Jonty Rhodes flies into Inzamam's stumps
The 1992 run out that changed notions of what was possible in fielding, and made a poster boy of a young South African
In the 31st over Inzamam missed a heave to leg off Brian McMillan, but took off for a leg-bye even as Imran, the non-striker, took a couple of strides and then stopped. Jonty Rhodes had already made his mark in international cricket as an outstanding fielder but he chose this instant to conjure up one of the defining moments of the tournament.
You'd have thought that Jonty's team-mates would have been used to his exploits in the field, but this run out was clearly out of the ordinary. "I was appealing for lbw," says McMillan, "but out of the corner of the eye I saw Jonty diving in. I'd never seen a bloke dive at the wickets ever before." Rhodes himself had a simple explanation for his action: "There was a 50% chance that I'd hit the stumps if I threw, and a 100% chance of hitting the stumps with ball in hand. The fastest way I could cover the last metre and a half was head-first. It was just the right thing to do at the time."
Pakistan needed 59 from less than six overs when Inzamam fell, and their plight became more dire when Imran fell in the next over. Rhodes' bit of magic had turned the game around, but he wasn't done yet: Ijaz Ahmed fell to another piece of brilliance, as Rhodes held on to a steepler while almost falling backwards. The rest of the Pakistan batting fell away, and South Africa rode on Rhodes' inspirational presence in the field to steal to victory by 20 runs.