After the conclusion of the showpiece that is the Indian Premier League, it is time to switch focus to the second shortest format of cricket – One Day Internationals (ODIs). With the advent of Twenty20, ODIs – which comprise 50 overs – do seem a tad boring to the new generation of fans that has sprouted around the world. Even so, this format has seen so many momentous occasions that it is almost impossible to imagine life without this avatar – thanks to Kerry Packer.
One of the historic occasions in this format was the conception of a short cricket tournament by the ICC in 1998 in order to raise funds for the development of cricket in the non-Test playing nations. It was dubbed as the Mini World Cup (and later officially renamed as the Wills International Cup) since all full members of the ICC were involved. A key aspect of this tournament was that it was planned as a knock-out competition, so that it was short and did not take away the sheen of the quadrennial World Cup tournament.
Since the entire contest was conceived for the benefit of non-Test playing countries, it was only fitting that the host country would be one of them, and Bangladesh was awarded that honour. Initially, it was announced that all nine ICC member nations would be ranked according to the seedings of the recently-concluded 1996 World Cup, meaning two teams had to play a qualifier to determine the final set of eight teams that would eventually play in the tournament. These two teams turned out to be New Zealand and Zimbabwe, and the tourney took off with a knockout qualifier between them.
On October 24, 1998, the Mini World Cup took off, with Kiwi pacer Simon Doull delivering the first ever legal ball of the tournament. This pre-quarter Final saw a wonderful century from Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell and a composed knock of 77 from veteran wicket-keeper batsman Andy Flower. NZ left-arm seamer Geoff Allott picked up three key wickets to restrict the opposition to 258/7. Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming led a remarkable fightback with a brilliant 96, but it was all-rounder Chris Harris and pacer Alex Tait who scored the remaining 14 runs off the last over bowled by a wayward Neil Johnson – Harris hitting the winning boundary that sent the Zimbabweans packing. A thriller to say the least.
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