Farcical end to Australia's World Cup win; Crowe takes blame

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 29 (UNI) Chaos, confusion and rain combined together to rob the Aussies the joy of winning their unprecedented treble World Cup as Ricky Ponting and Co 'mistakenly' celebrated a hat-trick feat twice while Sri Lanka was forced to bat in pitch-darkness.

Later Match Referee Jeff Crowe took the blame for the farcical finish to the World Cup final, saying ''As head of the match controlling unit, I own up responsibility.'' Crowe claimed the officials including him lost sight of the fact that once the 20 overs of the team batting second were up, the match was technically over under the Duckworth-Lewis system.

''The first time the light was offered to the Sri Lankan batsmen they had declined. The second time it was offered to them, they accepted it. Technically, that should have been the end of the match. But we made a mistake,'' he said.

He suggested the third umpire Rudi Koertzen may have initiated the process leading to chaotic scenes at the climax of the game.

''As a match referee, I too should have known it,'' the former New Zealand captain said, adding it was a 'collective' failure.

''It was complete chaos and confusion and amidst that everything happened,'' he tried to expalain haplessly.

It all started when umpires offered light to Sri Lankan batsmen Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga amidst near darkness.

Set a revised target of 269 from 36 overs, the Lankans were reduced to 206 for seven in the 33rd over when the on-field umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar decided to offer the batsmen light.

Sri Lanka were in a hopeless position, needing 63 more from three overs, and the Australians 'rightfully' assuming they had won their third successive World Cup began celebrating - only to be told by the umpires that the match might have to be continued on the reserve day.

By that time, Ricky Ponting had hugged his teammates and Glenn McGrath, in his last match for Australia, had grabbed a stump.

It was comical to see the organisers, starting to erect the podium on the ground for the prize distribution ceremony.

Thankfully, Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene came to the rescue and offered to play out the last three overs if Ricky Ponting utilised his slower bowlers.

Ponting, amused and surprised at the gesture, agreed and ended the match in most anti-climax way, opening up a debate for a Cup, which was considered cursed by many.

The match resumed, with the bowler able to see only the batsman's figure in pitch dark.

And so, in near-total gloom, Andrew Symonds bowled two over and Michael Clarke one during which Sri Lanka added nine runs and lost one wicket. Not that anyone in the crowd could see a thing.

After that, the Australians started celebrating all over again, victors by 53 runs, this time for real.

Cricket has suffered few PR disasters on a large scale as it has at this tournament but this ranks high on the list. That neither umpires nor Match Referee Jeff Crowe was confident that once 20 overs had been bowled in the second innings, a definite result could be obtained through Duckworth/Lewis is scandalous.

UNI