Moments of anger, disappointment and embarassment... as a fan

[Jono]

Okay, cricket is just a game, and as regular CWers we generally pride ourselves on being balanced cricket fans. But for most of us we still enjoy supporting our team(s) and often get caught up in the moment when our team wins. Perhaps the most telling example on CW was the 05 Ashes, with the memorable reactions from even the most balanced or cynical English cricket supporters. The sheer joy and pride was palpable.

However it can sometimes, and for some fans of team unfortunately often, go the other way as well (not so much for Aussie fans in the last decade though ). I've had the idea for this thread for a while, and after mentioning India's loss to Bangladesh in the 07 WC in the Greg Chappell documentary thread, I figured I may as well do it now.

So basically pick out a few moments where you've been experienced the most anger, embarassment or disappointment as a fan of your team. It can be due to match results, or possibly in those cases where off field controversies have occurred (drugs, sackings etc.) and made you just shake your head in disgust. I'd say its best to keep it aimed towards your team, rather than if you feel the wrong result happened, be it due to umpiring, weather or what not. So probably no mention of Aus/Ind Sydney 08 if possible.

As an Indian cricket fan, I thought about it for a while, but in the end these are the main ones that stick out. I've separated it into three categories of emotion, but really do whatever you like.

Anger
Ind in SA 3rd Test 2006

This **** me up the wall. To lose the test (and hence series) from 1-202 in the first innings was unbelievable. I was so sure at the very least that we'd draw the test series at that stage. To be so close to making history and then to lose was frustrating, but the manner in which India threw it away is what made my blood boil. That second innings batting display was a joke. The way Dravid and Tendulkar batted was embarassing to watch, and all it did was give SA the initiative, and they never looked back. Whilst I think I hid my anger reasonably well on the boards, I remember absolutely ripping into Dravid and Sachin in the tour thread like I never had done before. I criticised them heavily because it would have been such a terrific moment as an Indian fan to leave SA with a series victory, or at the very least a series draw. That test series for Indian fans was the ultimate tease.

Disappointment
Aus in Ind 3rd Test 2004

No shame in losing to Australia, but this was just a pathetic display. I remember I was studying for my Year 12 VCE exams at the time, but my excitement for the series was absolutely huge following the 1-1 draw in Aus earlier in the year. On top of that, even though Aus were 1-0 up and thrashed India in the 1st test, the 2nd test was a brilliant match which would have been a classic (whatever the result) had the rain not interfered. With Tendulkar returning as well, the 3rd test was set up to be a great match.

Instead all I remember was studying for my exams in my room with Cricinfo opened, and everytime I would lift my head I'd read the words "OUT" in the commentary. Dead set, it happened three straight times in the 4th innings where I'd read my textbook, notes and what not, and then look up to see what happened in the last overs and a new batsman would be out. I'm sure it was a great time for Aussie fans, but was painful as an Indian fan. Just a complete disappointment considering how built up the series was. And no, winning the dead rubber 4th test didn't come close to making up for it. The only good thing about that was Ponting returning to a loss, and then whinging. It was funny.

Embarassment
Ban vs Ind WC 2007

Alluded to it earlier. No real explanation necessary. Yeah it wasn't a major test in an important test series like the other two matches mentioned, but I always look forward to the World Cup and take it seriously, and for India's campaign to start like that was horrible. Was just embarassing as an Indian fan, and I don't mean to be disrespectful to Bangladesh because I love seeing them win, even if it is against India. They're my second favourite team and I proudly wear my Bangladesh ODI top to Indoor Cricket and Uni and sometimes to Crown Casino just to confuse people. But as an Indian fan this one was excruciating. I couldn't believe it happened on such a stage. The way India played was what made it worse. First WC game, and there was just no desire or motivation. They were smashed by a bunch of kids really.

It was only later in the tournament (in fact, immediately after the loss to SL when I saw the joy on the Bangladeshi players faces who were watching the Ind vs. SL game in the stands) that I was plain happy for Bangladesh. It took a while for the embarassment to go away. After just recently watching the Chappell doco, it was a tough time as an Indian cricket fan.

So what's yours? Mine are all fairly recent because when I was a younger cricket fan in the 90s and early 200s, I didn't follow the game as closely (didn't get as many live matches of India) and with as much passion. Otherwise I'm sure every test match from India's embarassing tour to Australia in 1999/2000 would have been included above.

 

[Nate]

Ah, the SA/Ind series. Was that the first Test Harris had played against India? Seem to remember myself and a few others giving him some big raps, while Indian fans kept talking about how he'd get slaughtered.

Was supporting India in that series aswell. Really good tour thread though IIRC.

