Five Tri-Series which you might have forgotten about

While Test cricket keeps living and dying after every Test result and T20 enjoys the love and affection of plenty, ODIs are having the classic middle child crisis. Puritans of the game have Test cricket in a corner of their heart while T20 attracts the audience who never saw cricket before. In between these two, ODI cricket is gradually losing its prominence.

However, in its glorious past, a few ODI series have been immensely popular. Amidst the bilateral and multinational series, the true favourite of the fans remains to be tri-series. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank series or England’s Natwest series were watched all over the cricket world and were thoroughly enjoyed by the fans.

With not many ODI Tri-series being scheduled nowadays, here are five tri-series that you will never believe actually happened.

1 - Coca-Cola Triangular Series, 1998 (India - Bangladesh - Kenya)

In the vast number of ODIs that India has played, this series seems to have been forgotten amongst the scorecards. In 1998, India indulged in a tri-series with two non-Test playing nations. Such a scenario is unimaginable with today’s Indian team and the fixtures it takes part in.

This triangular series was played in the month of May, which is not the usual playing season in India. Surprisingly all the seven ODIs (two rounds of league matches and one final) were played at different grounds all over India. The final was hosted by Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

India was undoubtedly one of the two finalists but their path to the final was not unblemished. The hosts shockingly lost a match against Kenya at Gwalior as Maurice Odumbe’s all-around performance of 83 and 3/14 stopped India from chasing 266.

In the final, Kenya batting first were all-out for 196 with Venkatesh Prasad taking 4/23. In reply, Sachin Tendulkar scored 100 from 103 balls to drive India home with 9 wickets remaining. Steve Tikolo was named Man of the series for his all-round performances.

2 - Benson and Hedges Triangular Series, 1994-95 (Australia, England, Zimbabwe)

Ricky Ponting played for Australia A in the Tri-series of 1994

The concept of ODI tri-series in Australia originated from the World Series Cricket, the rebellion under the leadership of the visionary businessman Kerry Packer. These Tri-series were played annually from 1978-79 to 2014-15. One of the most extraordinary amongst them was the 1994-95 Tri-series.

Apart from the two visiting nations (England and Zimbabwe), Cricket Australia decided to include another team in the mix. The upcoming young Australian cricketers were bunched to form a team named Australia A. Captained by Damien Martyn, the team included the likes of Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Michael Bevan and Matthew Hayden.

Rather not surprisingly, the Australia A team defeated Zimbabwe twice and England once to end up second on the points table. The finals of the tri-series were eventually played between Australia and Australia A. Australia defeated the A team in two consecutive finals to seal the series.

Since the matches played by Australia A team were not considered as official ODIs, the series is considered a tri-series. The performance of the A team revealed the quality of the bench strength that Australia possessed those days.

3 - Morocco Cup, 2002 (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa)

The Morocco Cup - 2002

A tri-series including Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka must not stand out as something extraordinary. Yet what made this series special was its venue. The series was played in Tangier, Morocco. This was the first occasion of international cricket played in North Africa.

The tournament was organized at the behest of a wealthy businessman from the United Arab Emirates named Abdul Rahman Bukhatir. The National Cricket Stadium in Morocco was specially built for the purpose of staging this tournament.

Pakistan managed to win only one out of their four matches while Sri Lanka topped the group table with three wins from their encounters. The final was played between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Jayasuriya’s run-a-ball 71 helped SL to 235/7 in the final match and their disciplined bowling consisting of Vaas and Muralitharan oversaw a 27-run victory.

Sanath Jayasuriya, with 299 runs from five matches, ended as the highest run-getter of the tournament while Pakistani captain Waqar Younis picked 11 wickets with his lethal fast bowling.

4 - Singapore Challenge, 1999 (India, West Indies, Zimbabwe)

Rahul Dravid's century was nullified by Ridley Jacobs' 124(93) who is behind the wickets in this photo

Another tri-series between three Test-playing nations which was hosted in unfamiliar conditions was the 1999 ODI challenge. The Kallang Ground, Singapore hosted the short tri-series consisting of four ODIs between India, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.

In the only round, West Indies defeated both the teams comfortably. In the match between India and Zimbabwe, India won by a mammoth margin of 117 runs in a 30-over encounter. Sachin Tendulkar's 85(72) and Ajay Jadeja’s 88(61) catapulted India to 245/6 in just 30 overs and Indian bowling did the rest.

The final between India and West Indies was washed out on day one and was restarted on the following day. Rahul Dravid’s 103* taking India to 254/6 was bettered by Ridley Jacobs whose smashing 124(93) handed WI the series win.

Similar series was played the next year in 2000 with South Africa, New Zealand, and Pakistan participating. South Africa won the series and the Singapore Challenge was discontinued thereafter.

5 - Triangular Test series, 1912 ( England, South Africa, Australia)

The idea of Triangular Test Series was shelved after the 1912 experiment

In the same year that the Titanic sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the idea of triangular Test series suffered a similar ordeal. Poor weather conditions in England and a weakened Australian team did no favour to the novel idea of triangular Test series. The experiment was not repeated until the year 1999.

In the 1909 meeting of the Imperial Cricket Council, the idea of a tri-series involving all the three Test-playing nations was floated. In 1912, England invited Australia and South Africa in a series containing six Test matches.

The notable absence of Australian heroes like Victor Trumper and Clem Hill made the team unpopular. The crowd displayed a very little interest in turning up for the neutral matches between Australia and South Africa.

The series was won by the hosts England, who won four out of the six Test matches while Australia finished second. The most memorable incident from the tournament was Australian bowler Jimmy Matthews taking two hat-tricks in two innings of the same match on the same day. The record still stands.

A similar tournament was played between India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in 1999 and 2001-02 known as the ‘Asian Test Championship’ but it also failed to get the desired viewership.