One Day Wonders:Review of Australia's Win at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Australia's Golden Moments (5) Notes-Match By Match Results
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	120:21 (Case: 124)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ricky Ponting Adam Gilchrist Damien Martyn Matthew Hayden Michael Bevan Brad Hogg Glenn McGrath Jason Gillespie Brett Lee Andy Bichel Darren Lehmann Jimmy Maher Ian Harvey
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    Who could forget the powerhouse display our one-day cricket team put on during the World Cup in February and March? The Australian team went into the eighth World Cup as defending champions and raging hot favourites to take the title again. Such is the dominance of this team in recent years, taking all before them and winning countless one day titles, that there was really little argument about them making the final. Hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, the World Cup featured teams from the ten test playing nations in addition to four of the associate non test-playing nations in Canada, Kenya, Namibia, and Netherlands.

    This disc is a two hour review of the eleven matches Ricky Ponting's men took part in during the tournament. There are the six pool matches, the three super-six matches, the semi-final against Sri Lanka, and the final against India.

    After a brief introduction showing glimpses of the 1999 final, the opening ceremony, and the possible distracting turmoil of the Shane Warne drug scandal, it's pretty much cricket highlights all the way through. The pool games against Pakistan, India, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and England are all summarised in about ten minutes each, with all the good bits from an Australian point of view on show. The best batting, the best wickets, and the memorable moments as Darren Lehmann smacked 28 off one poor Namibian's over and Glenn McGrath ripped through seven wickets in the same match are all on display. The series is narrated by an unnamed presenter, who provides chronology and summary between the games. Otherwise, it's up to the match day commentators to provide the description of what is occurring.

    The super-six matches receive a little more coverage, in particular the match against New Zealand, when Australia probably came their closest to actually losing. The Kiwis had us 7/84 and in all sorts of trouble, but a stirring effort by Michael Bevan and Andy Bichel with the bat saved the day. All the highlights of that innings are here. The semi-final against Sri Lanka was a bit of an anti-climax after the rain settled in early in Sri Lanka's run-chase. The match ended with the much maligned and often ridiculed Duckworth-Lewis algorithm deciding the winner.

    And so onto the final. On March 23, at the Wanderer's Stadium in Johannesburg, the as-yet undefeated Australians took on India to claim the mantle of the best one day cricket team in the world. The Australians were chasing their third cup, the Indians their second. The match was supposed to be a tight contest, with the individual brilliance of India's maestro Sachin Tendulkar up against the best bowler in the world in Glenn McGrath. But it didn't happen. In one of the most awesome displays of batting ever seen, the Australians pummelled the Indian bowlers and set a target so large the pressure was on India from the start. When Tendulkar fell cheaply, the World Cup was as good as over and bound for Australian shores once again.

    This World Cup was not nearly as entertaining as the excitement-filled event held in England in 1999. There were remarkably few close matches, and the apparent ease with which Australia steam-rolled their way through the tournament has exposed a gigantic chasm between the best and worst teams in the cricket world. Some criticised the ICC for the inclusion of the so-called 'minnows' of world cricket. The likes of Namibia, the Netherlands, and Canada were never going to challenge the big boys, but you can't develop or learn if you don't come up against the best. This argument is proven as weak when the likes of non-test playing nation Kenya makes the semi-finals. For me, the biggest disappointment of this tournament was the failure of the big guns of world cricket - South Africa, England, and The West Indies to a lesser extent, to stand up when the pressure was on and fail to make the last six  That's where the criticism should be directed.

Video

     This transfer is presented in an aspect of 1.33:1. It is obviously not 16x9 enhanced.

    Overall, this is a quite pleasing transfer, with rich, vibrant colours and a consistent level of sharpness throughout. The lack of a widescreen picture is slightly disappointing considering much of the sport we now see in this country is in the 1.78:1 ratio. Obviously the images were provided by the host broadcaster in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya and widescreen may simply not have been available.

    Some of the wide angle and faster moving pan shots reveal a little pixelization and blurred lines, but nothing too serious. There is some aliasing scattered throughout, again very minor in nature and almost exclusively centred on the boundary ropes around each of the grounds. It is seldom bothersome. There is no low level noise. Colours are really quite nice, with vibrant and rich images throughout, most notably on the players' uniforms. I saw no evidence of any colour problems such as bleeding or oversaturation.

    No MPEG artefacts are evident and despite the age of some of the other source material, it is in surprisingly good shape.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a dual layered disc, but I was unable to pick any layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
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Audio

    There is only one audio track available, this being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    There isn't a whole lot for the audio soundtrack to do really. There is a bit of narration which is handled effortlessly with good dynamics and fidelity. The rest of the audio is dominated by the match commentators, the players, and the crowd and sounds much like it did when shown on television. Dialogue is clear and concise at all times. Audio sync isn't an issue with any of the brief interview segments.

    There is no surround nor subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Featurette - Golden Moments

    Five of the stand-out moments from the World Cup (at least in Australia's view). Short segments on Darren Lehmann smacking 28 off an over against Namibia (2:41 minutes), Glenn McGrath claiming seven wickets for only 15 runs in the same match (3:06), Adam Gilchrist taking six catches in the same match (2:36), Andy Bichel claiming 7/20 against England (4:06), and arguably the best one day innings I have ever seen, Ricky Ponting's 140 in the final (6:33).

    One slight disappointment here is the seemingly ever-present spelling mistake on the menu. Last time I looked, our wicket-keeper was Adam Gilchrist, and not his brother Andrew Gilchrist as this menu suggests.

Notes

    Eleven static pages giving a summary of the matches Australia played throughout the World Cup. They are not full scorecards, merely scores for each team and highlights of the best batting and bowling figures. They appear to be accurate.

    This disc is not available in Region 1 and being very much aimed at Australian audiences, I would doubt that it will ever appear there. The local product is certainly the disc of choice.

    As a record of the event this is a worthwhile disc. But it is merely that - a record. There are no real interviews (other than the brief snippets with the players after the games) and no in-depth analysis of the World Cup itself. This is more likely to be found on the companion disc to this one, which is a complete two disc review of the whole World Cup.

    But make no mistake. The Australian cricket team's effort at the 2003 World Cup was remarkable, going through unbeaten and thrashing India in possibly the perfect performance in the final. They will be talking about these games for a long time to come, and for me, having the chance to own a very good quality summary of those performances is near priceless and something I will look back on quite fondly. Bring on the next World Cup in 2007 in the West Indies - a possible hat-trick of World Cup wins for the Aussies.

    The video quality is excellent, with sharp, colourful and vibrant images. There are no major problems.

    The audio does the job with little fanfare, but also no problems.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall