2004 Champions Trophy Final: Winning it the Calypso way

Invincibility was once a word associated with the West Indian cricket team. Undefeated in any challenge, against any team, the West Indies ruled the roost in cricket. Slowly however, times started to change and this aura of invincibility started to fade. So much so, that at one point all that remained of West Indies cricket was merely memories of their fabled past.

It was then in these troubling times nearly nine years ago, in 2004, that West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy, defeating hosts England. The significance of the win was not lost on anyone even as various cricketing almanacs tore into the tournament’s drawbacks rather than elaborate on its importance. But criticism about the tournament aside, that one win did a lot to restore the fast-falling hopes about the future of cricket in the Caribbean.

While talented cricketers continued to emerge as before, West Indian cricket lamented the fact that none of these talents were able to conjure up a cricketing show befitting their talent. Winning the 2004 Champions Trophy though changed all of that, in the most understated of manners.

In bowler-friendly conditions at the Oval, it was Brian Lara who won the toss and elected to field. As the English wickets started to fall, the decision seemed reinforced. The English openers put up just 12 runs, before Vikram Solanki surrendered his wicket for four runs. But before skipper Vaughn and Trescothick could even begin to get into their act, Vaughn had lost his wicket for seven runs. Strauss and Flintoff too were dispatched back to the pavilion in quick succession leaving Marcus Trescothick to grapple at straws – literally – at the other end. It was only when Ashley Giles stayed on with Trescothick to help put up a 63-run stand for the seventh-wicket that England managed to re-stabilise their crumbling batting.

Marcus Trescothick’s painstakingly constructed innings got England to get past 200. But when Trescothick was run-out at 104, the English batting order folded yet again. This time for good with 217 runs on board. Wavell Hinds was the pick of the West Indian bowlers, grabbing three wickets for 24 runs in his allotted 10 overs. His career-best, the bowling effort couldn’t have come at a better time.

With just 218 runs needed to win, things seemed to be falling in place for West Indies. A mediocre total that didn’t reflect anything except one man’s determination to stay on and fight till the very last, the target didn’t really bode well for the English bowlers. Lara, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Gayle and Bravo made for a formidable batting line-up and it was on these guys that the team’s and the nation’s hopes rested.

Though, amongst the five, it was perhaps Lara on whom the world’s eyes were attuned far more closely than the remaining four. In the twilight of his career then, the gutsy left-hander had just recently set a massive cricketing record by becoming the first man to score a quadruple-hundred in a Test match. But in light of the team’s poor performance, Lara’s heroics had become a subject of immense criticism – even being scorned at – amongst all cricketing pundits. It also didn’t help matters that England had crushed West Indies in the previous three Test matches in that series, essentially making the fourth Test a dead rubber.

Lara’s captaincy was also the raging topic of debate with many questioning his captaincy skills. In a world where Lara symbolised élan, he was just as suddenly made out to be a pariah. Thus it was only justified that the West Indian run-chase and subsequent victory was as significant for Lara as it was overwhelming for the entire West Indian cricketing outfit.

The term ‘overwhelming’ quite described the West Indian run-chase. When the West Indies’ top order crumbled – in a manner not so dissimilar to the English – England seemed to have accomplished the task. Wavell Hinds was the first to be dispatched at 19, followed by Sarwan at 35. Soon, Gayle and Lara followed the openers, leaving behind Chanderpaul to come up with an act emulating Trescothick, with only the tail-enders to support him.

The unexpected loss of Chanderpaul’s wicket however, at 147, clearly caused the game to change in England’s favour. Victory seemed at hand for England with just two wickets to go, and 71-runs still required. A partnership developing at this late stage too seemed unlikely. After all, what could two bowlers do to fight-back when more seasoned batsmen had failed before them?

Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw however, did just that. Defying expectations, and overcoming visibility problems due to the absence of floodlights, these two bowlers stood tall in the face of the English bowlers, snatching away all possibilities of victory that England may have harboured. Their ninth wicket stand netted them the victory in the 49th over even as England wondered about their loss of hold on the match.

A comprehensive win with the right amount of audaciousness, the moment when the West Indians held the Champions Trophy came to be etched in the minds forever. The tournament’s scheduling may have been wrong with the most ill-suited venue hosting the finals. But in the end none of that mattered. West Indies had conquered it all, in spite of all the odds stacked against them from the very start of the tournament.