Date-stamped : 09 Sep94 - 14:30 4 Nation Singer ODI tournament Australia v Pakistan, Match #2 Tyronne Fernando Stadium, Colombo, 7 September 1994 Aus defeated Pak by 28 runs in the second game of the 4-nation tourney. Scores: Aus 179/7 in 50 overs, Pak 151/9 in 50 overs. Once again a match at this tourney was affected by rain: over- night rain had left moisture on the wicket which was expected to dry and play better as the day wore on. The toss was crucial and Malik called correctly. As expected he put Aus in who were in trouble in the first over of spin. Both Mushtaq and Akram Raza were turning the ball square. Boon was bowled by Raza through the gate with one that came backa yard. The Waughs were stumped going down to the leggie Mushtaq. Earlier Wasim struck to get Slater caught at gully (Mujtaba fracturing his finger in the process -- he is out of the tournament) and Taylor lbw. With Aus about 100/5, Pak visibly relaxed and allowed Aus to get 179/7. This was always going to be a competitive score on this wicket. Aamir Sohail played down the wrong line and was bowled by McGrath in the second over. But then Saeed Anwar and Inzimam played well to take Pak to about 90/1 with Saeed Anwar playing Tim May with ease. He took several lofted fours and a six off May. At this point the game looked easy for Pak. Racklessness and bad luck combined at thos juncture to turn the game around. Inzimam decid- ed to take on Warne who had just come on and was stranded by a leg break. Saeed Anwar pulled a muscle and retired hurt with 43 to his name. This brought in Basit and Malik as the two new bats- men in. With injuries to two players, Pak were effectively 90/4 and Basit immediately hit a Warne flipper straight back to the bowler to be caught and bowled. With the wicket playing lower and slower than at any time, the score came to standstill and Steve Waugh bowled his 10 overs for 15 runs and took three vital middel order wickets. All the aussie bowlers bowled well with SWaugh and Warne outstanding. I expected Warne to bowl well because the wicket was turning square but SWaugh was the really surprising bowler. The other surprise was that May went wicketless. He turned the ball a mile but Saeed Anwar hit him out of the attack in the first spell and he had a strangely disappionting match. For Pak, Waqar looked completely out of sorts, bowling without rhythm and pace. Man of the match: warne for 3 wickets and 30 runs. All in all an odd match as Stackpole said. Both Mushy and Warne turned the ball considerably. Mushy as usual had a lot of variety. Warne showed only the leg break and the flipper. Both offies turned the ball square. To me the surprise and winning perfromance was from McGrath, McDermott and SWaugh who bowled very well on slow and low track. The Pakistanis could not get them away and that made the crucial difference. Nobody ex- pected to take on the spinners on such a wicket so the match was going to hang on how the other bowlers held up. Taylor later said that the wicket wasn the best one could hope for a OD game because it gave much more advatntage to the bowlers. But he was pleased with the win. For Pakistan Malik seemed bereft of any ideas when he was batting and tried to slog away, finally holing out at cover. With Anwar and Mujtaba out due to injuries, Pak will have to sort out their problems with a new side. Contributed by shamim (shamim@jazz.bellcore.com)