Lynn McConnell
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5th ODI: New Zealand v Pakistan at Dunedin, 28 Feb 2001 Lynn McConnell |
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Pakistan innings:
Pre-game: New Zealand innings: |
Nathan Astle scored 119 and Stephen Fleming 60 as they rewrote New Zealand's One-Day International record books.
But it wasn't before a mini-collapse resulted in some anxious moments before New Zealand won with 11 balls to spare. Jacob Oram cut a ball over the point boundary for six runs off Shoaib Akhtar.
It was outstanding batting from the opening pair, especially given all the woes the team has suffered in the opening position.
But the middle-order decided that after all the substance they had provided during the series it was their turn to provide the dramatics.
Three wickets fell for one run in five balls as Craig McMillan, Lou Vincent and Adam Parore did their version of the disappearing act.
It was also grand pay off for Fleming who made the decision to try and help the side out of a hole. While he was out for 60, when the score was 193, he played a superb supporting hand for Nathan Astle.
Their stand was the highest for New Zealand for all wickets with the 193 scored off 197 balls. At the time Fleming was out, Astle was on 111, having achieved his ninth ODI century off 93 balls.
Roger Twose was dropped first ball at first slip by Azhar Mahmood off Waqar Younis. But he picked up a ball from Waqar and blasted it over mid off for four to bring up the 200.
The fact the 200 came up from 208 balls showed how well the batsmen were going.
Pakistan did not help its cause by dropping four catches, Astle on 13, Fleming on 17 and 39 and Twose on 0.
Some of its ground fielding was especially shoddy and in complete contrast to the pressure New Zealand managed to achieve especially in the inner circle.
Astle's century was the fastest of the nine he has scored in ODIs, scored from 93 balls and including 19 fours.
Fleming scored his 60 from 91 balls.
Roger Twose, in possibly his last game for New Zealand, hit 17 off 17 balls, including one of the better sixes of the day onto the roof of the main stand.
But just when Nathan Astle looked set to break through the 120 barrier on which he has been twice out in the past, he got onto a ball from Waqar Younis and hit it high to long off but he wasn't able to elude Saleem Elahi who held the catch. That left New Zealand 234/3.
Astle's 119 was scored off 116 balls and included 21 fours, one short of equalling Saeed Anwar's world record of 22 fours in an innings.
Shoaib Akhtar, who had limped off with more thigh problems after bowling five overs, returned to bowl off half his run up at a reduced speed of around 130km/h. He picked up the wicket of Lou Vincent for 12 and then bowled Adam Parore next ball when he didn't offer a shot.
New Zealand lost three wickets for one run in five balls. But Oram settled things down, hitting a four, seeing five wides go down the leg side and having the 43rd over end with 11 runs coming from it to leave New Zealand needing 23 runs off 43 balls.
Waqar, given the extra pressure on the side after Shoaib left the field, picked up three wickets, with the last being Craig McMillan, caught at mid off for 13 to give Waqar three for 66 from his 10 overs.
Wasim Akram looked to finish the game suffering side strain and bowled his last over, the 45th, and left the field. He took one for 44 off his 10 overs. New Zealand was left needing 16 runs off 24 balls.
A bad night of fielding for Shahid Afridi, who dropped Fleming on 39, was made worse when he threw wildly for an attempted run out of Oram only to see it go for four overthrows.
Offering a thrilling sight when charging in bowling at full clip, he was unable to break through the defences of Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming and while several balls were hit and flew behind the wickets, they were too fast for the fieldsmen as well.
He limped off having bowled five overs for 34 runs.
But he clearly overdid it, especially after breaking down in the Napier match earlier in the series.
New Zealand, after 30 overs, was 182/0 a New Zealand partnership record for all wickets in ODIs. Nathan Astle was 104 not out and Stephen Fleming 58 not out.
Adam Parore and Ken Rutherford hit 180 against India at Baroda in 1994/95 which was New Zealand's highest partnership for the third wicket, and for all wickets.
The batting from the New Zealand pair was clearly some of the finest in the history of New Zealand's one-day game.
After a summer of heartbreak over the opening combination, Astle and Fleming got it right, with a fine sense of timing.
They went through a string of achievements, the most significant of which was that all wickets partnership records and scoring the highest partnership by an opening pair, which was previously 158 by Martin Crowe and John Wright in Sharjah against Bangladesh in 1989/90.
It was easily the best of the summer as Astle and Mathew Sinclair scored 153 in the only opening stand higher than 45 in one-day games this summer.
Nathan Astle brought up the ninth ODI century of his career, and his fastest off 93 balls with 19 fours in the innings.
He achieved the milestone in the midst of a crowd reaction that was more akin to that of an English soccer crowd, or the rugby crowds that back the local Otago team in national and international competitions.
When they passed 45, they achieved the best opening partnership of the series for either team. Saeed Anwar and Imran Nazir hit that score in Wellington in the third game.
After 15 overs, New Zealand were 93 without loss with Nathan Astle bringing up his 50 from 48 balls off the last ball of the 15th over, which was also the fastest ball of the summer.
