Slick Australians clinch thriller
In many ways, match eight of the Carlton and United Series (between Australian and Pakistan) did not loom as a clash of any huge import in the broader scheme of things in this triangular tournament. After another Indian loss earlier in the week appeared to all but confirm that it would be these two sides that would contest the Finals, it indeed seemed that this might even represent little more than an exercise in marking out time. Anyone who foresaw the game adhering to that script, though, was labouring under a serious misconception for this was an tough, engrossing match of cricket; a fifteen run win for Australia only coming after a long and intense struggle had been played out.
Mercifully, this day dawned clear and bright in Melbourne and the opening session of the game matched the conditions in kind. After winning the toss, the Australians moreover established some particularly positive impetus from almost the very outset of their exhibition. Openers Mark Waugh (20) and Adam Gilchrist (13) plundered as many as fourteen runs from just the second over of the day, and from there the trend of their innings was essentially established.
Around yet another cleverly crafted hand from Michael Bevan (83), the home team's batsmen capitalised upon the benevolent nature of the MCG groundstaff in conceiving a hard, true pitch and they never really relinquished the advantage. Before a sizeable crowd and in the unfamiliarly sunny (albeit cold) conditions in the Victorian capital, it was the combination of Bevan's adroit and persistent easing and deflecting of the ball into gaps in the Pakistani field; the predominantly leg side strokeplay of Ricky Ponting (53); and the raw timing and power of Andrew Symonds (35), which was largely responsible for setting the parameters for the Australians' position of strength. It was only late in the innings - and, more specifically, the middle of the forty-sixth over when the former drove in a tired fashion at a Shahid Afridi delivery to precipitate a late collapse - that the tourists indeed wrested back any sense of initiative. By then, however, it was too late to spark any real alteration to a pattern that saw the Australians finish at 9/260.
There almost immediately came a sight to warm the hearts of Pakistan supporters - the spectacle of a second choice opening batsman playing an innings of substance, and accordingly aspirations of victory remained high for much of the night. Together with the redoubtable Ijaz Ahmed (85), the freewheeling Afridi (43) indeed laid the platform for a game response from his team, and his dismissal to a needless run out might well have been the point around which the result of this encounter most acutely turned. Afridi made the most of an early life that should never have been gifted to him - Damien Martyn dropping a straight forward catch at slip when the right hander had made just five - and it was probably not fitting for him that he should have been the victim of a terrible misunderstanding with Ijaz as they reacted in completely opposite ways to a magnificent piece of fielding from Symonds at point.
Well supported by Moin Khan (33) through the middle stages, Ijaz continued to fuel the flickering Pakistani victory claims with another forceful innings in which power, concentration and application were the key words. But the Australians, even without Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne in their attack, were again too professional in the crisis and they wore their brave rivals down with a combination of accurate bowling and superb fielding when it mattered most. Of course, it is a rarity these days for any international match in Melbourne to escape some form of interruption and, as has happened so often this season, rain did force a twenty minute delay toward the end of the proceedings. As it turned out, though, all this really served to do was merely prolong the Australians' formal attainment of victory.
As a reflection of the quality of the match, it was probably instructive in itself that Australian skipper Steve Waugh was moved to remark after the match that it was his team's "best one-day win of the season". Putting all allegiances aside, the Australians' triumph also almost certainly represented a boost for the competition itself in that such an outcome kept India's vague tournament aspirations alive; the unlikely dream that the Series' third participant can still reach the ultimate stage of the competition renewed when all might otherwise have been lost.
