death and the way the final ended. It was also probably too long. Eight weeks is a long time for a tournament to last and people lost interest over that period. I'm sure the television viewing figures were down on the norm. But there was some good cricket played in between and it was good to see Ireland and Bangladesh surprise a few people. For me, the Gilchrist hundred was brilliant but Dwayne Leverock's catch was my favourite memory of the tournament. It was an absolutely brilliant catch but the dancing afterwards wasn't the greatest! To come in and show that someone that size can still be an athlete and dive around and bowl like he can and perform for a team like Bermuda in that spirit shows great character and it's good for cricket. That's why he's my man of the tournament and the star of the World Cup.
It was sad to see Glenn McGrath finish his career. He's a terrific cricketer and a terrific bloke and he'll be sadly missed. It's nice for him to finish as a World Cup champion and leading wicket taker so he deserves all the plaudits. I thought Allan Donald would have taken some beating but in my opinion, Glenn McGrath's beaten him all hands up. It's been a terrific career from a terrific character and a terrific bowler.
Overall, however, the tournament will be remembered for the sad death of Bob Woolmer and we all want to get to the bottom of what happened. It's frightening that there's been a murder at a World Cup and, unfortunately, that's what the tournament will be remembered for. Bob will be sadly missed.
Darren Gough.
Do you agree with Goughie?Have your say on the final and the 2007 World Cup
Listen to Darren's semis review and final preview
