Date-stamped : 10 Oct94 - 14:45 Pakistan v Australia, Test 2 Rawalpindi, 5-9 October 1994 ====> Day 1, 5 Oct 94 Not since _Arabian Nights_ went out of print has there been a fa- ble from this part of the world to equal the one that unfolded for Australia in the second Test at Pindi Stadium here today. The portents could hardly have been more grim in the morning. Australia had been sent in to bat under overcast skies on a pitch for which neither team hesitated to add an extra paceman and about which Pakistan were so apprehensive that they fought unsuc- cessfully to have it cut again last night. Australia were still gathering themselves mentally from the disappointment of the first Test, and needed to win here to sustain their hopes for the series, and now Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were armed and lying in wait. Met with these dire forebodings, Australia`s batsmen closed their minds and opened their shoulders to reach 3-305 at stumps, drawn in long shadows 45 minutes late because of Pakistan`s indictably slow over rate. Michael Slater (110) and Mark Taylor (69) ran up 176 for the first wicket to create a record for Australia against Pakistan and ensure there is a part of Rawalpindi that will forever be Wagga. Later, Mark Waugh (61 not out) and Michael Bevan (52 not out) added 107 runs for the fourth wicket. Only David Boon missed the party, bowled second ball for four. Slater shrugged off a chance at two to make the third dashing century of his still fledgling Test career, and celebrated it with characteristic exuberance, punching the air while only half- way through the first of three eventual runs. Perhaps his wariness of the pitch, and his gratitude to have been dropped by Mohsin Kamal at point from Waqar so early in his innings, drew from him a new store of concentration, for there were almost no flights of fancy thereafter. There were in- stead 14 commanding boundaries, none better than the brace of cover drives off Waqar that cleared him from superstitious peril at 87. ``I put that down as one of my best innings, when you consider the attack,`` he said. ``We thought we were in for a real torrid time after seeing the practice decks yesterday. It was nice to convert one. I`ve got close three times in the last couple of months [three 90s last season]. I had the early let-off, so I wanted to make them pay.`` Taylor had said quite reasonably that he needed only a lucky break and a couple of good shots to recapture his form. Now they came his way, and so he was able to live down at the first opportunity his pair in the first Test. He was relieved to push Akram to mid-wicket for his first run, chilled by a perilously close lbw appeal on Waqar`s first ball, warmed to feel the middle of the bat on a couple of solid pull shots from Akram, and only too glad to raise his bat for 50 when umpire Mahboob Shah awarded him runs for what looked like leg byes. There was another chance at 64, but Shah and providence abandoned him a few overs later when he was judged lbw to a ball from Mohsin Kamal, delivered from around the wicket and almost certainly destined to miss leg stump. Australia are learning quickly that Pakistan are at their most deadly when they seem at their most benign, and they soon had two more wickets. David Boon (4) made an atypical error of judge- ment, playing around Ahmed`s stock wrong-`un to be bowled, and when a tiring Slater nicked Mohsin to Inzamam Ul Haq at lone slip, Australia had slipped to 3-198. But there were not so many devils in this pitch as had been anti- cipated, and in any case Pakistan had by now lost the penetration of their champion, Akram. He seemed to be labouring all day under a back strain that caused him to miss-field horribly a couple of times, necessitated the wearing of a sweater all morning and forced him from the field for good after tea. Neither he nor Waqar took a wicket, about which there would have been enormous odds at the start of the day. Mohsin, 31, playing in his first Test for seven years, boasted the wickets of both openers, which was at least partial repara- tion for missing the straightforward chance he was offered at point by Slater from Waqar when he was merely two. Thanks Greg Baum, staff reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au) ====> Day 2, 6 Oct 94 Australia were 489 for six at tea on the second day of the second Test at Rawalpindi on Thursday. Resuming at 405 for 5 after lunch, they added 84 runs in the second session, losing one more wicket. Ian Healy the tourists` wicket-keeper was caught at long off by Mohsin Kamal off Aamir Sohail for 58. He had added 109 runs for the sixth wicket partnership with Steve Waugh. In his 133 minutes stay, Healy hit seven boundaries off his 83 balls. Waugh reached his 50 with 7 fours in 97 balls and Healy soon after got his half century. Wasim Akram who had not bowled since tea on the first day was brought on after lunch. Waugh was caught at backward point by Mushtaq when 59 but umpire Liebenberg declared Akram`s delivery a no ball. Steve Waugh on 84 was in sight of his eighth test century and Shane Warne was there with 12 when the teams went in for tea. Contributed by vasa (Vasanthan.Dasan@Central.Sun.COM) ====> Day 2, more Lady