 

[Chubb]

Anger

Zimbabwe v. Ireland, 2007 World Cup

This was just so bad. Until Taylor got run out, we were in command of the game and then we just panicked completely, in a feeble and shambolically poor collapse, which allowed them to get a tie when we should have won easily. It set Ireland up for their victory over Pakistan, but Zimbabwe should never have lost. I was incredibly angry with them. It still makes my blood boil to think about how awful it was!

Disappointment

Zimbabwe v. West Indies, 1st Test, 2003

A game that Zimbabwe dominated, thanks to the brilliant bowling of Ray Price and runs from Streak, Blignaut, Taibu and Matsikenyeri. We should have won and were cheated of victory by failing light. In one of the most awful pieces of bad luck ever to befall Zimbabwean cricket (and there have been many), on the third morning, during a warm-up, Trevor Gripper hit a ball out of the net, which rolled onto the pitch just as the roller was doing the wicket; the ball was rolled into the pitch and there was a delay of several hours as they tried to fix it. If that had not happened, Zimbabwe would have won this game.

Embarassment

South Africa vs. Zimbabwe, 1st Test, 2005

One of the worst test performances of all time, as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 54 before lunch on the first day, and South Africa proceeded to smash the bowling all over the park in an almost unprecedented display of contempt for the team. Once, Zimbabweans never gave up even when the odds were stacked massively against them; now, I knew in my heart we could no longer play test cricket.

I suppose I experience these three emotions far more than most fans do, but when Zimbabwe actually do something good, such as the victory over Australia, my elation is hard to describe; my post after Brendan hit the winning runs included big fonts, a declaration that it was one of the greatest days of my entire life, and a liberal use of exclaimation marks, as well as proclaiming Brendan Taylor to be a deity.

 

[Fusion]

Anger:

Shoaib and Asif testing positive for steroids. I was hurt and angry like I've never felt before at Pakistan cricket. I remember tuning out cricket altogether for a few months after that (couldn't stay away longer than that). After the match fixing scandal, this was the direst moment in the history of Pakistan cricket IMO.

Disappointment:

Pakistan in England 2006. This has nothing to do with Hairgate, which is another subject altogether. I thought that Pakistan massively underperformed in the series. This series signaled the steady decline of Pakistan (leading up to my "embarrassment" entry below). It may be hard to remember, but under Woolmer and Inzi's leadership, Pakistan had been ranked as high as second in the world at one point. They had defeated India and England at home and SL away. Asif was a great addition to a potential bowling lineup of Shoaib, Gul, and Kaneria. The middle order was formidable with Inzi, Younis, and Yousaf. I really thought the team was poised for a sustained run at brilliance, not off the Aussie level, but good enough to maintain that number 2 ranking. A lot of different factors led to an almost 180 degrees reversal in fortunes. This is the series that captures my disappointment of lost potential.

Embarrassment:

WC lost to Ireland. Enough said really.

 

[Richard]

Okay, cricket is just a game, and as regular CWers we generally pride ourselves on being balanced cricket fans. But for most of us we still enjoy supporting our team(s) and often get caught up in the moment when our team wins. Perhaps the most telling example on CW was the 05 Ashes, with the memorable reactions from even the most balanced or cynical English cricket supporters. The sheer joy and pride was palpable.

Like this you mean?

Anyway, great idea for a thread TBH, best I've seen for a fair while. My selection...

Anger:

I've never been more annoyed than I was after the Wanderers Test in 2001\02, between South Africa and Australia. That game had no right, ever to happen; everything that South Africa could possibly do badly, they did. Dropped catches; crap seam-bowling; nothing batting in the face of totally unthreatening bowling. Even when people've done that much wrong, though, they rarely face margins this awful. Innings and 360 runs. And South Africa thereafter, not before time, showed what they should be doing to Australia, and matched them seamlessly in the next 2 Tests, winning one vibrant victory and losing one close loss. Why that rubbish had to happen first I'll never, ever know.

Disappointment:

Nothing that I can recall disappointed me more than the 2001 Ashes. England had played some of the best cricket you could ever wish to see in 2000 and 2000\01, had built a team I'd been hoping to see built for, well, the best part of a decade (Atherton, <Trescothick>, Hussain, Vaughan, Stewart, Thorpe, Ramprakash, White, Cork, Caddick, Gough), and had triumphed more notably than perhaps at any time in their history (first win ever over Zimbabwe, first win over West Indies for 31 years, first win in Pakistan for nearly 40, first win ever in Sri Lanka). Everything seemed to be set-up for a chance to pull the rug from under the Australians, who had very recently won 16 Tests in a row. But in the last Test before the series, things started to go wrong. Injuries struck (Cork had already missed the winter and was coming back, soon to be realised patently not his proper self; White and Hussain being the first casualties of the summer; Vaughan and Thorpe would soon go down too), dropped catches (which had been virtually eliminated the previous summer and winter) returned with a vengeange in the last game before said Ashes series. And with those two in place, forget it - you've no chance of beating Australia. Things got worse and worse still with the lookback; Atherton had a very sad end to his career, one that would blight his legacy in certain blinkered eyes; Cork, possibly my favourite player ever, dropped away completely and never returned; White was quite never the same again, though he still had his moments; and the partnership of Gough and Caddick bowled utter rubbish (utterly excessive no-balls inclusive), starting exactly the same time as the dropped catches did, and were again never to bowl together in a Test after that series. When so many circumstances conspire against you and so many of the things go wrong that I most hate to see going wrong, there can't be much worse really.

