Australia v Pakistan at Hobart: CricInfo Report

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Australia v Pakistan at Hobart
18-22 Nov 1999 (John Polack)

Day1 | Day2 | Day3 | Day4 | Day5

Day1: Bellerive pitch proves a graveyard for Pakistanis

On a Bellerive pitch that retains very few of the qualities that made it one of the most highly regarded batting surfaces in Australia for many years through the late 1980s and early 1990s, Australia has stolen the initiative on day one of the Second Test in Hobart today. At the end of a day of arduous batting, the Australians are at 0/29 in their first innings in response to a modest Pakistani total of 222.

Having recently relaid the wicket square at this ground nestled beside the charming Derwent River in Hobart, curator Peter Apps has created a strip which makes for a fascinating contest between bat and ball, and the results were clearly visible today as the Pakistanis struggled consistently to keep out the four-pronged combination of Glenn McGrath, Damien Fleming, Scott Muller and Shane Warne. Their first wicket fell in just the third over after they had been inserted in cool but sunny conditions, and they failed to restore the balance at any subsequent stage. Despite a wonderful attacking riposte from opener Mohammad Wasim (91), there was never any real momentum in the innings and it was a measure of the extent of their struggle that captain Wasim Akram (29)was the next best contributor. Utilising a mixture of immaculate defence and a relish for pummelling the loose ball, Mohammad decided to unleash most of his aggression upon the figure of Shane Warne and his admirably attacking strategy brought the sort of brilliant results that his teammates seemed powerless to achieve. He slammed four sumptuous boundaries in the space of Warne's first two overs and plundered all of the twenty-six runs which were taken off the leg spinner's short opening spell.

For the Australians, Warne took the statistical honours with the ball with 3/45 after a very tardy start but it was probably Glenn McGrath (2/34 off 18 overs) who was their best performer in what was an even effort. Whilst he was assisted by the generally capricious surface, his hostility and his accuracy was highly commendable, he claimed a deserved 250th wicket in Tests, and he has given his team a very firm platform from which to put their opponents to the sword in the remainder of the match. Indeed, his opening spell (in which he claimed 2/6 off 9 overs) would rank with some of the finest new ball bursts witnessed at this venue for some time. Theirs was also another excellent fielding display, superb catches by Mark Waugh at second slip to dismiss Yousuf Youhana (17) and Adam Gilchrist to remove Mohammad in mid-afternoon among many moments of pleasure today for an appreciative crowd. Such was their level of dominance indeed that even a range of wayward deliveries from Muller, whose rapidity of wicket taking today was only matched by his equally swift concession of runs, were not punished as severely as they might have been by batsmen in more confident and convincing mood.

When it came the Australians' turn to bat, alarms of similar trouble were raised as Akram and Shoaib Akhtar consistently troubled Greg Blewett (16) and Michael Slater (9), beating the bat and striking the pads repeatedly. But, in an exhibition which ominously began to mirror many of their recent double acts together, both batsmen weathered the storm (growing slowly in confidence as they did so) and will be there to continue what seems, for the moment at least, to be an irresistible Australian charge in the morning.

Day2: Australia subsides as Saqlain and Waqar stultify

There may have been a crowd of barely over four thousand spectators here to witness the proceedings, but those who paid their money to watch were certainly not left dissatisfied as Australia and Pakistan turned on a remarkable second day of the Second Test at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today. After another morning of Australian dominance, this game was turned on its head as the tourists' bowlers emphatically permitted their team to storm its way back into contest through the course of what became an electrifying afternoon of Test cricket.

Seemingly out of both this battle and the series as their opponents cruised to 1/191 - by dint of freewheeling batting and generous lapses in the field - in mid afternoon, the Pakistanis were charged by some magnificent bowling from a pair of cricketers recalled to the side for this game following significant periods in the Test wilderness. After Michael Slater (97) had punished the attack (and been gifted lives at 36, 49, 68 and 97 in the process) in a characteristically forceful display, off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq (with a brilliant Test best 6/46 from 24 overs) and paceman Waqar Younis (2/42) prompted a humbling collapse which saw the Australians concede their last nine wickets for a mere 55 runs in 101 minutes to crash to a final first innings tally of 246 and an unexpectedly exiguous 24 run lead on the first innings.

Wickets fell with abandon as the two Pakistanis provided an increasingly hushed crowd with the refreshing sight of deliveries being pitched up and aimed at the stumps on what remained a thorny surface for batsmen. Waqar was essentially the man who initiated the wicket taking flurry, surprising and hurrying the Australians into error with a spell of stinging ferocity (as well as velocity) before tea, and then Saqlain applied the finishing touches brilliantly. Utilising a mixture of confounding variety and accuracy, the off spinner seized four wickets in eighteen balls to stun almost everyone at the ground.

