In three weeks time it will be 5 years since the ban on cricket fans being allowed to come onto the pitch for the celebrations on the final day and being able watch the presentation ceremony in the pavilion. Now, the presentation takes place on the pitch and the public remain in their seats.
What changed it all? A solitary beer can thrown by a pakistan supporter in 2001 in a match Australia vs Pakistan at Lords.
Cricinfo provides some info on the incident which i feel was an overreaction by the authorities. It was one of my favourite moments as a child being able to walk around after a match on the Lord’s turf which is like a carpet – I would sometimes take my shoes off it was that soft.

I do have a point somewhere in this story in that grounds around the country have had to recruit huge amounts of security staff and make it clear to fans that they can’t go on the pitch for in my opinion very little gain. I also have huge issues with australian sportsmen and as with many english am always wanting us to win the series against them.

We have photos at home taken of the complete panoramic scenes of the cricket ground and it’s hard to realise that i will never get to see that again in real life for an international ground. In other countries such as india and pakistan they put 10 foot fences up to prevent fans coming onto the ground and have done for 20 years. But in the UK 20 years ago you could actually sit on the grass during the game if the seats were all sold out or even the benches put out on the boundary line it just seems wrong. Australia, South Africa, and West Indies are largely the same and you feel that the same would happen, but the regulatory bodies have decreed that no member of the public should enter the field of play and they should be prosecuted. It’s largely been fine the net result has been very few people staying for the presentation ceremony and I often wish that Michael Bevan had not been struck by that beer can and that it had not been thrown
Here he is after being struck by the can:

I like many cricket fans around the world am speechless having just seen what could be talked about as the greatest match in One Day International Cricket ever

The match was won by South Africa and they win the 5 match series 3-2, but what was on show today was simply magical.

South Africa had convincingly won the first two matches, but Australia came back to win the 3rd and 4th with increasing confidence and with South Africa going into the final match without opening bowler and all rounder Shaun Pollock – only last week he topped the ICC rankings for best all rounder and bowler in One Day International (ODI) cricket.

So, all did not seem to be looking good, and it looked possible that Australia could become the 3rd side to come back from 2-0 down in a 5 match ODI series by winning today.

Australia started well with Captain Ricky Ponting winning the toss on what was a good track to bat on at the Johannesburg New Wanderer’s Stadium. In front of a capacity crowd they destroyed the South African bowlers on a flat pitch and a lightning fast outfield to score a world record 434 for 4. This was the first time in a 50 over international match that a team had scored 400 and this was an even bigger score than it looks as it was scored against quality opposition. The top 3 scores before this match on the list of the highest team totals had been scored against Kenya, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh who are the bottom 3 in the ICC team rankings. This total was scored at 8.68 runs/over

Ricky Ponting had top scored with 164 off 151 balls with contributions from all the top 6 batsmen. It looked like it would be a formality posting such a score and having the advantage of batting first in a Day-night match.

However, history is there to be rewritten as the South Africans came out to bat, they scored at just above a run a ball in the first power play matching the Australian’s scoring for the same stage in their innings – however they lost opening batsman Boeta Dippenaar early in the second over. This allowed a 187 run partnership between South African captain Graeme Smith and Hershelle Gibbs – Smith scored 90 runs off 55 balls and Gibbs made his top score in ODI’s: 175 off 111 balls blasting the Australian bowlers all over the ground. AB de Villiers went cheaply and then Gibbs played one shot too many leaving wicket keeper batsmen Mark Boucher to finish things off. He still needed to score at more than a run a ball and losing the last recognised batsman, Kallis at 327 for 5 with 13 overs to go it would be some feat if they could get there. Boucher had good support from Johan van der Wath however he was dismissed by Nathan Bracken who was the only bowler to come out of the match with respectable figures taking 5 for 67 (going for a mere 6.7 runs per over). Telemachus and Andrew Hall played a few shots but ultimately it was down to Boucher to score the winning runs and bring up his 50 with the number 11 batsman Makhaya Ntini as partner. He did it with a ball to spare and the celebrations began.

How many records were broken in this match? The list will be huge, including probably the shortest time period for having the highest team total in a ODI match. Mick Lewis’s figures of 10 overs no wicket for 113 are the most expensive ever and the match aggregate of 872 runs will take some beating. Add to that the record of most sixes in a match, highest team total to lose a match and the personal records for Hershelle Gibbs and Ricky Ponting for highest scores in a ODI.

I will have to watch the highlights again – if there’s been a better ODI match, I’m yet to see it