Jonty Rhodes stormed the consciousness of the cricket fans with a singular moment of brilliance on the cricket field at the 1992 World Cup.
South Africa, back in international cricket fold, had already caught the imagination of the fans with some fine shows and the World Cup offered them a perfect stage to reach out to a global audience.
Pakistan were their opponents in their fifth match of the World Cup on March 8, at Brisbane. South Africa made 211 and after a rainy spell, Pakistan’s target was revised to 194 in 36 overs.
They were going well with Inzamam ul Haq and Imran Khan at the crease but that inspired piece of fielding by Rhodes — who made his ODI debut in their first match of the tournament against Australia — turned the game around.
Inzamam tried to hoick Brian McMillan to the onside but the ball hit his pad and rolled towards the offside. As Inzamam charged down the wicket for a single, Rhodes, fielding at backward point, raced forward, picked up the ball and instead of throwing it, ran towards the stumps, and finally produced a dive to send the wickets crashing. Inzamam’s desperate lunge wasn’t enough to beat this quicksilver piece of action.
The Pakistan innings lost its momentum and they eventually ended at 173 for eight. It’s a different matter that while Pakistan went on to win the title, South Africa lost out controversially after a rain-hit semifinal against England.
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