luck was cruel to Steve Waugh at Pindi Stadium today, when she took away his wicket two runs short of a century after one of his bravest and most meritorious innings. But with Waugh`s spirit as inspiration, Australia made their own luck, achieving the overnight objective of a score beyond 500 and so taking the high morale ground in the second Test against Pakistan. The match was now abridged to a single question: do Australia, after declaring at 9-521, have the penetration in attack to bowl out Pakistan twice to win the match and square the series? Pakistan made a flying start, but Waugh figured again when he caught opener Saeed Anwar (15) in gully from Craig McDermott. At stumps, they were 1-48. Waugh had taken the best blows of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis for more than four hours and was on the doorstep of his eighth Test century when he arched back from another steepling delivery from Waqar, only for the ball to drop against his heel and trick- le into his off-stump. He regarded it for a moment in disgust, then stalked off, knowing that however hard-earned and invaluable were his 98 runs, and how much he had had to offer his body as a sacrifice to make them, posterity only recognises centuries. Six of Australia`s first seven batsmen surpassed 50, Steve Waugh and the ever dependable Ian Healy (58) today joining the hard- headed accumulation; it was never a spree. There were century partnerships for the first, fourth and seventh wickets, and 65 more runs from the tail that was so limp in the first Test. Pakistan rotated seven bowlers through the crease, in every style, from the searing pace and swing of Wasim and Waqar to the mild leg-spin of captain Salim Mailk. Remarkably, Waqar`s only wicket other than Waugh in Australia`s 10 1/2 hour innings was from a dodgy lbw decision against Michael Bevan, and Wasim`s only wicket was from the last ball of the innings. This pair, remember, have taken more than 400 Test wickets between them and are the scourge of the world`s batsmen. Their subjugation here was partly due to the fortitude of Australia`s batting, partly due to the docility of the much- feared pitch and partly because they were unable to bowl for long stretches of the innings. Waqar did not bowl for the first hour today and Akram not until well after lunch because of the rule forbidding a player who leaves the field from bowling until he has been back again for as long as he was absent. Both were treated for injuries yesterday evening, though neither appeared enfeebled by anything other than the inescapable heat today. Their absence was crucial to the mood of the match, if not its direction. Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed bowled through the first session, but there was little to excite in his 16 overs, and he was not called upon again. In these circumstances, Australia were a little careless to lose the wickets of Mark Waugh (68) and Michael Bevan (70). Bevan was unlucky to be ruled lbw by umpire Mahboob Shah to a ball that might easily have been passing leg stump in Waqar`s second over. Waugh was, well, Waugh - top-edging an extravagant pull shot against Mohsin Kamal; Aamir Sohail did well to track the ball over his shoulder as he ran back from the slips and catch it at the second attempt. But his brother has a different temperament, altogether more unyielding to the vicissitudes of fate, more dedicated to realis- ing his talents. Pakistan tried him sorely on his reknown discomfiture when faced with short-pitched bowling, but although he was made to hop and writhe, he did not flinch. Whenever the looser ball came, he crunched it. The day turned on the tense and sometimes fiery hour before tea when Wasim was finally allowed back into the attack. The game was suddenly played in a new and strange dimension, in which fields- men were set close to the bat, the ball took on a life of its own and every delivery looked likely to produce a wicket, or an inju- ry, but rarely a run. Tempers rose, with Waugh pausing a number of times to protest, if not about the propriety of the bowling, then certainly about the interjections from the field. Pakistan`s humour was not improved when Waugh was caught at deep third man, only for umpire Karl Liebenberg to signal ``no-ball`` against Wasim for overstepping. Healy, who must now be considered the last of Australia`s recog- nised batsmen rather than the first of the tailenders, had nine fours in his half-century. Waugh stayed on, with valorous backing from Shane Warne and Jo Angel. Thanks Greg Baum, staff reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au) ====> Day 3, 7 Oct 94 Pakistan were struggling to avoid a follow on as their front line batting collapsed on the third day of the second Test against Australia, scoring a meagre 158 for five at lunch. While Australian bowlers dominated the first session, Pakistan replying to 521 for nine declared -- were still short of 164 runs needed to force the tourists to bat again. Inzamam ul Haq and Rashid Latif were at the crease. Pakistan resumed the third day`s play at 48 for one when Aamir Sohail was 28 and Zahid Fazal at four. Both survived confident leg before appeals within four overs of play against leg-spinner Shane