So complete was the Australians' fall from grace, and with such rapidity did they hand back their hitherto decisive sense of control, that Saqlain even found time to claim what appeared, until it was denied by third umpire, Steve Davis, the dizzy triumph of a hat-trick twenty minutes after tea. In an excruciatingly close decision involving Damien Fleming (who, as fate would have it, fell three balls later for 0 in any case), Davis ruled that the Victorian had just grounded his back foot in time and that he and teammates Adam Gilchrist (6) and Shane Warne (0) accordingly did not add their names to the rarified list of batsmen who have been the victims of Test hat-tricks.

Earlier in the day, the Australians appeared to have all but crushed the Pakistanis' hopes in this three-match battle with another productive - if often fortuitous - exhibition from their top order batsmen. As has become almost customary these days, the adventurous Slater was the star with his strong hitting through the off side but, after he had found the boundary on ten occasions, he inexplicably lost his wicket in a moment of madness (lofting a Saqlain full toss high to Ijaz Ahmed at square leg an hour after lunch) which had disastrous ramifications for his team. Justin Langer (59), who appeared to come to the crease in this Test with the resolve of playing more positively than he had done in several innings immediately preceding this one, also played well (albeit still in a fidgety manner at times against the spinning ball), and his involvement in a vital 115 run association with Slater for the second wicket was satisfactory enough to ensure that he may be able to preserve his hitherto tenuous spot in this team.

In the almost anticlimactic ninety minutes of play which followed their two teammates' heroic deeds, Pakistani openers Saeed Anwar (36*) and Mohammad Wasim (20) then consolidated their bowlers' work with a half century partnership before the latter succumbed in the shadows of stumps to a loose on drive at Scott Muller. Notwithstanding the fact that they survived the odd scare, they brought a level of discipline and determination to their batting that was missing in their team's first innings in the course of polishing off the deficit inside half an hour before they and the cruelly unrested nightwatchman Saqlain (0*) added a further 37 runs to their team's suddenly completely rejuvenated cause.

Day3: Pakistani batsmen emphatically wrest the initiative

The see-sawing nature of this Second Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart has rarely rendered it amenable to easy analysis but, after three days, it seems that the die may have finally been cast. At the conclusion of six hours of admirably determined batting, Pakistan has indeed assumed what may well prove a decisive edge by progressing to a score of 7/351 in its second innings and thus securing an overall advantage of 327 runs on a pitch still far from completely devoid of batting tremors.

For the construction of Pakistan's firm foundations for success, three architects were primarily responsible. Opener Saeed Anwar (78) established the early base; Ijaz Ahmed (82) consolidated his teammate's momentum; and then, to cap it all, Inzamam-ul-Haq (116*) expertly registered his eighth Test century to apply the blow-torch to his opponents. Saeed began it all with an innings in which he alternated between playing off the front foot through the leg side and leaning back to thrash errant deliveries through the off. Although he was ultimately the victim of another of the leg spinner's so-called balls from hell, he also enjoyed the early superiority over Shane Warne as the bowler persisted with a policy of pitching the ball in the rough outside the left hander's off stump. Indeed, by the time that Warne conjured an amazing piece of magic with a delivery from around the wicket that landed outside the line of off stump just short of a driveable length, bit off the pitch, gathered pace and uprooted leg stump as it arrowed past the notably surprised Anwar's bat on an almost inconceivable angle to uproot leg stump, his job was essentially achieved.

In an exhibition which again silenced his critics and which dispelled any lingering suggestions that he is unworthy, for the short term at least, of his berth in this side, Ijaz also engineered a brisk half century. It was his bludgeoning strokeplay through the off side which served as the most memorable feature of his hand but the manner in which he both attacked part time medium pacer Steve Waugh shortly after lunch and complemented Inzamam more generally as they added 136 runs for the fourth wicket will additionally live long in the memory.

Once those two had effected their contributions, their batting partners merely needed to maintain nerve and concentration to secure the stranglehold. This proved a feat to which Inzamam was perfectly suited. The ursine right hander rarely strikes one as being the most energetic or outrageously effervescent cricketer, but somehow it is this very assurance, unhurried calm and sheer effortlessness which is precisely what makes him such a delightful player to watch in full flight. His selection of shots today (particularly when he opted to treat the crowd to his thunderous power and control when square driving off the back foot) and his judgement in knowing which deliveries to defend and which to attack was truly impeccable and a pleasure to behold. Likewise, his restraint in the period following the departures of Ijaz and Yousuf Youhana (2) in quick succession before tea was a measure of his considerable sophistication as a batsman to say the very least. Having scored readily despite the frequent instigation of bowling changes (striking as many as twelve boundaries during the day, few of which emanated from anything other than the very centre of his blade) before checking his naturally aggressive instincts in the wake of their respective dismissals, his century ultimately came from his 163rd ball in a shade under four hours as he tucked Warne off his pads through mid wicket for an unusually hastily run two. It should be noted that he was given a life with his score at 80 - as Scott Muller failed to clutch a tough one-handed chance low to his right at mid on from Warne's bowling - but, for the majority of the innings, there was no suggestion that he ever found himself in any real discomfort.

