Australia v England

At Port Elizabeth, March 2, 2003. Australia won by two wickets. Toss: England.

As Bichel and Bevan ran off delirious, England stood still. Hussain was on his knees, his head in his hands; Stewart stood with his back to his team-mates: both would later announce their retirement from one-day matches. How had this happened? How had Australia - chasing 205, in terrible trouble at 48 for four, and again at 135 for eight - won with two balls to spare? "Bichel" was the short answer. First, he took seven for 20 on a slow pitch and strangled England's innings; then he struck a granite-willed 34 not out from No. 10 to end their fightback - and, as it turned out, their World Cup. With Australia needing 14 from two overs, Hussain threw the ball not to Caddick (9-2-35-4 at the time) but Anderson (8-0-54-0). It was a hunch he later came to regret: Bichel swung the second ball for six, a four followed, and the game was gone. It was the final twist in a match full of them. England's openers had the Barmy Army in raptures with a stand of 66 in nine overs - milking, seemingly at will, a furious McGrath. In response, Ponting brought on Bichel; half an hour later he had four for ten, having found just enough seam movement to reward his accuracy. Flintoff and Stewart played sensibly, if slowly, adding 90 in just under 25 overs, before Bichel returned and made sure there would be no late surge. In reply, Caddick made early incisions, but it was Bichel and Bevan, with a magnificent 74, who made the headlines. Australia had won their 12th successive one-day international - a record - beating West Indies' 11 between June 1984 and February 1985. Defeat was not necessarily disastrous for England - there were tortuous mathematical calculations that suggested it might, in some circumstances, even help their chances of reaching the Super Six. In the event, it did prove their undoing. And it was yet another chapter in the 14-year saga of humiliation against their oldest cricketing enemy.

Man of the Match: A. J. Bichel. Attendance: 15,987.