Cricket Videos To Get You Pumped Up Before The Final

In lieu of a preview, I'm putting up some videos to get everyone in the mood. Commenters are encouraged to put some up in the comments section; I will add them to the main post if they're worthy enough (which they should be, I trust you guys with these things).

Let's start with Waz making Rahul Dravid look all sorts of stupid.

Here's Ambrose destroying England in Trinidad. Look at Richie Richardson's shades and tell me the Windies are the coolest team of all time.

Here's Allan Donald bowling an absolute fearsome spell to Michael Atherton in 1998 (at Trent Bridge if memory serves). As a Pakistani, I'm proud that one of our own had a role to play in this spell; if you don't know what I'm talking about, google Javed Akhtar Donald Atherton 1998.

Six words: you just dropped the cup, son.

By the way, every time I've read about that incident (including Steve Waugh's autobiography), it is denied that Waugh ever said anything to Gibbs, least of all that most iconic of phrases. Why do I refuse to believe the denials?

Here's a sick Shoaib spell against Australia. We actually lost this match, which should give you a measure of how crap our batting was in the early part of this decade.

Brian Lara, as old-time readers will know, is easily my favorite player of all time. Here's the first video in a four-part series of his 277 against Australia, which happened to be his first hundred. Along with his own 153 in '99 at Barbados, Akmal's Karachi knock, Steve Waugh's double at Jamaica, and Laxman's rearguard in '01 (Calcutta?), it remains one of the five best innings I have ever had the privilege of watching.

Mohammad Asif has certainly bowled more important spells in his career (Karachi, Sri Lanka), but I wanted to embed this video only for how excited Athers' and Nasser Hussain get in the commentary box. Two fairest English commentators for me, and you can tell that they're genuinely excited to see this beautiful bowler in full flow.

As a bowling pair, Wasim and Waqar's peak was probably from 1991 to 1996. During this time, they had many things going for them but one obvious one was their ruthlessness and their sense of fear. They could smell that shit a mile away. Once you opened the door to the tail, it was all over. I really can't emphasize to non-Pakistanis how easy it was for these guys to rip through lower orders. This video is from an ODI in New Zealand when the hosts were coasting. They lost a wicket at the wrong time. And then Waqar took over. This video is so violent, it should come with an R-rating.

Here's some awesome sledging by Kumar Sangakkara, going for the mental and emotional weak spot of Shaun Pollock. Unless I'm badly mistaken, this is the infamous "we thought the DL score was what we had to get, not what we had to beat, oops" mix up that led to the Saffies ouster from their World Cup in 2003.

This is a fantastic catch from Paul Collingwood in the lead up to the 2005 Ashes. It's not the GREATEST catch I've ever seen, but the cameras have a great angle, and you can hear the crowd go "ooohhhh" when watching the replay. Great stuff.