West Indies maintain their winning streak
Pakistan met the West Indies at Queen's Park stadium in the Spice Island of Grenada, to play the last preliminary round match of the Cable and Wireless Trophy 2000. The finalists of the tournament having already being decided, this match was only of academic interest but it certainly carried the psychological aspect of putting the losers under pressure during the finals.
Stadium was not only packed to the capacity but also looked gorgeous with thousands of spectator flying and waving the multicolored flags. They have created a wonderful cricket atmosphere.
The West Indies captain Jimmy Adams won the toss and elected to bat. The pitch was described to be a good batting track. The Pakistan team made 3 changes in the playing XI. Wajahatullah Wasti, Mohammad Wasim and Irfan Fazil had replaced Shahid Afridi Younis Khan and Wasim Akram.
The West Indies opened the innings with Campbell and Wallace against the Pakistan attack of Waqar Younis and Irfan Fazil. While Waqar was bowling well, Irfan Fazil failed to find his line direction with the result that conceded 46 runs in the 6 overs that he bowled. The West Indies batsmen punished the youngster severely, perhaps to remind the Pakistan Cricket Board that the boy was not yet mature for this level of cricket. The Windies lost their first wicket at the score of 35 when Wallace was declared LBW off Abdur Razzaq. In the first 10 overs the Windies were 41 for 1.
Abdur Razzaq and spinner Mushatq Ahmed were keeping the host under a lot of pressure. At one stage the Windies literally struggling for runs. In the first 25 overs they could only scored 85 runs for the loss of one wicket.
Pakistan met with the 2nd success when Wavell Hinds was out at the total of 88. They however, completed 100 of the innings in the 30th overs. Sherwin Campbell who was mainstay of the West Innings hoisted his 50 with a massive six off Wasti. He was eventually out for 56, bringing the Windies down to 126 for 3. Jimmy Adams was the next to go. He was run out by a direct throw from Inzamam with the Windies at 164 for 4. The turning point of the inning commenced after 40 overs when the Windies commenced a jet speed run-making spree. They lost the 5th wicket at 170 but were continuing to amass quick runs. 200 of the innings came in the 46th over while they collected 47 runs in the next 4 overs, thus ending up their inning at 248 for the loss of 6 wickets.
The flaws on the Pakistan side were the poor bowling by Irfan Fazil who conceded too many runs, the poor fielding and some dropped catches. Even skipper Moin Khan performed poorly behind the stumps. Pakistan had given a way 40-50 additional runs due to these causes.
The target of 249 runs in 49 overs was massive one considering Pakistan's past performance. Pakistan were also considered to be the bad chasers but they also had the reputation of even bringing the stars down on their day. The team only had to apply itself with the right spirit and strategy.
Pakistan opened with Wajahtullah Wasti and Imran Nazir against the bowling of Franklyn Rose and Reon King. Unfortunately the two openers started the hitting spree rather too early losing their wickets when Pakistan had only 19 runs on the board. The set back compelled the following batsmen to get into the groove and play with extraordinary caution. In the process Mohammad Wasim also out bringing Pakistan to 24 for 3 a virtually hopeless situation. Inzamam and Youhana were holding the forte with the determination to take the side out of the crisis, which they did admirably. They dragged the side to 63 for 3 in the first 20 overs.
Having remained subdued for some time, the two of them felt well set to start with proper stroke play with some brisk shorts Inzamam hoisted his 50 and Pakistan's 100 in the 29th over. The determined partnership between Inzamam and Youhana deserved all the admiration. They were well on the path of bringing Pakistan in to the game and if possible to the victory.
The partnership between the two players was yielding quick runs, thus bringing the Pakistan closer to the target. The tragedy, however, struck when Inzamam was run out bringing Pakistan down to 147 for 4. Inzamam had played a gigantic innings of 69. Pakistan was well on the path of victory. Moin Khan came in and was expected to pickup from where Inzamam had left. Youhana completed his well deserved fifty in the 36th over but couldn't stay any longer. He was out after scoring an invaluable 56. Pakistan was now 164 for 5.
With the two stalwarts on whom Pakistan could depend for victory having left, Moin and Abdur Razzaq were both new at the crease, were playing cautiously. The rate of scoring was bound to come down, still the two of them were trying their best to bring Pakistan closer to victory. They brought Pakistan to 183 for 5 in 40 overs. Pakistan still had a hope.
In the process Abdur Razzaq was clean bowled by King, while attempting a big hit by coming down the pitch. Moin also gave a catch, while trying a big hit, bringing Pakistan to 206 for 7. They had certainly brought Pakistan to a win.
Pakistan now needed 41 runs to win in 30 balls, the task not difficult for the recognized batsmen. The Pakistan's fate was in the hands of the tail enders who were rather too young and inexperienced to bear the pressure. Even the seniors among them were the bowlers with no ability to bat well under such a situation.
The Pakistan team was thus out for 231 runs. West Indies won the match by 17 runs. WI victory brought jubilation to the crowd all around the stadium.
The Pakistan team had certainly fought till the end including young players for the sake of experimentation was not considered to be the right policy. A general feeling was that such experiments should be conducted at home only.
