Australia was all but assured a spot in the semis by the time the came around to facing New Zealand in the Super Six stage. New Zealand won the toss in Port Elizabeth and put Australia in to bat and the decision seemed perfect with Shane Bond in the side. And Bond did not disappoint either. His initial blitz left Australia tottering at 84 for 7 and in the unlikely position of a having to play catch up. But Australia's Mr. Fix-it Michael Bevan found an unlikely ally in Andrew Bichel as the two put together 94 runs for the eighth wicket and took the Australian score to a somewhere respectable 208 for 9.
208 was perhaps not a monumental score to have to chase but Bond's exploits with the ball seemed to have spurred on the Aussie pace duo of McGrath and Lee. Even before the New Zealand batsmen had figured out how the pitch was playing, they wanted to play their shots and as a result, succumbed. A makeshift opening batsman in Daniel Vettori was also no help with experienced players like Lou Vincent and Nathan Astle batting at numbers six and three respectively.
The chase got off to a poor start and there when it seemed as if New Zealand were on their way to recovery, Brett Lee struck. He had Fleming caught behind by Gilchrist and this for some reason triggered a collapse so grave that when the dust had settled, Lee had claimed five wickets in just 15 balls! New Zealand had fallen from a respectable 102 for 5 to 112 all out. The match was suddenly over!
No amount of analysis was going to be enough to find out what had happened and things only got worse when New Zealand surrendered again a few days later to India. Irresponsible batting was the unanimous cry, but the problem ran deeper.
A mismanaged campaign and ad hoc planning was what had brought about the downfall of a team that always promised more than what it delivered. Some believed that despite being among the top six teams, this was New Zealand's worst World Cup campaign since 1987. Fleming praised the efforts of Bond, but in the end, it was not enough to cover up for the shortcomings of the batsmen. "I was delighted for him, on a losing day you have to keep things in perspective and it was a fine spell. You shouldn't push it aside because we lost, it was the best seam bowling spell by a New Zealander and I think it should be celebrated," Fleming said.
As for Australia, the accolades continued to flow as they proved once again that it is unwise to write them off no matter how hopeless the situation may seem. Captain Ricky Ponting was generous in his praise for Bichel and Bevan, the two protagonists of Australia's revival. "We have got a lot of very good players in a very good team and we back ourselves to win from any situation," he said. And how true it rings to this day! But the match remains Lee's for a fine burst of 5 for nearly nothing. And all of New Zealand!
