Grant Elliott talks to Taha Hashim about New Zealand’s historic run to the final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup and his famous semi-final performance against South Africa.
“I get people talking to me on a daily basis about what they were doing during that time and how amazing that moment was for them. To give people that kind of happiness and that elation is pretty special.”
Five runs needed from two. To win. To make the final of the World Cup. Eden Park is bubbling, ready to explode. History or heartbreak awaits New Zealand. Can the country of the All Blacks become the nation of the Black Caps?
Dale Steyn, the finest fast bowler of his generation, has the ball. South Africa’s great paceman hasn’t had the greatest of evenings, though. His 8.4 overs have gone for 70, his figures having taken an early slashing from the fearless blade of Brendon McCullum.
Australia’s chase is a comfortable one, an antithesis to the drama that unfurled when the two sides met earlier in the tournament.
Elliott and his teammates watch on as Clarke lifts the trophy. “I still think about the moment we were 150-3,” Elliott admits.
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New Zealand, forever the bridesmaid. But sometimes trophies are just trophies. And cricket is, well, just cricket.
As England’s current crop of ball-striking maestros get set to take centre-stage for the latest edition of the World Cup, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to the free-spirited ways of New Zealand’s Class of 2015. Reinvigorating a nation’s love of a sport is a different kind of reward to a World Cup title, but maybe no less of one. Legacies aren’t defined simply by trophies.
And while Elliott’s name doesn’t lie in the pantheon of cricketing greats, he will forever have that moment: a smack down the ground, a wedding to be missed and the world at his feet.
