Fairytales are remembered forever because they don't happen every day. Even in the World Cup, where upsets aren't uncommon, a fairytale is cherished because it happens so rarely.
Few teams do enough to put up a string of performances that make a mark on the tournament. That is why upsets are more common than fairytale performance that lasts the duration of the tournament. But one such fairytale took place during the 2003 World Cup.
The only non-Test-playing nation to make it through to the World Cup semi-final were Kenya. History was re-written in the 2003 World Cup as the rank outsiders won four successive games to qualify for the Super Sixes stage.
After losing to India in their opening Super Six encounter, they knew that a victory was the order of the day if they were to qualify for the semi-final. But they were taking on Zimbabwe, a side that they had never beaten in ODIs before their game at Bloemfontein.
38 days to go before World Cup 2019, here is a look at Maurice Odumbe's crucial 38* that helped his side progress to their maiden World Cup semi-final.
After winning the toss, Zimbabwe elected to bat first and didn't get off to the start that they would have wanted. Although the Kenyan bowlers didn't have a lot of pace, they did enough to trouble the Zimbabwe batsmen.
Martin Suji ran through the top-order even as Andy Flower, who announced his retirement, made a circumspect start.
Collins Obuya came into the attack and took care of the middle-order and Zimbabwe were struggling at 97/7. Despite Andy Flower's defiant 63, Zimbabwe were bowled out for 133 in 44.1 overs.
In response, there was a fair bit of luck involved at the start for Kenya. Despite that, they were 62/3 when Odumbe came to the crease. And while they were almost halfway to the target, the job was still far from done.
But then Thomas Odoyo set the stage with three boundaries off Andy Blignaut. Odumbe then took over as he hit three more off Grant Flower.
After that, there was no way back for Zimbabwe, who could only watch in disbelief as Odumbe continued to send the ball to the ropes. The introduction of Douglas Marillier was welcomed with two more boundaries.
And it was all over in the final ball of the 26th over courtesy of an inside-out drive through extra cover.
And just like that, history was made as they beat Zimbabwe for the first time in ODIs thanks to Odumbe's 20-ball 38 that included eight boundaries.
The seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe secured their spot in the semi-final where they would go on to meet India in Durban.
While they would go on to lose to India by 91 runs, they had already made their mark. Courtesy of their wins over New Zealand (by walkover) and eventual semi-finalists Sri Lanka (by 53 runs) in the group stage and by becoming the first and so far only non-Test-playing nation to make it through to the World Cup semi-final.