ICC Champions Trophy 1998 or Wills International Cup, A Knockout Tournament
The ICC Champions Trophy 1998 or Wills International Cup or the Knockout Tournament was the very first edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 1998. This trophy changed many names throughout the time especially in the 21st century. The first season of ICC Champions Trophy 1998 was played in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The first season of the ICC Champions Trophy 1998 was so famous because there were so many stars in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka and people were loving the concept and players in a country who were not a test nation yet. Bangladeshi people were enthusiasts to watch out the TV stars in their city and fans asked to allow Bangladesh to be the part of ICC Champions Trophy 1998.
Former President of ICC Jagmohan Dalmiya introduced this ICC Knockout Trophy 1998 to make contributions of non test playing nations in the main stream of cricket along with more money earning resources as Wills International Cup.
Teams in ICC Knockout Trophy 1998 Format
There were 9 teams with a knockout format matches in the tournament. There were 9 teams but only 8 matches were played including the Final match, ICC scheduled the matches according to the viewership because matches were playing in Asia so ICC planned to start the first match with Zimbabwe vs New Zealand and that match became a last ball thriller.
ICC Champions Trophy 1998 All Match Results – First Match
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first in Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, with the help of Alistair Campbell 100 in 143 balls, Zimbabwe scored 257/7 in its inning. New Zealand came to chase and Man of the Match Stephen Fleming’s 96(130) was the most crucial runs and in the end Chris Harris played 37 not out on just 21 balls including that last ball four winning shot.
Although stadium was empty but this match bring the curiosity among the netizens to watch such matches and it became the very famous match of the Wills International Cup in 1998.
Second Knockout Match – 1st Quarter Final Match
The second match of the tournament was played between South Africa vs England. English team chose to bat first after winning the toss and England scored a mammoth target of 282 with the help of Adam Hollioake 83*(91) and Neil Fairbrother 56(78). While South African star allrounder Jacques Kallis took out 3 wickets in his 10 overs quota.
South Africa started chasing the target and Daryll Cullinan and Mike Rindel started very well with opening partnership of 113 runs in 19 overs make South Africa believe to chase the target down. Captain Hansie Cronje 67(56) and Jonty Rhodes 61(63) made crucial half centuries and chased the target easily with 20 balls remaining. Daryll Cullinan was chosen Man of the Match for his classic start and fifty.
2nd Quarter Final
Second Quarter final mage was played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on the same cricket ground in Dhaka. New Zealand only managed 188 runs in 50 overs all out where Adam Parore was the only batsman who scored fifty from New Zealand inning. Muthiah Muralidharan took out 3 wickets while spending 31 runs with a maiden over in his 10 overs quota.
Sri Lanka came out to chase this low target but their star batter Sanath Jayasurya was out on the very first ball of the second inning of Simon doull. Later Ramesh Kaluwithrana 48(76) and captain Arjun Ranatunga’s 90 not out chased the target in 43.3 after losing only five wickets. Arjun Ranatunga was chosen as Man of the Match for his captain knock.
India vs Australia
India scored score 307/8 in 50 overs with the help of 141 runs in 128 balls of Sachin Tendulkar (Man of the Match) and 48 and 71 runs by Rahul Dravid and Ajay Jadeja respectively and this became the highest score of the ICC Champions Trophy 1998. Michael Kasprowicz took out 3 batsman out with spending 71 runs in 9 overs with the 7.88 economy rate.
Australia’s top order gave good start as Mark Waugh 74(79) and Ricky Ponting 41(53) reached the half milestone but after these two no player could stand against the spin bowling of Sunil Joshi’s 8-0-57-2 and Sachin Tendulkar’s 9.1-0-38-4 spell.
4th Quarter Final Match
Forth quarter final was played between West Indies versus Pakistan. West Indies made 289/9 with a little contributions from all of the batsman including electrifying 79 in 58 balls of Philo Wallace. Wasim Akram was 10-0-55-3 and Arshad Khan and Saleem Malik took out 2-2 wickets.
Pakistan could only managed 259/9 after 50 overs and lost the match of 20 runs. Ijaz Ahmed’s 51 couldn’t help Pakistan to reach the destination of target. Keith Athurton took out 4 wickets and spend only 31 runs in 10 overs and for his swinging spell he was chosen as the Man of the Match.
Some of the big teams like Pakistan, Australia, England and New Zealand were out of the Knockout Tournament but people were enjoying the format and fans were coming to stadium to watch the matches and the host country Bangladesh was not the part of the ICC Champions Trophy 1998 due to not being the test nation.
Semi Final Match
South Africa and Sri Lanka were the first two teams to compete in the first Semi Final of the Wills International Cup 1998. This match was played between the two teams of only 39 overs due to rain and South Africa scored 240/7 with fantastic inning 113 not out in 100 balls by all rounder Jacques Kallis.
Sri Lanka’s full of stars batting was a complete failure in this match and no batsman can stand tall on the crease and Sri Lanka could only managed 132 all out in 23.4 overs. Pat Symcox and Steve Elworthy took out 3-3 wickets.
Jacques Kallis was chosen as Man of the Match for his faster century and South Africa made it to the final of the first Wills International Cup or ICC Champions Trophy 1998.
Second Semi Final
India vs West Indies was the second Semi Final of the ICC Knockout Tournament 1998. India scored 242/6 in 50 overs. Sourav Ganguly scored 83 runs in 116 balls and Robin Singh also scored half century 73 runs in 63 balls. Marvyn Dillon took out 3 batsman out and he was awarded as Man of the Match for his economical spell.
West Indies chased this target easily with 18 balls remaining while losing only 4 wickets. Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored 74 and captain Brian Lara bring West Indies team to chase the target with his important 60 not out runs in 89 balls.
The Final – South Africa vs West Indies
South Africa vs West Indies, two greatest teams of the time and tournament competed with each other for first Champions Trophy in 1998. Both teams were winners in all its last games of the Wills International Cup 1998.
West Indies came to bat first after losing the toss. West Indies inform batsman Phillo Wallace again showed his class and scored century in the final match of Wills International Cup. Phillo Wallace scored 103 in 102 balls with 11 fours and 5 hits but no other batsman can face the bowls of Jacques Kallis who took out 5 wickets including Carl Hooper’s wicket who scored 49 runs in 56 balls. Jacques Kallis’s awesome bowling stopped West Indies team on an easy score of 245 all out.
Daryll Cullinan and Mike Rindel started their chase with almost above 7 runs per over and both the openers scored 51 runs 7 overs. All other batsman also played crucial knocks and captain Hansie Cronje scored unbeaten 61 runs in 77 balls and register his name as the first winner of ICC Champions Trophy 1998 or Wills International Cup.
Jacques Kallis was chosen as Man of the Match and Man of the Tournament also for his brilliant performances throughout the whole Knockout Tournament 1998. His numbers were 37(51) and 5/30 in final of the Wills International Cup. Jacques Kallis’s 8 wickets were the most wickets in ICC Champions Trophy. He scored 164 runs in 3 matches were on the second number after Phillo Wallace who scored 221 runs in 3 matches.
