By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, Sept 25: Pakistan must be regretting to have allowed Australia to gain confidence and composure before the start of the three-Test series. But that is exactly what a mediocre and unbalance Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) bowling attack let the visitors do as they plundered 438 runs for the loss of five wickets at stumps on the opening day of their four-day tour opener at the National Stadium on Friday.

Opener Michael Slater led Australia's run-riot with an electrifying 221 after being dropped off the third ball of the match and again on 74.

Slater batted for 318 minutes, faced 260 balls and smashed 24 boundaries and half-a-dozen sixes.

Mark Waugh, the back-bone of Australian batting, chipped in with a graceful 66 and his twin brother, Steve, scored a flawless 92 on a placid track.

The only achievement from the game, after first day's play, seems to be the wicket of Mark Taylor whose nightmare at the National Stadium continued. After having scored a pair on his captaincy debut four years ago, Taylor could last only 14 balls for his one before being trapped in front of the wickets in the fourth over of the match.

Pakistan Cricket Board's decision to give paceman Waqar Younis match practice backfired when he could bowl only seven overs in 101-over proceedings and that too in two spells of four and three overs respectively.

The speedster was far below the requirements of international cricket. Understandably though, he was playing his first competitive game in nearly three months and thus lacked fitness and form. His length was all wrong and he bowled everywhere except stumps.

Suleman Huda did no good to Younis' confidence when he dropped a regulation catch of Michael Slater at forward-short-leg.

But Younis was little concerned about his bowling. ``It's just a start. I am hoping to get better.

``It was pretty hot and I never expected to even bowl those seven overs. The basic objective of this game is to get some match practice. I am not playing to perform,'' he said.

He said although the wicket was too flat, he would try to fire all cylinders either on Saturday morning or in Australia's second innings.

``I intend to confirm my availability for the first Test to the selectors on Sunday morning. But first I have to be satisfied myself,'' he added.

Aamir Sohail, with limited bowling options, mostly relied on his two wrist spinners - Shahid Afridi and Ali Husain Rizvi - who were just a shadow of Mushtaq Ahmad. They bowled 55 overs between them and in the meantime provided the tourists the much-needed practice against leg-spin bowling.

Aamir Sohail put down 16 overs and Saeed Azad bowled 10 - probably the highest he has ever bowled in a first-class match. The two conceded 142 runs between them.

But despite the shortcomings in Karachi bowling, credit cannot be taken away from Michael Slater whose exquisite 221 was his career-best. He looked confident and timed the drives perfectly well from the middle of the willow.

Slater's previous first-class best was 219 which was against Sri Lanka at Perth in the 1995-96 series.

The 28-year-old from New South Wales took full advantage of the width and liberty given to him when he raced to his century from 167 balls with the aid of 15 boundaries.

After reaching three figures, there was no stopping Slater who displayed a variety of shots on both sides of the wicket to reach the 200-mark for the third time in his career from 248 balls with the help of 22 boundaries and five sixes.

The dominance of Derbyshire batsman can be judged from the fact that his last 71 runs came off only 44 balls, laced with three fours and five sixes. His final 99 runs came in the last session of the day.

His innings came to an end when he danced down the track to hit Ali Husain Rizvi out of the ground and only succeeded in getting a fine edge to leave Atiquz Zaman do the rest.

Slater was involved in two big partnerships with the Waugh twins.

For the third wicket, he added 132 runs in 108 minutes with Mark Waugh whose every shot spoke of elegance he has in his batting. Waugh made the shots look simple which fetched him seven boundaries and two sixes in his 94-ball innings.

For the third wicket, Slater put on an incredible 221 in 132 minutes with Steve Waugh who was extremely unlucky to miss his century by eight runs. Besides Taylor, he was the only other batsman who fell genuinely to a good ball.

Waugh was caught behind off Afridi to a ball that turned sharply across him after he had faced 145 balls during his 155 minutes stay at the wicket. His innings spiced six boundaries and two sixes.

Earlier, Mark Taylor won the toss and elected to bat in hot and humid conditions in front of a small crowd.

Australia left out paceman Damien Fleming, batsman Darren Lehman and pacer-cum-spinner Colin Miller.

Karachi included Pakistan Under-19 batsman Faisal Iqbal who was earlier named as one of the four reserves. Iqbal Imam, who was named in the playing 11, was dropped from the team after he had taken the field. He was replaced by Test discard Azam Khan.

Day 2: KCCA struggling to avoid follow-on

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, Sept 26: The spectre of a follow-on, possibly leading todefeat, is staring in the face of Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) after they were left tottering by Australia on the second day of the four-day match on Saturday.

The Quaid-i-Azam Trophy champions, playing with seven specialist batsmen, were struggling at 192 for five at stumps after Australia had declared their first innings at lunch after posting a mammoth 540 for nine.

