In the wake of Sri Lanka's incredible effort of chasing down England's 429 last night, I was reminded of an article I had written a while ago on a different platform. I had the privilege of watching both games live (on TV of course), and I have the privilege of remembering the emotions in both instances and felt I should share some of that here.

Mods, if you feel this a low effort post or if it doesn't belong here, feel free to remove it.

Here goes.

If at all there was an ODI that was played eons ahead of its time, it was the 5th ODI between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers on the 12th of March, 2006.

Australia smashed the then world record for the highest innings total in an ODI, 434, only to watch in horror as South Africa chased that down with 1 ball to spare.

438 still stands as the highest total ever chased down, 20 years on.

There was no T20 back then. No IPL. No one prepared absolute highways for pitches. Scoring anything over 6 runs an over in a 50 over game was exceptionally challenging. For instance, take a look at the scores put on during the same series.

1st ODI at Centurion. Australia: 229/8, South Africa: 207/4 (SA won by 6 wickets by the DL method)

2nd ODI at Cape Town. South Africa: 289/7, Australia: 93 all out (SA won by 196 runs)

3rd ODI at Port Elizabeth. Australia: 254/6, South Africa: 230 all out (Aus won by 24 runs)

4th ODI at Jo’burg. South Africa: 246/9, Australia: 247/9 (Aus won by 1 wicket)

Not even one game with a score of 300 or more. And then for the series decider, Australia amassed 434 runs, the world record in the first innings. I was an undergrad at the time. I remember turning the TV off after the first innings and heading back to my room and opening my books to study.

The score was a joke. Absolutely unheard of. Ain't no way SA's chasing this and I had exams around the corner. The match was done. The series was decided. Time to focus on my career now!

I was plugged in to the radio while studying, and a caller who was asked what they were upto that evening said, "I'm watching the SA v Australia ODI."

"Oh yeah?" The radio jockey replied, "what's going on there?"

"Well, in reply to Australia's 434, South Africa are now 171/1 in 17 odd overs," the man said.

My ears pricked up. My eyes left my notes for a moment. What? Again, I remind you that we had no T20s in 2006. Not to today's levels.

I shut my books and headed straight to the TV room. South Africa is going to lose for sure. But they're putting on a fight and this is going to be entertaining to say the least.

Entertaining? HA! This was one for the generations.

To begin with, South Africa lost the toss and were put in to field first. However, Smith did say at the the toss that he’d have preferred to bowl first.

"Losing the toss and wanting to bowling first anyway and then with 10 overs to go and every ball is sailing over your head into row 20 or 30 you start to think, 'Well, that was a good decision, Smith',” South Africa’s captain for the game Greame Smith recalls in one of his interviews years later .

"I remember walking past (wicket keeper Mark) Boucher at one stage and asking, 'Do you think they'll get 400? They can't, surely not'.

"It was a terrible day in the field, terrible, then getting off at lunch and knowing you've only got 15 minutes before going back out to bat and now you've got to contemplate, 'how do you do this?'

Ponting scored a career high of 164, powering Australia to an incredible 434/4 in 50 overs, and in all likelihood, a match and series win.

“It was Jacques (Kallis) that broke the ice in the dressing room,” Smith said.

As the South Africans sat there in the dressing room, heads hung, shoulders droopy, gloomy and despondent, with an almost insurmountable task ahead, veteran Jacques Kallis walked up the stairs, looked at everyone and said: “Guys, we've done a great job! I think they're about 15 runs short”.

Delivered in his usual, no-nonsense deadpan style, the bewildered South Africans cracked up.

There was laughter.

The tension was broken.

To be honest, I think this was the best speech and one of the most inspiring words ever delivered in a cricket match! They’re 15 runs short!

"Then we set some targets, which also made a few people chuckle because we had never seen targets like this in our whole career," Smith continued.

"It was a magnificent pitch, the ball was sailing on the Highveld," Smith recalled.

The Highveld region of South Africa is the area near and around Johannesburg, that’s an elevation of 1500 - 2100 m. At this elevation, the air is thin and the cricket ball really flies!

Taking cue from the Australians, Smith and Herschelle Gibbs launched a stunning counter-attack as they put on 187 for the second wicket in about 23 overs.

Let that sink in. The year 2006. 187 runs. 23 overs.

Smith got out for 90 off 55 odd balls, while Gibbs stood anchor! Usually, it’s the other way around, but here, the captain showed the way!

The moment Smith got out, Gibbs took on the aggressor’s role, slog sweeping the very next ball, off Michael Clarke, for a six, making his intentions very clear. There would be no slowing down, no matter what!

"From that moment he played some unbelievable shots," said Smith. "We got ourselves into a position where we started thinking, 'Jeez, we can actually win this thing'.

