Batted for almost 200 minutes, played 142 deliveries, remained not out. But guess, how much did he score? 49 runs!
It was a must-win game for Australia to make into the Super-Six stages of the 1999 World Cup. After having lost their group stage matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, they were up against West Indies who had already won three matches.
Aussie skipper Steve Waugh won the toss and invited the Brian Lara-led Windies to bat first at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. On a slow deck that had very little for the batsmen, one Windies batsmen stood out.
Opening with Sherwin Campbell, Ridley Jacobs lost his partner in the fifth over to Aussie quick Glenn McGrath.
McGrath soon sent another couple of Windies batsmen packing reducing the Carribeans to 20/3. Shivnarine Chanderpaul joined Jacobs in the middle and the duo forged a 44-run partnership before Chanderpaul was cleaned up by leg-spinner Shane Warne. Chanderpaul was the only other batsman who got a double-digit score of 16.
Jacobs kept losing partners from the other end until the last man Courtney Walsh joined him at 88/9.
The pair put on 22 runs, the second highest partnership of the game before the seamer too, was removed by McGrath.
As Glenn McGrath starred with the ball for Australia, dismissing five of the Carribean batsmen, Ridley Jacobs carried his bat. Jacobs turtle-paced innings of 49 runs saw him hit three fours. He missed out on a well-deserved half-century as he ran out of partners with his team scoring 110 in 46.4 overs.
It was one of the slowest innings played in ODI cricket for an opener who carried his bat. Australia's chase of 111 runs wasn't a cake-walk as they lost four wickets on the way and took 40.4 overs to go over the line and make it to the Super Six stage.
With the defeat, the Windies were out of the tournament, while Australia never looked back as they went on to win the Cup defeating Pakistan in the finals. It was Australia's first of three consecutive trophies won in 1999, 2003, 2007.