World Series Cup in Aust Dec 1992/Jan 1993 - Short Report
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World Series Cup
The World Series cup was disappointing in the standard
of play and the competitiveness of some of the games. This
could be traced back to Pakistan poor performances after the
opening matches in Perth, where they defeated the West Indies
and then in Hobart where that tied with Australia. From here
on in there performances went from bad to worse beginning with
a horrendous collapse in Adelaide when they look comfortably
in control, this was followed by a lack-lustre batting
performance in the second match on the Adelaide weekend. In
the final one day match they performed the astonishing
performance of letter Phil Simmons, an average medium pacer at
best bowler 10 overs for 3 runs with no less than 4 wickets,
as they crumbled inexplicably for 81.
Although that match was not affected by a poor pitch,
the quality of the one day pitch was generally bad, the
pitches were generally slow and with inconsistent bounce. And
in one case, the match between the West Indies and Australia
in Sydney should not have been played on a pitch which was
obviously sub-standard and the sort of thing expected in
1890's not the 1990's.
Overall, the West Indies proved to be the strongest team
in competition, they provided the most consistent batsman in
Brian Lara and in Richie Richardson and Desmond Haynes had
consistent run scorers. Although Phil Simmons bubble was
burst in the finals, his bowling excelled in the early matches
and with Carl Hooper allowed the West Indies to play seven
batsmen. Ambrose proved he can bowl with the best in both
forms of cricket and Ian Bishop's late form guided them to the
trophy.
Australia would be disappointed with losing the Cup,
having fancied themselves, especially with a test victory
under their belt. However fragility in the upper order batting
exposed an inadequate lower order. IN the bowler department
Paul Reiffel slotted in as a specialist one day bowler with
the mechanical style of Ewen Chatfield, Craig McDermott bowled
well and Michael Whitney, Tim May and Tony Dodemaide all
performed admirably. However a worry for the Australian's must
be the loss of bowling form by Steven Waugh. His value to the
team as the fifth bowler is inestimable, and with Mark Waugh
taking wickets but being extremely expensive he is not yet
ready to bowl a full quota, and with the weak lower order an
extra bowler cannot be fitted in.
Pakistan were to blunt, awful. They started well, easily
beating the West Indies in Perth and then coming from the dead
to tie with Australia, but things fell apart from there on in.
The problem was simple, the batting was inexperienced and
brittle, providing one or two 50's a match but without an
innings capable of making a good total. Obviously being bowled
out for double figures twice shows something is wrong with the
batting line up. The Pakistan bowling attack is well balanced
although the fifth bowler was occasionally a problem. Wasim
Akram and Waqar Younis bowled fast and aggressively, aiming to
take wickets, although this did make them expensive on
occasions.
1 Perth West Indies 9-197 (50.0) (Lara 59 Akram 4-46)
Pakistan 5-199 (49.2) (Miandad 59* Malik 35 Raja 34)
2 Perth Australia 7-160 (50.0) (M Waugh 36 Matthews 32
Simmons 2-22)
West Indies 1-164 (38.3) (Haynes 81* Lara 29
Simmons 43*)
3 Sydney Australia 9-101 (30.0) (Jones 21 M Waugh 17
Simmons 3-11 Ambrose 3-18)
West Indies 87 (29.3) (Logie 20 Ambrose 13*
Reiffel 3-14 Whitney 2-11)
4 Hobart Australia 7-228 (50.0) (Jones 53 Taylor 46
Aaqib 2-35)
Pakistan 9-228 (50.0) (Malik 64 Mujtaba 56* Latif 39
McDermott 4-42)
5 Adelaide West Indies 7-177 (50.0) (Richardson 76* Akram 3-38)
Pakistan 173 (41.5) (Sohail 41 Raja 52 Hooper 3-31)
6 Adealide Pakistan 6-195 (47.0) (Ul-Haq 60 Mujtaba 45 Akram 36
May 2-27)
Australia 2-196 (45.1) (Taylor 78 Boon 40 Jones 48*)
7 Melbourne Australia 8-198 (50.0) (M Waugh 57 Martyn 40
S Waugh 34 Ambrose 3-25)
West Indies 194 (50.0) (Lara 74 Richardson 61
M Waugh 5-24)
8 Sydney West Indies 9-214 (50.0) (Haynes 96 Richardson 33
Younis 3-29)
Pakistan 81 (48.0) (Simmons 4-3 Patterson 2-19
Miandad 17 Younis 17)
9 Brisbane Pakistan 71 (23.4) (Latif 22* Bishop 5-25
Ambrose 3-13 Benjamin 2-16)
West Indies 1-72 (19.2) (Haynes 25* Richardson 22*)
10 Brisbane West Indies 9-197 (50.0) (Hooper 56 Haynes
36 Reiffel 3-33)
Australia 190 (49.0) (M Waugh 54 Healy 40
Patterson 2-31)
11 M'bourne Australia 6-212 (50.0) (Jones 84 Boon 64)
Pakistan 7-180 (50.0) (Raja 40 Miandad 40 Ul-Haq 39*
McDermott 2-26)
12 Sydney Australia 8-260 (50.0) (Boon 50 Taylor 58 S Waugh 64
Younis 3-55)
Pakistan 6-237 (50.0) (Raja 67 Mujtaba 47* Miandad 41
Ul-Haq 40)
Final Points Table
Team P W L T D Pts RR diff
Australia 8 5 2 1 - 11 +0.058
West Indies 8 5 3 - - 10 +0.762
Pakistan 8 1 6 1 - 3 -0.827
The Finals : West Indies won 2:0
13 Sydney West Indies 8-239 (50.0) (Lara 67 Hooper 45
Logie 38 Haynes 38)
Australia 214 (49.3) (M Waugh 51 Healy 33
Ambrose 5-32)
14 M'bourne Australia 147 (47.3) (Taylor 33 S Waugh 28
Ambrose 3-26 Hooper 2-28)
West Indies 6-148 (47.0) (Lara 60 Hooper 59*
Dodemaide 2-19)
Contributed by Phil Shead (drinnen@deakin.edu.au)