For the Australians meanwhile, fortunes could scarcely have been more different. Their day began in frustrating style when third umpire Steve Davis denied Warne a very close stumping appeal against Saeed (then on 36) and it never really improved. They relied upon as many as eight bowlers and, whilst the majority strove wholeheartedly, they laboured for six hours and they rarely induced false strokes. Of those eight, Warne (3/100) was probably the pick but even he did not perform to his best on an afternoon when the absence of off spinner Colin Miller may well have cost them dearly.

Day4: Pakistan moves in for the kill

It has not been all that often in recent meetings between the sides that Pakistan has been afforded the opportunity to exert a genuine stranglehold over Australia but today the chance duly came and they savoured it to the full with another tremendous exhibition of cricket on day four of the Second Test between the sides in Hobart. By stumps, the tourists had reinforced the position of dominance that they had established so definitively yesterday, reducing their opponents to a second innings score of 5/188 in their pursuit of the unlikely target of 369 for victory.

Insofar as it is possible to identify the key moment of this day's cricket, and the beginning of the slide for Australia, then it almost certainly came on the third ball of the thirty-third over of their innings when medium pacer Azhar Mahmood captured the wicket of Greg Blewett (29). In what proved a contentious decision (and one which even seemed to spark a brief verbal altercation between the South Australian and a number of the Pakistani fieldsmen), Blewett was adjudged by Umpire Peter Willey to have been cleanly caught by wicketkeeper Moin Khan just inches above the turf after outside edging a leg cutter. Replays appeared, by the barest of margins, to vindicate the Englishman's decision but Blewett was clearly unhappy with the verdict and disheartened by the crushing realisation that he had condemned his team to the prospect of little more than an arduous battle for survival from that point onward. When Mark Waugh (0) was trapped straight in front by the next delivery to leave the score at 3/81 and compound the Australians' horror, the script for the remainder of the day had indeed essentially been written.

On his twenty-ninth birthday, Justin Langer (52*) continued to defy the inevitable, although he was enforced to endure significant discomfiture along the way. He was struck an excurciating blow on the fingers by a Shoaib Akhtar (1/36) full toss in the midst of a sizzling pre-lunch spell by the paceman and continued throughout his innings to struggle to find a completely reliable method against the spinning ball. Nevertheless, his bravery in standing tall in difficult circumstances was highly commendable, and his half century (which was raised after a defiant 201 minutes) was a fitting reward for his play. Brilliantly supported by the always entertaining Adam Gilchrist (45*), the left hander even found time late in the day to take toll of a noticeably tiring attack by finding gaps in the field on a serial basis.

Amid another even Pakistani bowling performance, Mahmood (2/20) possibly took the honours and his ability to gain cut and skidding bounce on a pitch suddenly starting to play significantly lower than it has done previously in the match troubled all of those to whom he bowled. First innings hero Saqlain Mushtaq (1/76) also bowled tidily, although he was only able to capture a mere one wicket today, that success coming when he accepted a brilliant low caught and bowled chance low to his left to dismiss Steve Waugh (28) in the final session. Whilst he was again unable to crash his way through the top order (and was even overlooked by his captain when the time came to allocate responsibities with the new ball today), Akhtar's hostile spell late in the first session, in which the pace of his deliveries exceeded the 150 kilometre per hour mark on at least three occasions was symptomatic of his team's relentless ethic.

Earlier in the day, the loss of two early morning wickets had temporarily threatened to alter the precise balance of the match again, but the Pakistanis held their nerve firmly enough to tally 392 and establish their seemingly unreachable lead. Mark Waugh had added some renewed life to his team's hitherto flickering hopes when, in just the second over of the day, he completed another astounding catch at first slip. The ball in fact seemed to have passed Waugh before he somehow intercepted a top edged cut from Inzamam-ul-Haq (118) with an outstretched right hand. But, following that wicket and the run out of Waqar (0) shortly after, captain Wasim Akram (31) and Akhtar (5*) conceived an intelligent association of 34 runs to make Australia's task appear almost impossible.

While the visitors were denied several beseeching appeals against Australia's openers - including an lbw shout from Akram against Michael Slater (27) from the second ball of the innings that was excruciatingly close - this advantage was then firmly pressed home as wickets were taken at regular intervals. The task was onerous enough at the outset, but effectively became all but damned when the first five Australians succumbed with their side only one third of its way to its target. Notwithstanding the impact of Langer and Gilchrist's unbroken liaison of 62 runs, it accordingly seems that only rain and/or the same miserably dull light that forced the players from the field three overs before the scheduled drawing of stumps tonight can rescue Australia's cause now.

