Steve Waugh's words to South African Herschelle Gibbs, "How does it feel to drop the World Cup, Herschelle?" resonates even today and was a perfect punchline to a great story in the 1999 world cup, which was held in England.
It was the final game of the Super Sixes round, a game that Australia had to win to qualify for the semis. Australia had come into the Super Sixes without a single point, and though it had beaten India and Zimbabwe in the round, it needed to win against South Africa, who had already booked a place in the final four, to progress alongside.
The match turned out to be bitter-sweet for Herschelle Gibbs, since he set up the match himself with a brilliant century and let go of the match with a dropped catch which proved to be costly in the end. Batting first, the Proteas scored a stiff 271/7 riding on magnificent century from Gibbs (101).
However, during its chase Australia faltered at the beginning and in no time were reeling at 48/3, with its top batsmen-Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn back in the pavilion. South Africa's Steve Elworthy was the wrecker in chief with two quick wickets. But then, out came their captain Steve Waugh, who joined Ricky Ponting in the middle. Bit by bit the duo began resurecting the Australian innings and took the total to 152/3 before tragedy struck.
It was the 31st over when Waugh flicked a delivery from Lance Klusener to Gibbs at mid-wicket. Gibbs caught it, but in trying to throw the ball up in the air in celebration, spilled it. It was an important catch in the context of the match since Australia needed more 119 runs to win and had not much batting left. Waugh, finally, went on to score 120 from 110 balls and led his team to victory with two deliveries to spare.
Abhishek