The 1999 World Cup ended in tears for Klusener and South Africa but his work with bat and ball was still astonishing

For years, cricket was a game of specialists. You were expected to be good at what you were good at, and that was it. In the last couple of decades that’s all changed, and if you’re not competent in at least two disciplines then you won’t last long.

Even now, though, nobody expects you to dominate with both bat and ball. But 20 years ago, in the last World Cup to be staged in England, Lance Klusener did exactly that. Klusener was a bowler you would conservatively describe as “slippery”, but he was also a power hitter, a man described by Frank Keating as “farmer strong”, who played Twenty20 cricket four years before anyone thought to invent it.

The key to T20 batting is scoring big runs, quickly, and under pressure. Klusener excelled at the last element because, as Peter Roebuck wrote in the Observer: “Pressure cannot reduce him to a shivering wreck because he does not think it exists. It’s only a cricket match, a game and not life itself.”

Klusener confirmed as much in an interview with The Cricket Monthly this year. “For me that was my drug. That’s what I lived for. I didn’t want to be watching or be in the shed waiting for my turn … it excited me to get the winning runs or to complete a chase. That’s why I played the game. I wanted that responsibility.”

Plenty can say that sort of thing, but in his performances at the 1999 World Cup, Klusener has the receipts.

In the first game against India Klusener ripped through the top order, dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin (38,693 ODI runs between them), then came in as South Africa required 27 from 26 balls, a pretty tall order in those days. Klusener faced four deliveries, hit three of them for four and they won with 16 balls to spare.

Next, against Sri Lanka he came to the crease with his side 115 for seven, and muscled 52 off 45 balls which included a final over of 0 4 2 4 6 6. After the fourth ball, a Chaminda Vaas yorker that was launched to about two feet in front of the wide long-on boundary, the camera cut to Shaun Pollock on the balcony, laughing his head off. Following a drink and a stretch, he took three for 21 to help bowl out Sri Lanka for 110. “I must admit that I am feeling confident about my cricket at the moment,” he understated afterwards.

Then, against England, when his turn to bat came, South Africa were 168 for six, and before he could face a ball Pollock was bowled for a golden duck. He biffed 48 then bowled six overs for a mere 16 runs as England limped to 103 all out.

Next up were Kenya, who sniffed an upset when they reached 80 for two in the 18th over. Enter Klusener, who took five for 21 and ensured he could have a day off from hulking that massive, 3lb 2oz bat out to the middle, a rare occasion when his teammates were reliable enough to knock off the 153 target. In those first four games his bowling figures totalled 29.5-4-124-12 – he also scored 112 runs from 89 balls and did not get out.

Then came an upset, as South Africa lost to Zimbabwe, although naturally you could not pin that on Klusener. Chasing 234, they were seven down for 106 when he came in, a situation so dire that even his relatively measured 52 off 58 could not salvage it. “We have to work on our batting,” said the captain, Hansie Cronje. “We cannot leave it to Lance and the rest of the lower order all the time.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Klusener was in sensational form during a memorable summer’s cricket. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

But leave it to Lance they did. Chasing 220 against Pakistan in the Super Six, South Africa were staring down the barrel at 135 for six, but in our man came and hoyed 46 from 41 and they won with an over to spare. “I can’t believe it,” he apparently told a teammate. “All this pressure – and I’ve got to go out and do it again.”

Not that there was anything wrong with his belief. “Lance is a funny guy,” said Allan Donald. “I don’t know if it was confidence or nerves but he turned to me before he walked down the stairs. ‘Hey, Al,’ he said, ‘just keep that champagne on ice for me. I’ll see you soon.’”

Then, two games against Australia. In the first, the final Super Six fixture, Klusener’s contributions were relatively modest (one for 53 with the ball, 36 off 21 with the bat), but remember that Herschelle Gibbs drop when Steve Waugh was 56 runs into a matchwinning 120 – the “you’ve dropped the World Cup” catch? Take a guess who the bowler was.

And so to Edgbaston, Australia again in the semi-final. The tragedy of this World Cup is that its best player, arguably the best individual performance in any World Cup, is probably most remembered as the man running past a batless Donald, a final-ball brainfart having cost South Africa the greatest, most heartbreaking game most of us have ever seen.

But, of course, South Africa would not have been in a position to flamboyantly blow it without Klusener. With his team requiring 39 runs from 31 balls, he hit his second ball for four but then watched a series of trembling colleagues get out, waste dot balls or squirt nervy singles. He scored 31 from 16 balls, including two murdered fours from the first two balls of the final over. Then, calamity, the most infamous choke in cricket history.

“I am upset with myself that I had done all the hard work and then I didn’t do the easy part,” Klusener told Cricket Monthly. “I was there to finish it – that was my job – but where were the batters? Why did I have to bat with Al? It is not Al’s job. Where was Herschelle, where was Gary [Kirsten], where was Jonty [Rhodes], where was Daryll [Cullinan], where was Hansie? Watching? Why?”

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This wasn’t just a game that was tied and as a result a World Cup that Klusener lost, but his legacy. He won the player of the tournament, obviously, finishing with 281 runs at an average of 140.50 and a strike rate of 122.17, plus 17 wickets at 20.58. But people still talk about Edgbaston.

Throughout the tournament South Africa were regarded as the favourites, but when people said South Africa what they really meant was Lance Klusener. “All of us are 100-per-centers,” said their coach, Bob Woolmer. “But Lance is our 110-per-center.”

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