Day5: Gilchrist, Langer conceive turnaround to turn everyone's heads

In the long and rich annals of cricketing history, it is possible to identify a myriad of occasions on which the most unexpected of turnarounds has been conceived. But it is unlikely that all that many of them have come close to matching the one witnessed here at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today as Australia completed a remarkable, series-clinching, four wicket victory over a Pakistan team that had hitherto taken most of the honours in this consistently absorbing Second Test.

In a clash laden with surprises and dramatic turnarounds, by far the most spectacular was saved for last as a pair of unlikely heroes conjured a win that had, for many among us, not really been contemplated as being within the realms of possibility before today. In short, it was two men who play for the same State, who bat with the same hand and who were born under the same sign of the zodiac who completely stole the show with a simply magnificent association.

Having been joined at five o'clock yesterday afternoon with their team five wickets down and barely over one third of its way to a target of 369 that ultimately rendered this the third most successful final innings chase in Test history, it was Adam Gilchrist (149*) and Justin Langer (127) who will forever be remembered as the twin stars of this contest. The highest ever liaison between left handers in Tests, and a record for the sixth wicket for Australia against Pakistan, their partnership of 238 runs (compiled in the small matter of 265 minutes and from 355 deliveries) transformed the match and transfixed the disbelieving but exuberant congregation - small though that it was - here to witness the triumph.

Many observers of Australian cricket have been moved over recent years to call for the inclusion of Gilchrist in his country's Test team, and those cries were emphatically vindicated throughout what was only his third Test innings. The purity of his strokeplay, the crispness of his shots, his ability to place deliveries to all parts of a ground - not to mention his capacity to alternate between careful defence and outrageous attack to suit the situation - render him an outstanding player and it is difficult at the end of two sizzling debut games from him to reflect on the fact that he had almost reached the age of twenty-eight before he was able to make his Test debut. Essentially, he played the perfect innings here, starting slowly before working his way on top and then unleashing his murderous brutality upon anything even vaguely loose. His preparedness to drive powerfully through the off side and thrash short-pitched offerings caught the Pakistanis off guard, and they seemed almost powerless to identify a method of troubling him.

Whilst Langer (127) was significantly more sedate and could initially only assume something of a back seat as his thirty-five run start on his partner was overhauled in rapid and scintillating fashion, he also played superbly. For a man whose Test spot was in serious jeopardy before this match, this was certainly an innings for the occasion and one which will not easily be forgotten. The highlights of his display, which ended anticlimactically five runs before his partner thumped a Saqlain Mushtaq delivery through mid wicket to seal the win, were certainly his on driving and cut strokes but several pulls and hooks late in his exhibition also ignited the crowd.

For the Pakistanis, by contrast, neither their fortunes nor their collective mindset could have been any different. After having all but clinched this match with some unflinching cricket over the course of the previous two and a half days, they suddenly lost their focus as they are sometimes prone to do and their bowling - not to mention their fielding - reverted from the outstanding to the mediocre in the twinkling of an eye. Nevertheless, it must be conceded that they were on the wrong side of a number of close decisions and that they will be left to rue one in particular.

After a slow start to the day's play under griseous Hobart skies, there was a noticeable uplifting of the tempo from about the time that Wasim Akram took the new ball just over forty minutes into the day's play. Akram comprehensively beat Langer twice in his first three deliveries, and looked to have been despairingly close to securing an lbw verdict from one of those deliveries. Then the crowd witnessed a few bizarre moments of action and a testing of tempers as Gilchrist (complaining about the movement of Saqlain Mushtaq at mid on) withdrew twice in successive attempts as Shoaib Akhtar was on his way into bowl to him.

More drama and the critical decision of the match followed when Langer (then on 76) seemed to almost everyone at the ground but Umpire Peter Parker to have outside edged a delivery from Akram through to wicketkeeper Moin Khan. Convinced that he had thus broken the partnership with the score at 237, the Pakistani captain did not hide his displeasure at the verdict, his sense of disbelief and annoyance exacerbated as a thick edge from the gritty left hander fell just short of Mohammad Wasim at slip from the next ball.

For all of that fortune, though, little credit can be taken away from the Australians and their capacity - for far from the first time as this momentous year of cricket for them draws to a close - to find a conduit to victory from an almost impossible situation continues to confound. On its own, their attainment of another series win over Pakistan would have been impressive enough, but the manner of this triumph made it a truly stupendous success. Together with the double act and the sheer historical significance of this particular achievement, their ability to ultimately overcome the first innings bowling brilliance of Saqlain Mushtaq and Waqar Younis, and the splendid batting from Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ijaz Ahmed and Saeed Anwar, rendered this a Test match which will continue to be regarded as one of the most famous of all Australian wins.

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Date-stamped : 22 Nov1999 - 07:45