Warne. Sohail, gaining confidence, played well-timed drives and cuts against Warne and pace bowlers McDermott and Damien Fleming. He reached his fifty with nine fours and soon after hooked McDer- mott for six at long leg. Fazal was bowled off stump by Fleming for 10 his first Test wicket. Fleming also ended Sohail`s two- hour stay, bowling him for 80. Sohail hit 13 fours and a six. Salim Malik was dropped at 19 by Warne in the third slip off Fleming but then played on to his wicket off McDermott for 33, leaving Pakistan 152 for four. Before lunch Pakistan lost their fifth wicket when Aamer Malik was leg before by McDermott for 11. Contributed by vasa (Vasanthan.Dasan@Central.Sun.COM) ====> Day 3, more Damien Fleming stepped into the Test spotlight as Australia bowled out Pakistan for 260 in the second Test at Pindi Stadium here today, forcing the local side to follow on for only the second time in Australia-Pakistan Tests and the first time in this country. At stumps, Pakistan were 0-28, but Australia could retire tonight with a renewed vision of their first Test victory in this country for 35 years, one that would square the series and put a mighty premium on the third Test in Lahore next month. But they will not count their chickens too hastily, for the memory of last week`s tragedy in Karachi is still too vivid. Today was a day of notable firsts for Australia. Fleming, 24, took his first four Test wickets, and would have had two more if slips chances to Mark Taylor and Shane Warne had stuck, the most productive debut performance since Tony Dodemaide took 6-58 against New Zealand at the MCG in 1987. Umpire Mahboob Shah granted Australia two lbw appeals - one each to Fleming and Craig McDermott - which was two more than he upheld in the infamous Karachi Test of 1988. McDermott also took four wickets, including that of Pakistan cap- tain Salim Malik the delivery after he had convinced the umpire to change an out-of-round ball. It was that sort of day for Aus- tralia. Less memorably, wicketkeeper Ian Healy let pass 18 byes in probably his single worst day in the post, compounding for him the nightmare of Karachi, where he missed the stumping that would have won the match for Australia. Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of Australia`s humbling of Pakistan was that for once they did not depend on Warne for wick- ets and inspiration. Indeed, it was from a rare moment of Warne submission that the good times began to flow. When Warne was as- sailed by Pakistan opener Aamir Sohail for 14 runs from one over, captain Mark Taylor did not hesitate to replace him with Fleming. Fleming`s greatest achievement, when he might hav been bound up by nerves, was to relax, for all else flows from relaxation in his bowling: rhythm, swing, accuracy and, today, Test wickets. How cricket is a game of vagaries; it was as he carried a water bottle to a parched outfielder in the President`s XI match on this ground two weeks ago that he remarked his next competitive ball would probably be bowled in the Sheffield Shield. In just his second over today, he caused Zahid Fazal (10) to play an outswinger into his off stump, uprooting it. Sohail had sailed on to 80 - 58 of them in boundaries, including a hooked six from McDermott - but now was fooled by Fleming`s dipping inswinger, his best delivery of the day, and he, too, had his off stump levelled. Salim survived Warne`s acrobatic attempt to catch him at third slip from Fleming, and proceeded in a dreamy, Mark Waugh sort of way to 33. It was then that McDermott asked to have the misshapen ball changed, and the very first delivery with the re- placement took the inside edge of Salim`s bat and dribbled into his leg stump. Aamir Malik followed, momentously lbw to McDermott and Mahboob. It was largely a case of lbw by accumulation, since Aamir was even more plainly lbw in McDermott`s previous over, but not enough to move Mahboob. Certainly there were stronger grounds for both appeals than for either of the lbws given by Mahboob in Australia`s first innings. After lunch, Rashid Latif was caught when he played too soon at Fleming`s artfully disguised slower ball and Michael Slater dived like Michael Murphy at extra cover to clasp the ball at grass height. Still the behemoth Inzamam Ul Haq stood in Ausralia`s path, but now he made the misjudgement that Australia dearly would have wished him to make in Karachi last Sunday. Inzamam swung lusti- ly, but all over a full ball from Warne, was struck on his kneel- ing back knee inside the crease, and umpire Karl Liebenberg did not hesitate to rule him lbw. Wasim Akram (45 not out) rallied the tail to defy Australia with some typically lusty hitting, but the innings finished in a characteristic shambles with he and Mohsin Kamal blaming each other for Kamal`s run out. Thanks Greg Baum, staff reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au) ====> Day 4, 8 Oct 94 Resuming at 28, openers Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar were able to take the score to 65, before Sohail was forced to retire hurt at 30 after being struck on the face by a lifting Mark Waugh delivery. Zahid Fazal lasted only 18 deliveries before hooking Mark Waugh into the hands of keeper Ian Healy for