Embarrassment:

It's probably fortunate I don't remember the Zimbabwe tour of 1996\97 as it was actually happening. As it is, the worst I remember feeling was in 1999, when England were dumped out of the World Cup, the home World Cup, in the opening round. The performance was not all bad; they won two fine victories (as well as one formality against Kenya), but had two shocking defeats. Had South Africa, as expected, beaten Zimbabwe, they'd have gone through anyway. But they'd have gone through if they hadn't lost so badly to South Africa and India. It wasn't as though England had a poor side, though certainly the build-up had not gone as it might have hoped. Nick Knight had been axed from the side due to awful form and replaced by the makeshift Nasser Hussain; Andrew Flintoff and Adam Hollioake represented a decidedly soft underbelly. But in Gough, Fraser, Mullally, Ealham and Croft, England had a very good bowling-attack; in Hick, Fairbrother and Stewart, three fine batsmen. This made it totally inexplicable that things should go so badly. And the bowlers did their job juuuust fine; but the batsmen were simply abysmal. Rarely have I seen worse one-day batting, except often in 2001 and onwards from England once again. And the worst of it was, it was a very, very fine tournament. If England had been involved, even if they hadn't made the semis, it'd have been even better.

Delight\satisfaction:

I've never been more pleased than I was at the end of the summer of 2000. Not merely because someone twice my age plus another four or five years would have had no memory whatsoever of the last time England beat West Indies in a Test series, which is what the summer culminated in. But because everything went so well; things fell slowly into place as the summer wore on, like a puzzle being put together piece by piece, a puzzle that should have been long since in place, and one that I'd seen the pieces come close to coming together many times. The seam-bowling and catching were, from Lord's onwards, only exceptionally rarely short of superlative. The bowlers - Gough, Caddick, Cork and White - were bowlers who should have first teamed-up, and not been split, 5 years previously. Finally, they were united and performing as I'd always believed they could. The batting was far from faultless, but in Atherton, Hussain (though woefully out of touch), Vaughan, Stewart and Thorpe, a line-up I'd glimpsed two summers ago (with Mark Butcher, currently awfully out of nick, in first) fell into place once more as the summer wore on. Things went brilliantly from the start; Caddick, Gough and Edward Giddins, of all people, bowled Zimbabwe out twice, brilliantly exploiting a seaming surface; the batsmen then built a massive score. Though Zimbabwe came back somewhat unexpectedly at Trent Bridge, the weather saved the day, and then the West Indies series started poorly. But everything turned around from that Lord's game onwards, the game I still rate the best and most thrilling I've ever seen. The ODI series started iffily, but even then a side I'd watched closely play well in South Africa the previous winter pulled together and eventually won easily. Then West Indies were slowly overcome, culminating in a September victory as my 15th birthday approached, with my mum and dad soon to reconcile after a marriage split. All was about as well as it could ever be.

Understatedness:

I'll always look back with something of a smirk at the Edgbaston Test in 2005. A game that could not have involved more of a pivot, surely ever, finished of course with England claiming a victory which had seemingly slipped away about 3 or 4 different times. As probably half the country (and certainly the 7 or 8 people in the room with me) jumped up and down as if insane, I simply sat my chair smiling. I sat there for a good couple of minutes, simply astonished with what I'd just seen. And what happened next made it all the more remarkable.

 

[Langeveldt]

Anger
Any time our politics get involved with our cricket.. Be it the latest boo-hooing, when a good coloured player gets "tagged" with the quota tag, or any other rumblings that go on that aren't cricket related.. Not only does it upset me as an SA fan, but it makes me upset with the country..

Disappointment
WC semi final 99.. The only time i've cried over a sporting event.. I thought for some reason we had Steve Elworthy still to bat, so the gravity of the situation didn't hit me until slightly later..

Embaressment
The Jo'burg test in 2002 vs Australia.. or any time the Cronje saga rears its head.. I've forgiven Hansie, but I appreciate that a lot of people won't, and thats fair enough

 

[Nate]

That Zimbabwe/WI Test is indeed so frustrating.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Haha, trust Richard to add two new emotions to the list.

