Anoraks in ecstasy after South Africa win
Stephen Moss, The Guardian columnist, pays tribute to the record-breaking feats of Australia and South Africa at Johannesburg.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
Stephen Moss, The Guardian columnist, pays tribute to the record-breaking feats of Australia and South Africa at Johannesburg.
While England were struggling to 112 for five in 51 overs against India, the Australians had made an astonishing 434 for four in their allotted 50 overs - 36 runs more than had ever been made in one innings of an international limited-overs match. That is a feat of Bob Beamon proportions …
But the most extraordinary aspect of yesterday's game was what happened after half-time. South Africa roared back and, impossibly, unthinkably, they won, scoring 438 for nine. Beamon's record stood for 23 years; Australia's record had stood for, oh, all of three hours.
Martin Flanagan writes before South Africa’s success and focusses on the behaviour of their crowds in The Age.
I didn't know what to make of cricket's racism-in-the-crowd dispute when I got to South Africa. A South African cricket official was reported as saying the racial abuse the Proteas endured on their recent Australian tour had not just occurred in Perth but across the nation.
This surprised me because I spent Boxing Day in the outer at the MCG listening for racist abuse and heard none. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher had inflamed the situation further. Called on as a sort of adjudicator, Tony Greig did nothing to douse the flames.