2003 World Cup

[Ahmad94]

I was not into cricket until the 2007 WC. But I remember that famous Sachin six, because my dad went crazy when he hit it. I was sitting playing in front of the TV.

 

[sifter132]

Blast me, it is coming up to 10 years since that World Cup. What are your memories of the 2003 World Cup?

*Some REALLY quick bowling. Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar BOTH cracked the 160kph barrier in that tournament. I don't think it was the speed guns, they just both happened to be at their peak fitness. Internet tells me that Shoaib bowled 161.3 vs England, and Lee got 160.7 vs England, and 160.1 vs SL.

*Ricky Ponting putting the final out of India's reach, by accelerating from 50 off 74 balls to 140* off 121 - just awesome destructive batting.

*Kenya surprising everyone and getting to the semis thanks to a forfeit by NZ and an upset win over SL.

*The South Africans stuffing up MASSIVELY by misreading the Duckworth/Lewis chart. I couldn't stop laughing... Managed to find another way to get eliminated from a World Cup.

*A couple of great lower order innings from Andy Bichel(!) in the only 2 games Australia were in danger of a loss in the tournament. One was with Michael Bevan to rescue Australia from 7/80-odd vs NZ. The other against England, a similar rescue job with Bevan this time to chase down a total with a couple of balls to spare. Bichel took 7 wickets earlier as well

*Plenty of others: Vaas getting a hat-trick with first 3 balls of the innings vs Bangladesh, Andrew Symonds finally delivering on his talent with 140-odd vs Pakistan, Sachin taking on Shoaib, a fantastic inning by Stephen Fleming vs SA, John Davison of Canada smashing the fastest World Cup 100 (at the time), Ashish Nehra running through England. And more! Was a great tournament.

 

[Aoun13]

The first Worldcup I watched was 1999 as I was 8 at that time. I was very sad how Pakistan lost in the final against Australia.
2003 WC was one of the worse for Pakistani fans. Pakistan team was best on paper but was blown away by Australia, India and England. I still remember when due to Wasim we had 5 Aussies wickets very cheaply but then Symonds scored a brilliant century.
At one stage for Pakistan to qualify, they had to win their match against Zimbabwe by like 200 runs or something but unfortunately it was washed out. Also it was the worst WC for Inzamam as I guess he scored just one double figure score.
Their are just lots and lots of memories related to that WC as the buildup was huge here in Pakistan.

 

[Paki007]

i had started watching cricket since 99 wc final.2003 was the first WC i had waited for.Was horrible for Pakistan.Favorite match was Ken v SL.Australian dominance was also treat to watch


And i had won a schedule calender and Binoculars in a Pepsi Competetion.

 

[Auwais]

My greatest memory was probably watching James Anderson destroy the Pakistan batsmen under the lights.

A rubbish World Cup if were a Pakistan fan.

 

[VC the slogger]

I only became a cricket follower after watching one of the super six matches between Australia and New Zealand. It was during the end of the Australian innings when I saw Lee smash Jacob Oram for two consecutive sixes off the last two balls. Then later when New Zealand batted, he was bowling really quick and got a five-fer to blow them away. I didn't miss any World Cup matches after that and watched every one of them that was left right till the final. Though the last highlights I saw of the 2003 final was back in 2006/2007, I still remember certain things like Ponting's marauding knock and massive hitting, Damien Martyn's one handed six over deep extra-cover, Sachin Tendulkar's early dismissal, Sehwag's quickfire 82 when India were sinking and his run-out, the last wicket to fall i.e Zaheer Khan who was caught by Darren Lehmann. The Aussies celebration after that was just awesome to watch.

I also remember the zebra mascot named Dazzle very well, the animations that would appear when a wicket fell and the blue colored Pepsi that was out during the tournament which was my favorite one. Now I just might head over to youtube and hunt for some highlights to watch .

 

[War]

2003 w-cup was my third world cup of live viewing. Being a supporter of England & Australia it was contrasting of course.

AUS expectantly dominated - watching fringe players like Symonds, Hogg, Bichel step up when certain 1st team players were out just highlighted the power of aus at the time.

ENG were doing their usual crap in odi's in the time, picking the wrong players etc - james anderson the obvious only highlight.

 

[icyman]

A brilliant World Cup it was. Enjoyed it more than the last one. I was appearing for my board exams during that time,but enjoyed the entire World Cup nevertheless.

The official sound track, the setting of South Africa and the balance of all teams made this an exciting one to see.

 

[icyman]

And I forgot to add, the spectacular rise of India when they were down and out + Tendulkar !!!

 

[spooony]

NZ forfitting our way out of the WC. Boucher and Kluseners miscalculations that is all I remember haha