Scyld Berry, writing in The Telegraph, described
Klusener thus: “A pace bowler who hits the deck hard. A batsman who hits the
ball harder still with the heaviest bludgeon around.” Apt. And Klusener’s bat
weighed 3lb 2oz (about 1.5 kg), heavier than the willow Clive Lloyd wielded.
In the first match Klusener made a vital
breakthrough, inducing Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar to edge the ball to Mark
Boucher. He broke a century partnership between Sourav Ganguly and Rahul
Dravid, castling the latter. Finally, he had skipper Mohammad Azharuddin caught
by Nicky Boje. Klusener finished with three for 66 off 10 overs. As the match
got tense towards the end, Klusener blasted three boundaries off the four
deliveries that he faced to seal the win.
By the time South Africa took on Sri Lanka,
Klusener was in prime form. The defending champions felt the full weight of his
bludgeoning blade just when it seemed that they had the Proteas on their knees.
Klusener walked in at 115 for seven, and lost Daryll Cullinan at 122. The
bounce as well as movement in the air, and off the wicket, had all the batsmen
in trouble, but Klusener was in awesome touch. He took his chances, as he
usually did, and hammered the ball all over the ground. He added 77 for the
last two wickets with tailenders Steve Elworthy and Allan Donald. Chaminda
Vaas, who along with Muttiah Muralitharan had hounded every batsman, was hit
for 22 runs in the 50th over by Klusener, including sixes off the last two
deliveries. Klusener hit 5 fours besides the 2 sixes in his unbeaten 52 off
just 45 deliveries.
The Sri Lankan wickets fell like nine pins. This
time Klusener came on to complete the last rites. He dismissed Upul Chandana,
Vaas and Pramodaya Wickremasinghe in quick succession to ensure that there was
no rearguard action by the tail. Klusener’s three wickets cost 21 runs in 5.2
overs. There was no other contender for the man-of-the-match award.
The next encounter was with hosts, England.
Promoted two places to no.7, Klusener blasted the bowlers once again. He put on
an unbroken 57 for the eighth wicket with Mark Boucher. Klusener’s unbeaten 48
came off 40 balls with a six and 3 fours. With the ball, he dismissed Robert
Croft, finishing with one for 16 in 6 overs. He was again man-of-the-match.
The part-timers from Kenya had no clue to the
swinging deliveries of Klusener. After Elworthy and Donald had done the early
damage, Klusener ran through the lower half. He first dismissed star batsman
Steve Tikolo, having him caught by skipper Hansie Cronje. Next ball, he trapped
Thomas Odoyo leg-before. Kenyan captain Asif Karim came in to face the
hat-trick delivery. It was a yorker, which Karim managed to dig out. Soon,
Klusener induced Alpesh Vadher to hit a shoulder-high return catch to his
right. Klusener went on to wind up the Kenyan innings, knocking back the stumps
of Mohammad Sheikh and Joseph Angara. Klusener bagged five for 21 off 8.3
overs, for which he was bestowed with his third successive man-of-the-match
award.
Thus far it was smooth sailing for South Africa.
But they suffered an unexpected reverse at the hands of Zimbabwe. Klusener took
the wicket of Murray Goodwin, but when he came in to bat South Africa were a
miserable 106 for seven, chasing a target of 234. He tried to retrieve the
situation in the company of Shaun Pollock who departed at 149. Elworthy fell a
run later. With the overs running out, Klusener made a last-ditch effort with
last man Donald for company. Klusener farmed the bowling, and at the same time
played characteristically belligerent strokes. But the task was too great. With
16 deliveries remaining and 49 runs still to get, Donald succumbed to Henry
Olonga. Klusener was left stranded on 52 which he scored off 58 balls – slow by
his standards – with 2 sixes and 3 fours.
In this tournament it was felt that Klusener was
being sent in to bat far too late. This match was a case in point. Had he
batted higher he may have pulled off a win, at least he might not have run out
of partners.
The first super-six match presented a big test
as Pakistan were one of the favourites. Klusener took the wicket of Ijaz Ahmed
as Pakistan posted 220 for seven in 50 overs. This time Klusener walked in at
135 for six. Jacques Kallis helped him add 41. Mark Boucher stepped into the
breach. South Africa needed 44 off five overs. They used only four of these as
Klusener waded into the bowling, which comprised the experienced Wasim Akram,
speedster Shoaib Akhtar – who had struck deadly blows at the start of the
innings – and the wily Saqlain Mushtaq. Klusener returned triumphant with 46
off 41 balls with 3 sixes and 3 fours. There was yet another man-of-the-match
prize in his bag, the fourth in five matches. Skipper Hansie Cronje acknowledged
his invaluable contribution: “The more trouble we get ourselves in, the more he
seems to be prepared to pull us out.”
Klusener registered his first failure with the
bat when he was sent in at no.3 against New Zealand. Perhaps the critics were
wrong after all. Klusener was bowled by the naggingly accurate Gavin Larsen for
4. But he picked up the vital wickets of the belligerent Chris Cairns and Roger
Twose as South Africa won easily. Even as ‘Zulu’ Klusener disappointed with the
bat in this match, he posted a new record in Limited-overs Internationals for
the highest number of runs in a sequence before being dismissed. He was out for
the first time in 10 innings after scoring 400 runs between
2 February 1999 and 10 June 1999. His run of scores was 103 not out, 35 not
out, 13 not out, 35 not out, 12 not out, 52 not out, 48 not out, 52 not out, 46
not out and 4. The previous record was held by Javed Miandad who scored 398
runs before being dismissed after 7 innings between 20 September 1982 and 9
June 1983 This was Klusener’s first dismissal in the World Cup after playing 6
innings during which he rattled up 214 runs.