 

[biased indian]

Haha, trust Richard to add two new emotions to the list.

thank god he added only 2

 

[Burgey]

Anger:
Ashes 2005, especially the litany of poor decisions against our batsmen and in particular D Martyn.

Disappointment:
The last scoring shot of the Edgbaston test in 2005, when Lee absolutely smoked a square drive. Off the bat, I really thought it was four, my beer hit the roof, then I realised they had a fielder (probably some blow in not fit to play 3rd level League, but a good fielder) on the boundary. 3 or 4 metres either side for 2 would have been a great result on that shot, and not really too much to ask imo.

Embarrasment:

That these guys played for Australia:
http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/7970.html
http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6523.html

 

[Langeveldt]

Haha, trust Richard to add two new emotions to the list.

Cyber-emotions

 

[Beleg]

Anger

Sharjah 2002. Hayden outscored the combined Pakistani total of both innings. Enough said.
St. John's 2000. Wasim Akram took 11 wickets amidst some of the worst umpiring I have ever seen and some absolutely attrocious fielding by Saqlain as WI won by a single wicket.
'99 World Cup Final.

Disappointment

Hobart '99. We SHOULD have won that. We SHOULD have.
What Fusion said.

Embarrasment

The defeat to Ireland. It cannot get more embarrasing than that.

 

[jeevan]

Anger: A momentary mix of anger and disappointment at Sydney. Has passed since, as I believe that none of the antagonists (Bucknor, Aussie players) are in any way evil and that most of the Indian players are not truly hopeless (3 wickets in an over was a situation driven freak). Ofcourse I have the luxury of being a couch potato , as far as cricket is concerned.

Disappointment: (of the lasting kind) - WC final 2003. Australia was clearly the better team, that day , year and decade. But still a better performance was hoped for, since that may have been the peak of the Indian ODI team for a while. Seemed so then and does so even now. (The T20I tournament win helped some, but not really).

Embarassment: Losing in WC2007 to Bangladesh. They've come a long way, yadda yadda, and played a very tight game all around that day. But the Indian team had no business losing to them that day, and India going to BD and winning everything the next month just emphasized that point.

 

[haroon510]

20/ 20 world cup final
world cup 1999 final


Disappointment

The whole South Africa tour of Pakistan.. the test matches and the pitches that were made..
PAKISTAN tour of England in 2006.

Embarassment:
Ireland Vs Pakistan world cup 2007.
Asif and shoaib testing Positive.
Shaoib and asif Fight.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Anger
Trent Bridge, 2005 Ashes Test. The sofa nearly had a huge chunk taken out of it when Vaughan was caught off Warne (?, might have been Trescothick caught at slip actually). I tend to get angry when I'm very very nervous.

Disappointment
Waking up on the final day of the Adelaide Ashes Test 2006. I'd not bothered to get up at 5 or 6 AM like normal, thinking that it would be a dead set draw. The horror as I saw the scoreline was pretty devastating.

Embarrassment
Mmm, can't really remember actually. I was too young to appeciate how bad we were in the 1999 New Zealand series. Probably the opening day of the 2006-07 Ashes actually. That was pretty low.


If this had been about Bangladesh I could have written a dissertation about all three.

 

[Richard]

What I was wondering was why it wasn't. Always thought you had more affinity with Bangladesh than England.

Perhaps being so young in 1999 you might also not appreciate that we weren't actually quite as bad as some of the 1990s-bashers would have you believe.

 

[Sanz]

Anger :- When India were not able to chase 120 run in WI in 1996/97

Dissapointment :- When one of my fav. player Azhar was found guilty for match fixing

Embarrasment :- WC 1996 India-SL SemiFinal and India-Pak Test 1999 test match @Kolkata.

 

[howardj]

Disappointment:

Nothing could top Boxing Day 1996. Looking forward to that Test match so much, with Haydos making his return. Then Curtley ruined the whole day for Haydos and me. I have never been so disappointed watching a cricket match.

 

[aussie]

DISAPPOINTMENT:

From day 3 onwards of the epic kolkatta test. Waking up in the early morning hours here as a cricket crazy 12 year old & seeing that carnage unfold was such a headache even to this day it gives me nightmares. I have never been so angry after watching a game of cricket. After that i realised i was bit too obsessed about cricket (although i still shamefully portray my obession for the game on this site), thus it took a back seat to ***, birds & gaming...

 

[Swervy]

What I was wondering was why it wasn't. Always thought you had more affinity with Bangladesh than England.

Perhaps being so young in 1999 you might also not appreciate that we weren't actually quite as bad as some of the 1990s-bashers would have you believe.

oh come on...that 1999 England team was a nightmare. The standard of Englands play that summer was a low as it probably ever has been. Shocking