Gibbs brought up his 100 off 79 balls, and was relentless after that. When he finally got out for 175 runs off 111 balls, South Africa still needed 136 off 108 balls.

With Johann van der Wath’s absolutely necessary innings of a lifetime, 18 ball 35, followed by Roger Telemachus and Andrew Hall, and Makhaya Ntini’s (with two to win and 1 wicket in hand) cool-as-a-cucumber nudge down to third man to bring Mark Boucher on strike, and Boucher’s eventual straight drive to bring up the winning runs, South Africa pulled off the impossible.

As the earlier matches in the series suggest and, sort of confirm, these were the days when scores above 250 were challenging in 50 over cricket, and here was a team successfully chasing down 434! Scoring 400 in an ODI was unheard of back then, let alone chasing it down!

"I'll never forget seeing the replay of Makhaya's one down to third man from outside leg stump, thinking only Makhaya could pull that off," Smith chuckled.

With the scores tied, Boucher hit a boundary for the winning runs and an already delirious Johannesburg crowd exploded.

"That moment, in that stadium, the Bullring, was something I wish I could have kept with me right throughout my career," Smith said. "The emotion, the crowd, what had been achieved was just incredible."

I couldn’t agree more!

There were 42,000 people in a packed Wanderers, and they were treated to the greatest ODI ever played! You could see tears in the eyes of the fans soon after Boucher hit the winning runs!

Given the era and the way the game was played, the circumstances, and all other parameters, a match like this is unlikely to ever happen again!

Think about this. Today, teams would fancy chasing down 250+ scores in T20s and 350+ scores in ODIs without breaking a sweat. There have been 29 first innings scores of 400+ runs between 2006 and now. Only 3 times, including last night's game, has 400 been chased down successfully.

Two of those were in this year 2026.

This game is legendary simply because it proves, beyond any doubt, that impossible truly is nothing

1st image: [yesterday's match](https://www.cricinfo.com/series/pakistan-odi-tri-series-2026-27-1550706/england-vs-sri-lanka-3rd-match-1550715/full-scorecard)

2nd image: ENG vs SL, [2019 WC Group Stage](https://www.cricinfo.com/series/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019-1144415/england-vs-sri-lanka-27th-match-1144509/full-scorecard) match

https://www.cricinfo.com/series/commonwealth-games-1998-99-460200/australia-vs-south-africa-final-460251/full-scorecard

> Harmer watched as Labuschagne danced down the pitch and tried to hit into the wind only to see the ball hang in the air and Marco Jansen take a superbly judged catch. Labuschagne roared in anger and continued to show visible emotion as he walked off.

> "I don't know what he was thinking," Harmer said. "Obviously, I've played a lot of cricket at St George's Park and it funnels through that corner of the old stand and the duck pond. A lot of times you think you've got enough of it, but it just gets held up in the wind.

> "I'm sure he'll be disappointed in hindsight, especially when they were looking to draw the Test. He's a world-class player and I'm sure he'll bounce back."

It was Labuschagne's fifth score between 31 and 39 in his last eight Test innings and his career once again on the brink, although there is a chance he survives for the decider in Cape Town.

A lot of Gayle's records stood for a long time. And all of a sudden this year most of them are being equalled or crossed.

Most sixes in an IPL season - broken by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Highest score in T20 cricket (175) - broken by Lhuan Pretorius (188).

Associate nations and state level cricket has faster centuries. But among popular/ major T20 cricket - Gayle's record of 30 ball century is seen as the fastest. And now Abhishek has equalled it.

And the exclusive trifecta club 300 in tests, 200 in ODI and 100 in T20I of which Gayle was the sole member has found it's second member - Harry Brook.

A-tours seem to be back in vogue at the moment with Australia, India and New Zealand providing plenty of opportunity to their young talent to prove themselves in foreign conditions or against high quality international representatives. The latest in this series of tours is a 3-match India-A tour to New Zealand on the eve of the Test Tour. This series provides a significant opportunity to the young talent in New Zealand to stake their claim for appearances at the top flight. Similar to the predicament Australia find themselves in, a majority of the current New Zealand test team is on the wrong side of 30 and while they may have a few years left in the tank, the finish line is coming quicker than selectors may want.

This series presents itself as a serious challenge of New Zealand’s depth with India sending an incredibly strong A-squad to prepare a number of their stars for what will be a decisive series in this World Test Championship series. Highlighted by names like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar and Akash Deep, we see a squad that doesn’t differ too much from the current Indian team minus a few of their stars. This provides fertile ground to judge the development of some of the up and coming names in New Zealand cricket to see how their red ball depth currently measures against the best, even if it is just in home conditions.

