We had set a target of 252, but South Africa were closing in as the rain started coming down. Jonty Rhodes kept running two to me at deep mid-off and the ball was getting wetter and wetter. I remember Ian Botham shouting, "for God's sake stop letting him have two runs", so I said: "Why don't you come field here, because I tell you what, they'll run three to you if you do."
Then I went to Graham Gooch, the captain, and told him we had to appeal against the rain because it was becoming ridiculous. The ball was slippery, hard to pick up, and if we had carried on like that they would have won the game hands down. So I managed to persuade Goochy to go with me to the umpires and they called us off with South Africa needing 22 runs off the final 13 balls. Thank goodness they did.
The game couldn't be extended because of television demands, so by the time we were able to go back out, the umpires had shortened the game to leave them with just one ball left. A new rule introduced for that World Cup meant the target was reduced only by the amount of runs we had scored in our least productive two overs with the bat. That meant they were left needing 21 runs from their final ball.
None of us could work out what they needed and the scoreboard actually got it wrong, showing 22. At that time even the umpires were battling to work it out. It was a very unfair way to do it. For them to have lost two overs and then be left needing more than 20 off one ball was shocking.
Brian McMillan was facing the final ball for them, and I was with him as he was walking out. I said: "You make sure it's a bloody big hit, because you've got to get that off one ball, I've never seen a 22 before." He wasn't very amused. In the end he just blocked it and we walked off having won the game.
South Africa's players were very down afterwards. A couple of them came and had drinks with us and they ended up all in our dressing room but of course they were despondent. They had lost a chance to get into the World Cup final, having just got back into cricket after being banned when their government brought in apartheid.
It was a big thing for them but also for me as it was the first time I had played against South Africa. It was great playing against people that I had played with and against when I was being brought up.
I think we would have lost if we hadn't stopped for the rain, but we deserved to reach the final as we were the best team throughout the competition. A win's a win, and we didn't feel like we were particularly lucky or anything like that. Those were the rules, and that was it really.
