2002-03 Annual R eport 2002-03 Annual R eport - Australian Sports ...

Tributes and Milestones
Pic courtesy of Art of Cricket.
Pic courtesy of the Australian Gallery of Sport &
Olympic Museum at the MCG, Melbourne Cricket
Club Museum, Melbourne Cricket Club Library.
Top. The 1868 Indigenous team
that toured England has earned
a proud place in the history of
the game.
Bottom. The 1948 Invincibles, led
by Sir Donald Bradman, returned
from a five-month, 34-match tour
of England undefeated.
Below. Brett Lee enjoyed a
spectacular World Cup, helping
to spearhead Australia’s pace
attack.
Below bottom. Ricky Ponting
during his unbeaten 140 in the
World Cup final.
SPORT AUSTRALIA HALL OF FAME
RECOGNISES AUSTRALIAN
CRICKET SIDES
Two famous Australian cricket teams were honoured at the annual Sport Australia Hall of
Fame awards.
In the new recognition of teams category, Australia’s 1948 ‘Invincibles’ and the country’s first
touring side – the 1868 Indigenous team that toured England – were inducted at the Hall of Fame
ceremony at Crown’s Palladium Ballroom on 5 December.
Cricket Australia nominated both teams on not only the strength of their performances, but the
significant social and historical impact of their contribution to Australian culture.
Bradman’s all-conquering 1948 side, touted as one of the greatest sporting teams in Australia’s
history, returned from a five-month, 34-match tour of the United Kingdom undefeated – the first
Australian team to achieve the feat.
The performance of the side re-ignited hope, spirit and national pride among Australians
following a bleak period of depression, war and English cricket dominance for over a decade.
Long before Bradman’s Invicibles completed the journey to the United Kingdom, Australia’s first
touring side – an all-Indigenous team – rose to the challenge in 1868.
The pioneering Australian 1868 side, who played an astonishing 47 matches instead of the
scheduled 10, earned great respect for their skill, stamina and perseverance.
Drawing glowing praise from all who saw them, the Sporting Life wrote at the conclusion of their
tour: “No eleven has in one season ever played so many matches so successfully...”
Overcoming substandard travelling conditions, illness and bereavement amongst team members,
the group showed remarkable character and blazed the trail for Australian touring sides of
the future.
AUSTRALIAN SUCCESS
AUSTRALIAN ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL TEAM
AUSTRALIA’S
WORLD CUP WIN
Australia claimed one-day international cricket’s greatest prize for the third time when it defeated
India by 125 runs in the final of the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa.
Thanks to an unbeaten 140 from captain Ricky Ponting, and 88 from the injured Damien Martyn,
the Australians reached 2-359 at the end of their 50 overs – a record score for a World Cup final
and Australia’s greatest of all time.
Ponting’s knock also saw his name entered into the record books, registering the highest
individual score in a final of a World Cup.
He also clubbed eight sixes – the most by an Australian in one-day international cricket.
Despite a short-lived rain delay, the Australians dismissed India in 39.2 overs, becoming the first
side since the West Indies to have won consecutive titles.
It was a record-breaking tournament for Ponting’s men, who overcame the set-back of losing
strike bowlers Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie, to go through the competition undefeated.
Australia has now won 40 from 58 World Cup matches – the most in history.
2003 ICC Cricket World Cup. Scorebook. Page 78.
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