adminLONDON. — Eddo Brandes enjoyed his own moment under the sun against England during the 1992 World Cup. Brandes, a chicken farmer, tore apart the English, snaring 4 for 21 from his 10 overs to script one of the biggest upsets of the competition.
That match, and that feat, makes number 59 on the greatest moments in World Cup history. There is always something appealing about watching the perennial underdog take on the hot favourites and send them spiralling towards defeat.
The whole world loves the triumph of David over Goliath. England had already stormed into the semi-final after winning five matches, despite losing its penultimate league stage match against New Zealand by seven wickets.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe was winless from seven games in the tournament. It was against this backdrop that the two teams met in their last league game of the 1992 World Cup. Zimbabwe was inserted by England on a green top that kept low and had variable bounce, and with the England bowlers all among the wickets, Zimbabwe was bowled out for just 134 in 46.1 overs.
“This is the problem with you amateur sides, you don’t know how to just rotate the strike and take singles,” Geoffrey Boycott told Dave Houghton, the Zimbabwe captain, during lunch break of the match.
“You watch the professionals come out of the lunch. They’ll just knock the ball into the gaps and run their ones and twos and win this game easily.”
Even on a track that had plenty on offer for bowlers, England was expected to cruise to victory. However, Brandes had other ideas.
Opening the bowling, he had Graham Gooch lbw off the first ball. Omar Shah and Malcolm Jarvis kept things tight in between, but it was Brandes who struck telling blows.
He broke the 32-run stand between Ian Botham and Allan Lamb. Robin Smith and Graeme Hick were clean bowled in quick succession in the same spell, to leave England reeling at 43 for 5. With four maidens in 10 overs, Brandes returned 4 for 21, his best ODI figures then. The initial strikes broke the back of England’s chase, and it eventually was all out in 49.1 overs, nine runs short of the target, giving Zimbabwe its first points of the tournament.
It was Zimbabwe’s first win after 18 defeats since beating Australia on World Cup debut in 1983.
The victory also paved the way for Zimbabwe to gain Test status and become the ninth Test playing nation in the world. Brandes ended as Zimbabwe’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 scalps from eight matches.
“It was the end of the tournament, it was our last game. We only got 134 batting first. Geoffrey Boycott was there to say, ‘just watch our players noodle that around and show how to bat in these conditions. Despite what happened, we didn’t get to see him after the game. It was a good day,” Brandes, a chicken farmer, said.
As for England, it progressed through to the final, winning against South Africa in a rain-affected semi-final, but lost out on the title to an inspired Pakistan side. — ICC.
Online Reporter