In the crucial last super-six match, South
Africa seemed to have scored enough runs, not the least due to Klusener’s
blitzkrieg. They, however, did not reckon with a resolute Australian skipper
Steve Waugh and a gift of a dropped catch that had already been taken by
Herschelle Gibbs. The bowler ........ Klusener.
Nevertheless, Cronje seemed to have got it just right by sending
Klusener at no.6. He thrashed the ball around in his inimitable style.
Forty-nine runs came in the last 5 overs. Klusener hit 36 off 21 balls with a
six and 4 fours before holing out in the last over. He lifted South Africa from
219 for four in the 45th over to 271 for seven at the end of the 50th over.
Klusener later broke the 126-run fourth-wicket partnership between Ricky
Ponting and Steve Waugh, but that was not enough to pull off a win.
The two teams met again in that nail-biting tied
semi-final. This time Australia batted first and posted a moderate total of
213. Klusener was again inexplicably demoted to no.8. He came in with South
Africa gasping for breath at 175 for six. Pollock departed at 183. Thirty runs
were needed off the last four overs. Klusener set about the bowling. He lost
Boucher and Elworthy too. When last man Donald walked in, there were still 16
runs to get off 8 deliveries. Klusener hammered seven off Glenn McGrath's last
two deliveries.
At the beginning of the last over, nine runs
remained. Klusener smashed the first two deliveries from Damien Fleming for
boundaries. The scores were level. Donald was nearly run out off the third
delivery. He decided to stay put off the next as Klusener played towards Mark
Waugh and took off. There was utter confusion that ended with Donald’s run out.
Klusener had taken South Africa to the brink of victory, and their first World
Cup final, but destiny willed otherwise. It was Australia who advanced
jubilantly to the final, having won their previous encounter. The hero of the
tournament had to return crestfallen. There was not to be a happy ending to the
fairy tale. Such is the cruel twist to fate sometimes.
In his eight innings, Lance Klusener scored 281
runs with two fifties at an average of 140.5 and a strike-rate of 122.17 or
7.33 runs per over. He took 17 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 20.58 and
an economy rate of 4.61 runs per over with a best of five wickets for 21 runs.
These are fabulous figures, but what they do not fully reveal is his awesome
hitting throughout the tournament. It would be hard to match sustained
aggression over a long period such as this. His wicket-taking ability was a
huge bonus to a team rich in pace bowling resources. Teammate Jacques Kallis paid
tribute to the brilliant allrounder: “He is a kind of guy you would like to
take to war with you.” One match away from having a dream tournament, Klusener
left no doubt in anyone’s mind about who was the real star of the 1999 World
Cup.
Even though South Africa fared disastrously in
the World Cup they hosted in 2003, Klusener’s own love affair with the event
continued during the limited opportunities that he got. Injuries had forced him
to cut down his run-up, drastically reducing his speed, but he could still bowl
the odd incisive spell. In the couple of innings that he batted, he almost
reproduced his form of 1999. His personal efforts could not be faulted in the
midst of all the gloom.
The opening day produced a shocker. South
Africa, one of the favourities, were beaten by a resurgent West Indies side in
a thriller. Docked an over for a slow over-rate, the Proteas needed a mammoth
279 to win. Klusener, playing his 150th One-day International in a seven-year
career, joined Boucher at 160 for six. They battled on but when Boucher was
dismissed, another 75 were needed off 49 balls. Boje was an admirable foil and
as the innings progressed, it seemed that the two left-handers might snatch an
exciting win. There were 9 runs required off the last over, then 8 off four
deliveries. Klusener, who had already hit five huge sixes on the on-side,
pulled again. This time his skier was taken by Carl Hooper. He was gone for 57
off 48 balls. South Africa could not pull it off, losing by 3 runs.
That really was the story of the South Africans
in a tournament they had toiled so hard to stage, failing by a whisker when it
mattered. They did make amends as they took on Kenya next, racing to a
ten-wicket win. This time Klusener shone with the ball, coming on in the latter
part of the innings. Before that he ran out top-scorer Ravindu Shah as the
Kenyans lost half the side for less than a hundred. Klusener had Maurice Odumbe
caught by Herschelle Gibbs, and trapped Collins Obuya leg-before first ball.
Soon he sent back Martin Suji, also for a duck. As Peter Ongondo tried to use
the long handle, Klusener dismissed him too. Klusener finished with four for 16
off his 8 overs and took home his fifth man-of-the-match prize of the World
Cup.
South Africa seemed to have got their act
together, hitting up 306 off the New Zealand attack. Klusener bludgeoned an
unbeaten 33 off 21 deliveries with four boundaries and a six. Sadly, a sterling
rain-interrupted century by Stephen Fleming ruined the party once again. The
Proteas were not destined to triumph on their own turf. It was also the end of
Klusener’s heroics. Coincidentally, he was at the crease at the end of both
tied matches in World Cup history, and on each occasion South Africa were
knocked out of the premier tournament.
Klusener will have bitter-sweet memories of the
World Cup. One of its most brilliant allrounders, he saw his team faltering at
crucial times. He might have been inconsistent in later years, but it seemed
cruel to drop him from the side after the 2003 tournament, and he did not adorn
the event in the Caribbean four years hence. The followers of the game were
deprived prematurely of the pleasure of watching one of the most awesome
hitters of the modern era. His batting average of 124 and strike-rate of 121.17
runs per 100 balls are by far best among batsmen who have scored at least 300
runs in the World Cup. 
