**Ladies and gentlemen, the awards go to…
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South Africa may have dropped out of the World Cup at the first stage itself but you can’t argue about one thing: it had to be one of the best organised tournaments. The facilities have been immaculate, the planning almost perfect and the security so tight that there have hardly been any serious or scary incidents.
The same, though, cannot be said about the cricket. While there have been brilliant hundreds and sensational spells, there were too many one-sided matches to excite the world. As we enter the final leg of the Cup, let’s look at some of the dubious records set and some of the winners:
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Fastest bowler in the world (awarded by Shoaib Akhtar): Shane Warne. For becoming the first player to go home from South Africa.
Smartest messenger award (sponsored by Sri Lanka): Nicky Boje. For passing on the wrong score to Mark Boucher in their crucial match.
Most ingenuous protest (given by Henry Olonga): Andy Flower. For continuing his protest against the Mugabe government by wearing black wristbands.
Dirtiest player (presented by Allan Donald): Lance Klusener. For being involved in two World Cup muddles.
Luckiest cricketers (awarded by Sunil Valson): Sanjay Bangar and Ajit Agarkar. For bringing much-needed good fortune to the Indian team.
Best runner in the Cup (sponsored by Sourav Ganguly): Inzamam-ul-Haq. For taking two very quick half runs where there were none. And still getting out.
Costliest bowler (sponsored by Andrew Caddick): Shoaib Akhtar. For saying he will make the Indian batsmen quiver. The quicker he bowled, the quicker he went out of the stadium.
Cleanest hitter (awarded by Rahul Dravid): Kumar Sangkarra. For waving his hands over the stumps, with ball in hand, and Gilchrist almost five metres short of the crease.
Biggest miss (awarded by Nasser Hussain): Stephen Fleming. For not going for the match in Nairobi. It helped Kenya into the semis and also kept South Africa and West Indies out of the Super Six.
Most popular men in South Africa (awarded by Shaun Pollock): Duckworth and Lewis.
Best question (awarded by a WSN lady reporter): Did you lose because you were complacent (after England were thrashed by India in a preliminary match). (Nasser Hussain’s answer, incidentally, was: ‘‘Yes, we were very complacent.
We knew that this wasn’t an important match. Thank you for asking the question.’’)
Best answer (given by Jayasuriya): Yes, We won the toss (when asked if apart from Murali’s entertaining batting, Lanka saw anything else positive in the defeat against India).
Best meal in South Africa (awarded by Inzamam): Suji with Burger.
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