one, with Pak- istan on 79. At lunch, Saeed was batting on 47 and captain Salim Malik on 16, having added 32 runs for the second wicket. Saeed Anwar and Salim Malik fought back with a partnership of 148 for the second wicket. Salim Malik, who was dropped in the second slip by the Australian captain Mark Taylor off Jo Angel at 20, reached his 12th Test century and his first against Australia, in 161 minutes with 10 fours. Saeed Anwar had earlier reached his fifty with six fours in 168 minutes. Contributed by vasa (Vasanthan.Dasan@Central.Sun.COM) ====> Day 4, more For the second time in little more than a week, Australia have lost control of a Test match in which they held the upper hand for three days, and are slowly and painfully reliving the agonies of so many previous tours of Pakistan. Pakistan skipper Salim Malik led his team out of the wilderness, taking full advantage of the chance afforded him by his counterpart mark Taylor at 20 to make a poised and polished 155 not out by stumps on the fourth day, his 12th Test century, but his first against Australia. On the placid pitches of his upbringing, Malik is the equal of Australia's Mark Waugh as the most handsome strokemaker in the world; both make batting seem no more stressful than meditation. Saeed Anwar, the reformed dasher, made a restrained 75 in more than four-and-a-half hours and combined with Malik for a second wicket partnership of 148. He was out first ball after tea, to the shot he had so fastidiously refrained from playing for so long, slashing at a wide ball from Mark Waugh and sending a catch to wicketkeeper Ian Healy. That served only to bring back to the crease the other opener, Aamir Sohail, who had retired hurt in the morning after being struck in the mouth by a bouncer from Waugh. In his turn, he completed a half-century, his second of the match. At stumps, Pakistan were 2-324, having turned a 261-run first innings deficit into a 63-run lead. The pitch is virtually unmarked - the curator's dire pre-match warnings about it have amounted to nothing - and the match is almost certain to finish in a draw. That means Australia would have to win the third Test in Lahore next month to save a series they morally led until yesterday. The match slipped away from Australia in a disastrous first half hour after lunch. From the third ball of the session, Malik slashed at Jo Angel only for Taylor at lone slip to drop the catch to his right. It was the seventh catch to wriggle through Taylor's hands on this tour of Pakistan, a wretched statistic for a man with a reputation as one of the best slips fieldsmen in the world. It was the second missed chance of Pakistan's second innings, both denying Angel wickets, and neither had been made good by last night since the beneficiaries were both unbeaten. The blow was doubly telling on Australia because Taylor had called together his bowlers as they left the field at lunch for a pep talk, almost certainly on the crucial importance of the next session; this was the very beginning they did not need. Coach Bob Simpson's pre-series forecast that fielding would prove to be the decisive factor between two evenly matched teams was ringing hauntingly true. Then Taylor's experiment with the left-arm wrist spin of Michael Bevan went horribly awry as Malik and Anwar distributed his assortment of full-tosses and half-volleys to every boundary of Pindi Stadium. After three overs had cost 25 runs, Bevan was withdrawn, but the course of the match had been irretrievably changed. Malik and Anwar, and later Sohail, coasted through the rest of the day in the sure knowledge that Australia were mentally cowered. The morning had been only marginally more rewarding for Australia. The left-handed openers were safely in command until a bouncer from relief bowler Waugh beat Sohail's attempt to hook it and struck him in the mouth. There was confusion for a moment as Sohail retired hurt to the boundary rope, was treated, tried to return a few minutes later but was told by the umpires that he could not. Instead, he had four stitches inserted in the wound. Zahid Fazal replaced him but four overs later became a more permanent victim of Waugh's bouncer when he gloved a hook to Healy. It was a rare moment of satisfaction for the Australian wicketkeeper, who has let through 24 byes already in this match and is clearly restricted by a knee injury he sustained during the first Test, though he is not under treatment. Pakistan took an altogether more tempered and responsible approach to the second innings than the first, and on this most amiable of pitches there was not an Australian bowler who could trouble them, not even the mercurial Shane Warne. Thanks Greg Baum, staff reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au) ====> Day 5, 9 Oct 94 Skipper Salim Malik led Pakistan to safety with an unbeaten 206, his team reaching 421 for three at lunch on the final day of the second Test against Australia. Resuming at 155, with Pakistan on 324 for two, Malik hit Damien Fleming for two fours in the first over, before losing partner Aamir Sohail caught by Ian Healy off Craig McDermott. Sohail batted for 186 minutes and faced 139 balls hitting 11 fours. With Malik, he added 109 for the third