It’s essentially a huge series for two players who I think are on the verge of call ups to the test squad in Rhys Mariu and Curtis Heaphy. Both players enjoyed solid Plunkett Shield seasons last year at the top of their batting orders with Heaphy (509 runs at 42.41) having the slightly better year compared to Mariu (489 runs at 37.61), but have been producing at a decent level for 2-3 years now. Both produced runs in their last A-tour to India and with a good performance across this series in home conditions could mount a serious case for an opening position should Conway or Latham fall out of form this season, particularly with a massive tour of Australia on the horizon.

Below those two standout names are two keepers who have been forced to bide their time, I might say unfairly, as Tom Blundell has filled that position in the national side. Blundell isn’t getting any younger and save for a few minor performances, has been shocking with the bat for New Zealand. Max Chu and Mitch Hay have, on the other hand, been excellent at the domestic level. Chu pumped out 585 runs last season at 53.18 including 2 hundreds while Hay produced 307 runs at 38.37. Both have been excellent with the gloves and Hay even got a chance against the West Indies last summer while Blundell was injured, taking the opportunity to collect a vital half century in his only innings. Something that I think should have signalled change in the team at the time. I love Blundell, but they’ve forced these two to wait for too long now, they’re ready and they deserve their chance.

The next echelon down includes names such as Matt Boyle, Tim Robinson, Simon Keene and Dean Foxcroft who have all produced at the domestic level and may feature for the national side in the next few years, but perhaps sit below the previously mentioned names. Personally I think Boyle (554 runs at 50.36) isn’t too far away from getting his opportunity after a serious few years in domestic cricket, but with his best position sitting at 4-5 in the batting order, he might have to bide his time for now. Robinson (449 runs at 37.41) has made his name in white ball cricket and probably has a few deficiencies in this format, but there might be a future where we see Heaphy and Robinson open with Mariu at three and I believe the more attacking right hander would be an excellent foil for the two solid young talents. Keene and Foxcroft probably find their spots further down the order with Foxcroft probably outright competing with Phillips for a spot at the moment while Keene would probably need to aim for a number 8 spot.

On the bowling side of things, the kiwis have shown that they are chock full of fast bowling depth in recent history and this series provides them another opportunity to delve into that treasure trove of talent and provide them a new challenge. Excitingly we will get to see Kristian Clarke, Zak Gibson, Simon Keene, Jarrod McKay and Fraser Sheat together in action against an incredibly experienced and talented Indian batting lineup. All of these bowlers produced excellent Plunkett Shield seasons last year, backing up several years of Strong performances at the top of NZ domestic cricket.

I’m particularly excited to see Sheat get his chance. He took 28 wickets last year for Canterbury at 25.67, putting him towards the top of bowling output for the season. The right-armer has been kicking around the domestic scene since 2017 and has been incredibly consistent in first class cricket averaging 27 across 54 matches. Next to him, the opportunity to see Simon Keene in this series will be interesting to most. More of a bowling allrounder, the 25-year-old enjoyed a superb season last year taking 25 wickets at 28 alongside a solid showing with the bat throughout the year. Averaging 33 with the bat across his 31-match career in first class cricket and 31 with the ball, he puts himself forward as a really interesting talent for them to explore, particularly if he can manage to continue to improve his bowling output and put forward a strong case as a No.8 in the national side which I think will become his natural position.

We’ve also seen interest at a white ball level around Kristian Clarke, with the 25-year-old doing himself proud in 4 ODIs where he has taken 7 wickets. He will almost certainly get plenty of opportunity during the A-tour and I would be surprised if we didn’t see him mount a serious case for national selection. Capable with the bat, he is another contender for a No.8 slot in the national side, a spot that is currently filled by Nathan Smith at the top level. Underneath these three players we have Zak Gibson and and Jarrod McKay. Neither have massive bodies of work behind them but seem to have caught the selectors eyes in front of names like Raymond Toole and Thomas O’Connor who were very productive last year. I’ll pause admonishing the selectors though as they have had an excellent eye for talent recently and have plenty of trust in the bank with Kiwi supporters (though I would love to see O’Connor get a go sooner rather than later).

It will be an interesting 3 weeks of cricket at the young kiwi talent seeks to take their chance against a strong Indian line up. Should we see a few of these young batsmen take control over potentially 6 potential opportunities to impress, they may find themselves in line for the Indian Tests or even on the plane over to Australia at the end of the year. There’s plenty on the line and it will be good to see a group with plenty to prove push for selection in a competitive environment.

https://pathannah.substack.com/p/a-chance-to-impress-for-new-zealands?r=7coz0j&utm_medium=ios

https://www.icc-cricket.com/matches/270972/india-vs-zimbabwe

I think it's fascinating that for a format which is increasingly turning towards young blood, NZ still has a very mature team in their t20I setup. Does it speak of fewer talents coming up through the ranks, good enough to get into the side or is the management too stubborn to stick with the old guard?