Ten terrific cameos in ODI cricket

Johannes van der Wath v/s Australia (35 off 18 balls) , 2006

Compared to the slug-fest that took place, courtesy centuries from Australian captain Ricky Ponting and Proteas’ Herschelle Gibbs, the stroke-filled cameo from Johannes van der Wath looks tiny in terms of the runs scored. But it was a pivotal knock under the circumstances, and worth its weight in gold as South Africa mounted a heroic pursuit of the challenging 434-run target set for them.

After Gibbs departed, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher kept the scorecard ticking with a 28-run stand, but once Kallis and the big-hitting Justin Kemp were dismissed with South Africa still needing a lot more, the pressure mounted. It required a serious intervention, and luckily for them, it came in the shape of van der Wath.

He smacked two towering sixes off the hapless Mick Lewis, then helped himself to a boundary and another massive six off Nathan Bracken. Suddenly the runs started flowing as the 400-run mark appeared around the corner.

Bracken took out van der Wath with South Africa still short by forty-odd runs, but it was to be a day of miracles, and Boucher creamed the penultimate ball of the innings for a boundary to trigger wild celebrations in the dressing room. In the context of the game, however, van der Wath’s innings proved crucial.