Skipper Aamir Sohail, who came out to bat at No 7, was batting on 11 and with him was Faisal Iqbal, nephew of Javed Miandad and a Pakistan Under-19 batsman. The home team requires another 199 runs to avoid the anomaly of being asked to bat again.

Barring Test reject Azam Khan, none of the Karachi batsmen could find themselves at ease against some intelligent bowling by the tourists spearheaded by Glenn McGrath.

Azam top scored with an attractive 57 that included nine boundaries in a 96-ball knock spanning over 142 minutes.

He was dismissed when a mis-timed pull off Michael Kasprowicz went right into the throat of Michael Slater at square-leg. Kasprowicz had earlier picked up the wicket of Saeed Azad (22) to finish the day with two for 56.

The 28-year-old McGrath from New South Wales, playing his first first-class match in eight months, finished with two for 42 from 14 overs. He bowled three tight spells and maintained a very decent line and length.

He produced a vicious out-swinger that accounted for Suleman Huda (6) and then deceived pinch-hitter Shahid Afridi (34) with a slower one which the batsman hit right into the hands of Ricky Ponting at covers.

Besides, he tested the potential, patience and skills of Karachi batsmen by bowling a barrage of short-pitch deliveries, particularly on Hasan Raza.

McGrath's performance should bring a sigh of relief to skipper Mark Taylor after the seamer had to pull out at last minute from the Commonwealth Games squad because of stomach muscle injury - the injury which he first sustained earlier this year in January at Sydney during the second Test against South Africa.

McGrath is the only other strike bowler left along with Damien Fleming in the touring party after Shane Warne's withdrawal took quite a punch out of the bowling attack.

Raza, world's youngest test player, survived McGrath but fell to leg-spinner Stuart MacGill. MacGill, on tour because Shane Warne is absent, delivered a beauty from round-the-wicket which not only beat Raza but also off-balanced him and left Ian Healy with a simple stumping.

Raza, whose 96-ball 29 included a six and a four, shared in an 83-run fourth wicket partnership with Azam Khan which lifted the city team from a precarious 67 for three to 150 for four.

A real opportunity was wasted by Shahid Afridi who is still without a Test cap despite playing 66 one-day internationals.

On a wicket tailor-made for the batsmen, a lot was expected from the hard-hitter but he preferred to play the four-day like the one-day and paid the price for it. Afridi kept on throwing his bat at everything and even punched six boundaries in his 35-ball innings but his dismissal forced one to think if he uses his brains.

He fell in McGrath's sixth over which turned out to be the final one of his first spell. Had he been patient, he might have received more opportunities to score and strengthen his claims for a place in the Test side. But it seems that Afridi's temperament will restrict him to only one-day cricket unless he quickly learns the difference between the two levels of the game.

Earlier in the day, Australia resumed their first innings at the overnight score of 438 for five and added another 102 runs for the loss of four wickets to declare the innings at 540 for nine.

Ricky Ponting, 12 overnight, went onto a score 52 before becoming one of the four Ali Husain Rizvi victims. Ponting's 122-ball innings was studded with five boundaries.

Ian Healy, starting the day at four, was bowled for 16 by paceman Ali Gohar who had some consolation by picking up three wickets for 74 runs.

Speedster Waqar Younis bowled another four-over spell this morning but remained as unimpressive as yesterday.

Day 3: Langer strengthens claims for Test return

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, Sept 27: Justin Langer stroked a handsome unbeaten century to strengthen his claims for a Test return as Australia put a stranglehold over Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) on the third day of the four-day match being played at the National Stadium.

Langer slammed an authoritative 101 and helped Australia declare their second innings at 192 for two, some 40 minutes before stumps.

Karachi, who earlier in the day were bowled out for 278 conceding a 262-run first innings lead, were left reeling against the ropes by comeback man Glenn McGrath who captured the wickets of Shahid Afridi and nightwatchman Atiquz Zaman as the home team finished at 11 for two.

McGrath comprehensively beat the defences of Afridi and on the last ball of the day's play dismissed Zaman who failed to fend off a short-pitch delivery to give Langer a simple catch at forward-short-leg.

Karachi, set a daunting target of 457, have a real challenge on their hands to avoid the embarrassment of starting the new season with a defeat. But with the way their stroke-makers have played in the first innings, the task of saving the match seems to be beyond their reach.

The day, however, belonged to Western Australia's 28-year-old Justin Langer who carried his dazzling form from English county circuit by stroking a classy 101.

Langer, who represented Middlesex in the English County Championship and scored over 1,300 runs, gratefully accepted the opportunity of opening the innings by playing some delightful shots which fetched him 11 boundaries and three sixes. He batted for 205 minutes during which he faced 146 balls.

It would be a great confident-booster for Langer who had been struggling to cement his place in the Australian team evident from the fact that he has played just eight Test matches in nearly five-and-a-half years since making his debut in 1992-93 against the West Indies.

Langer, whose Test best 69 is against Pakistan at Lahore, last played a Test 19 months ago against the West Indies at Adelaide.

