On this day in 2003: Andy Bichel’s all-round excellence destroys England
Exactly on this day at the 2003 World Cup, former Australia pacer, Andy Bichel powered his team to a thrilling win over bitter rivals England with one of the best all-round performances in the history of the World Cup. Bichel was a one-man army on that day, taking 7 for 20 before scoring an unbeaten 34 as the eventual winners beat England in the Super Six clash at Port Elizabeth.
Had Jason Gillespie been fit for the clash, Bichel would have warmed the bench. But destiny had planned something else for the bowler. When Ricky Ponting handed the ball to Bichel, England were already off to a solid start. Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick had taken Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee to the cleaners as England raced away to 66 for no loss after nine overs. And it took Bichel less than two overs to turn things around and put Australia on top.
The right-arm pacer picked up three wickets in eight balls to put England on the backfoot. McGrath returned to his wicket-taking form by dismissing Trescothick to reduce England to 74 for 4. England were yet to recover from the string of setbacks when Bichel struck again to remove Paul Collingwood and leave the opposition reeling at 87 for 5. At the end of that over, his figures read 4 for 10 off 5 overs and he was withdrawn from the attack.
Bichel’s withdrawal from the attack was followed by a rebuilding phase for England. Australia wouldn’t strike again until his reintroduction as Alec Stewart and Andrew Flintoff helped England stop the rot. But their good work was undone in a matter of balls as Bichel came back to dismiss them in a space of three runs and reduce England to 180 for 7 from 177 for 5. He went on to pick one more wicket as England finished on 204 for 8.
Batting heroics
Bichel’s work on the day wasn’t quite done as he made his mark with the bat too after Australia’s disastrous start. Andrew Caddick wreaked havoc with the new ball to knock over Australia’s top four of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ponting and Martyn to leave the chase faltering at 48-4. Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan then took the score past the 100-run mark before the Aussies suffered another collapse to find themselves reeling at 114 for 7 from 111 for 4. Soon they were reduced to 135 for 8 before Bichel and Bevan joined hands to take their team over the line. They shared an unbeaten stand of 73 runs to guide Australia to a famous win.
