Who was the first batsman to score a ton in the 1998 Wills International Cup?
(17 September 2002)
The knock-out championship that the ICC devised in 1998 has striven to
prove the truth in Shakespeare's oft-quoted line - "What's in a name?
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet".
Ordained the Wills International Cup in 1998, it was later called the
ICC KnockOut in 2000 before beginning life as the Champions Trophy in
2002.
Conceived primarily with the idea of globalising cricket, the first
tournament was played in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka. The very
first match provided edge-of-the-seat excitement, with the batsman who
faced the first ball going on to score the first hundred. Alistair Campbell made exactly 100 off 143 balls with seven fours and one six
while guiding the Zimbabwean side he was leading to 258 for seven in
50 overs against New Zealand.
New Zealand too were well-served by their captain Stephen Fleming, who
made 96 off 130 balls, but by the time he was dismissed the asking
rate had mounted steeply. In fact, it reached a stage when 40 runs
were needed from the last three overs. With Chris Harris at his hard-
hitting best, New Zealand, though, upped the tempo to have victory
within their grasp - they needed three runs from the last ball.
Fittingly, it was Harris who smote Neil Johnson's seventh delivery
(the first was a no-ball) through covers for a four that sealed a
memorable win for his team. Campbell, sadly, was not even nominated
the Man of the Match, as Fleming's 96 which laid the foundation for
the New Zealand win was rated as being worthier of the award.
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