wicket in 99 minutes. Malik, joined by Aamer Malik, continued to bat with flourish to reach his double century in a stay of 362 minutes, hitting 31 fours. By lunch, the skipper had added another 85 for the fourth wicket with Aamer Malik and the match was heading for a draw. After lunch, Damien Fleming became only the third man in cricket history to get a hat-trick in his Test debut on Sunday. He equals the record of Maurice Allom of England and Peter Petheric of New Zealand. Pakistan were 514 for eight at tea, ensuring a draw in the second Test against Australia on the final day. The home side had a lead of 253 runs. Salim Malik was out for a record 237, the highest by any Pakistani against Australia in Test cricket. On the last two balls of his 23rd over, Damien Fleming had Aamer Malik caught at mid-wicket by Bevan for 65 and Inzamam-ul-Haq leg before for zero. On the first delivery of his next over, he had Salim Malik caught at the wick- et by Ian Healy. Contributed by vasa (Vasanthan.Dasan@Central.Sun.COM) ====> Day 5, more It was as if, in their distant heavens, the gods of cricket had had their sport and had shaken hands on the most divine of draws. Australia`s Damien Fleming today took a hat-trick on his Test de- but, completing it momentously by having Pakistan captain Salim Malik caught behind after an epic and match-saving double centu- ry. It will long be remembered as the miracle of Rawalpindi. Fleming, shortening his run-up by 6m to the one he uses in league cricket in England, had Aamir Malik (65) caught at mid-wicket and Inzamam Ul Haq (0) plainly lbw from the last two balls of his 23rd over. At the ensuing drinks break he had prophesied: ``Salim Malik doesn`t know it yet, but he is about to become part of his- tory.`` After seven hours of batting, Malik was tiring, and after waltz- ing through an over from Jo Angel, he tickled the first ball of the next over, Fleming`s outswinger, to wicketkeeper Ian Healy. There was a momentary pause as Malik awaited the decision of um- pire Karl Liebenberg, who had thought the dismissal so obvious that he was waiting for Malik to walk. Eventually, both did what they had to do. Initially, there was stunned silence, then a burst of applause, for Fleming, for Malik, for cricket. Angel picked up the slender Fleming and spun him around on his shoulder, while Fleming men- tally pinched himself. ``It`s just amazing... it`s not a bad first Test, really,`` he said later. It was the first Test hat-trick since Australia`s Merv Hughes and the West Indies` Courtney Walsh performed the feat in the first and second Test of a series in Australia in 1988. For Fleming, it added to two hat-tricks in club cricket and another in a youth Test in the West Indies. It was also the third time a bowler had taken a hat-trick in his maiden Test, though Fleming may not care much for the historical company: England`s Maurice Allom played only four more Tests and New Zealand`s Peter Petherick only another five. Malik joins a more exulted elite; his was the seventh highest in- dividual score ever made for Pakistan, and the highest against Australia. He was unanimously man-of-the-match. So, after toiling for three wickets in nine hours, Australia suddenly had taken three in nine balls. But at 6-478, Pakistan were already 217 runs in front, too many for Australia to contemplate one final charge at victory, though there was history even in the epilogue as opening batsmen Mark Taylor and Michael Slater each took a maiden Test wicket and first Test hero Mushtaq Ahmed completed a pair. The match finished in the draw that had been its inexorable des- tiny since Malik escaped dismissal at 20 yesterday and settled in to play one of the great Test innings. The last day had been as extraordinary in its own way as the last in Karachi, filled with dramas that left one to think: ``Only in Pakistan...`` But on the bottom line, Australia remain 1-0 behind in the series, and need to win the third Test in Lahore next month to level it. Still, the improbable has become so commonplace in this series that who would dare predict against it? ``The best point is that although we are 1-0 down, I really think we have been the better side in the two games,`` Australian cap- tain Mark Taylor said. ``Here, the wicket just flattened out on us, and they batted better than in the first innings.`` Taylor may lament to his grave the catch he missed from Malik yesterday when Pakistan still trailed by 146. ``They`re the sort of chances you`ve got to take when the wicket does flatten out like that,`` he said. Malik`s sublime talents have never been fully revealed to, or respected by, Australia. He had made only three previous half- centuries and had had a poor 1992 World Cup in the Antipodes. Now, though, it was all on show. After the chance, there was nary a false shot, scarcely one that even went in the air. Even Shane Warne was mastered, and went wicketless, a rare outcome. If Australia had hoped that Malik would have gone away overnight, he was there to greet them this morning with three boundaries in Fleming`s first over; neither could have known then how astonish- ingly their days would end. Thanks Greg Baum, staff reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au)