But skipper Mark Taylor's miserable run at the National Stadium continued when he could score only 19. He had scored only one in the first innings while he had notched up a pair four year's ago in the first Test.

Taylor was shaky and unsure throughout his 52-ball innings before he offered a return catch to leg-spinner Ali Husain Rizvi.

Rizvi later picked up the wicket of Ricky Ponting to finish with two for 68. Rizvi, who had first innings figures of four for 161, now has 17 wickets in two side matches he has played in 12 months at the National Stadium. He had an 11-wicket haul against South Africa - a performance which later earned him a Test cap in the second Test at Sheikhupura.

Ponting, who looked surprised when adjudged bat-and-pad and reluctant to leave the field, scored 25 off 48 balls. He put on 60 runs with Langer who later shared in a 92-run unbroken third wicket with Ian Healy.

Healy remained undefeated on 45 that included five fours from 67 balls.

Earlier, Karachi resumed their first innings at 192 for five and were bowled out for 278 shortly before lunch.

Faisal Iqbal, starting at 20, was bowled by Gavin Robertson after scoring 36 high quality runs. The batsman batted with confidence and maturity against a full Australian attack in his entire innings spanning 16 minutes under three hours. He also hit four boundaries.

Aamir Sohail, who was overnight 11, was out after scoring 19. He was dismissed by McGrath who finished with impressive figures of three for 52.

Karachi's innings was lifted by a rapid 45-ball 41 by Waqar Younis who slammed three sixes and four boundaries. His innings was ended by leg-spinner Stuart MacGill who ended up with three wickets for 91 runs.

Michael Kasprowicz bagged three wickets for 67 runs.

Day 4: Australia thrash KCCA in tour opener

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, Sept 28: Australia opened their tour of Pakistan with a comprehensive 333-run victory over reigning Quaid-i-Azam Trophy champions Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) at the National Stadium on Monday.

The visitors took just the first session of the final day to dismiss the home team for an embarrassing 123. Karachi, set a near to impossible 457-run target, had resumed at 11 for two.

Leg-spinner Stuart MacGill claimed five wickets in 19 balls, including the first three wickets in 12 balls, to finish with six for 34. He ended with the match figures of nine for 125.

MacGill's fellow spinner Gavin Robertson provided MacGill the inroad by accounting for opener Suleman Huda (25). In the following over, he added the wicket of Saeed Azad (44) to finish with two for 48.

The dismissal of Huda, who added 69 runs for the third wicket with Azad, triggered a pathetic collapse as the last eight wickets crashed out for a meagre 43 runs.

After the dismissal of Huda, Azad and Azam Khan in a space of one run and seven balls, teenagers Hasan Raza (24) and Faisal Iqbal (7) took the score to 111.

The three batsmen lost their wickets in an amateurish style. Huda spooned an easy catch to Justin Langer at forward-short-leg, Azad struck back to Robertson and Azam Khan gave an easy catch to Glenn McGrath at deep square-leg off a full-toss by MacGill.

Like his predecessors, Hasan Raza tried to play an over-adventurous shot by dancing down the track to only succeed in getting an edge which was accepted with thanks by Mark Taylor in the slips.

Faisal Iqbal misjudged a flipper by MacGill to be adjudged leg before and when Aamir Sohail missed the line of the ball while half way down, it was all over for the home team.

The last two batsmen expectedly could not last long and were dismissed on successive balls to reward MacGill for bowling at the right spot.

MacGill, the 27-year-old from New South Wales, may not be of the same class as Shane Warne but what made him the most successful bowler of the match were his nerves, patience and strategy to make the batsmen play.

But he faces the real test of his brief five-year career when he plays the first Test of the three-match series against Pakistan from Thursday. He took five wickets in his only Test eight months ago against South Africa but Pakistan batsmen are considered to be the best on spinning tracks. Even bowler like Shane Warne struggled here four years ago though finishing with 18 wickets in the series, including nine in the first Test at Karachi.

Except for a few deliveries, MacGill showed no real demons in his bowling and if ones assessment about the Pakistan batsmen is correct, he might be the bowler against whom the home team batsmen would concentrate on scoring bulk of the runs.

Test match would be a different ball game and MacGill should not expect to get wickets off full-tosses, short-pitched balls, or batsmen senselessly charging him and missing the line in effort to hit him out of the ground.

As far as the Karachi team is concerned, the players should go back to the drawing board and review their performance and evaluate where they went wrong. If the Karachi selectors looked back, they would have now realized that by strengthening the batting order, matches cannot be saved. By playing only two bowlers you are bound to give away over 500 runs which is precisely what Australia did in the first innings.

And it requires steel nerves to bat throughout the day which was certainly lacking in Karachi batsmen. The selectors should take most of the blame for this defeat and also allowing the visitors begin the tour with a handsome victory and leaving the city team to start the domestic season with a depressing defeat.