Shoaib Akhtar, warming up to his highest speed of the summer sent the ball down at 149 km/h and Astle got an edge which flew high over first slip for four runs.
New Zealand's cause was aided by two dreadful catching lapses by Shoaib Akhtar. Fielding at deep mid off he dropped Nathan Astle on 13 when New Zealand's score was 25. It was in a similar area to where New Zealand's Daniel Vettori dropped Shahid Afridi, both seemingly affected by the sunlight getting in their eyes.
But the second chance when he dropped Stephen Fleming on 17, when New Zealand was on 44, was much more catchable, again at mid off. He lunged forward but couldn't quite hold the ball on his fingertips from Azhar Mahmood's bowling.
Fleming didn't make matters any better for the Pakistanis when two balls later he hit his second six of the over, an exquisitely-timed lofted on drive which cleared the boundary rope at long on. It was the shot of the day.
The first six of the day was significant for Fleming. It was enough to be his highest score as an opener, beating the 12 he hit in South Africa earlier in the summer.
It also took him past 4000 runs in ODIs, only the third New Zealander to achieve the feat, behind Martin Crowe and Nathan Astle.
Fleming was 31 not out after 15 overs.
However, they would have been disappointed not to have scored more with their last five wickets falling for only 26 runs as they were dismissed with nine balls of the innings left.
Pakistan's last four wickets fell in nine balls.
From the time that Shahid Afridi got over some tricky moments at the start of the innings and proceeded to plunder the bowling en route to a half century from 60 balls the pressure was on the home team. The New Zealanders kept their heads and responded superbly in the final outcome.
Runs were always going to be scored at pace on such a dream pitch, and the portents are for a thrilling finale to decide the series.
Afridi, who had been guilty of wasting his chances in the first two games of the series before he was dropped, kept the early scoring at around a run a ball. He shared a 44-run opening stand with Saeed Anwar.
Anwar was out flashing at a rising ball which flew to wicket-keeper Adam Parore for 12 scored from 18 balls.
Afridi then took over and launched a superb assault on Darryl Tuffey and James Franklin. He should have been out on 52 when dropped by Daniel Vettori at mid-off but departed in the 16th over when caught at the wicket by Parore from Chris Harris' bowling.
Afridi, having been so confident earlier on was strangely caught in two minds and paid the price for his diffidence, his 65 having come from 54 balls.
The loss of his wicket had the desired effect for New Zealand as the run rate slowed considerably and only 25 runs were scored between the 16th and 24th overs.
Abdur Razzaq and Yousuf Youhana added 66 runs for the third wicket before Razzaq was out edging Tuffey to Parore after scoring 41 from 78 balls.
Youhana took over the scoring role with aplomb bringing up his 50 from 60 balls and carrying on to 68 off 73 balls. Imran Farhat, who had struggled when opening the batting earlier in the series took on a more offensive role hitting two big sixes in a partnership of 68 runs.
They both departed within a few balls of each other, Youhana leg before wicket to Craig McMillan and Farhat caught superbly by a leaping two-handed take on the mid-wicket boundary by Daniel Vettori for 33 off 34 balls.
Darryl Tuffey was brought back to bowl at the death and ran into a full-scale Pakistan attack. He had Saleem Elahi caught in the deep by Nathan Astle but also had 21 runs hit off the over.
Moin Khan was in superb touch, and did just what was required in the last few overs of the innings. Tuffey was taken off as the result of his expensive over and finished with two for 71 from his nine overs.
His replacement Jacob Oram did the trick however, having Moin caught at long on by Astle for 36 scored from 20 balls, including four fours and two sixes. Two balls later Azhar Mahmood attempted to turn a ball from Oram around to leg, but skied it enough for a diving Tuffey to take the ball cleanly with a lovely catch.
More importantly, as the overs counted down, only three runs were conceded by Oram.
Easily the best of the New Zealand bowlers was the evergreen Harris whose one for 32 from 10 overs stood out like the brightest of beacons.
Craig McMillan has had his moments bowling at the death during the summer but he picked up Wasim Akram in the 49th over to have three for 20, his best ODI bowling figures and with the next ball he ran out Waqar Younis at the bowler's end to remove Pakistan for 285.
James Franklin had one for 54 from eight overs, Vettori none for 57 from his 10, and Oram had two for 49 from his nine overs.
He was out for 65 from 55 balls, caught by wicket-keeper Adam Parore from Chris Harris' bowling.
That left Yousuf Youhana and Abdur Razzaq to get the innings back on track.
While it wasn't at the same hectic run rate as earlier in the innings, it was still around 5.27 as they neared the 30th over.
They posted their 50-run partnership off 67 balls as New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming kept rotating his bowlers.
The pitch is superb for batting and with the short side boundaries runs are there for the taking. Prospects are that if they can stay together, a score of around 300 may be possible.
Razzaq was 40 not out and Youhana was 30 not out. Pakistan was 157/2 after 30 overs with the pair having carried the side to 150 off 179 balls.
However, two balls later, Razzaq was on his way caught edging Tuffey to Parore to leave Pakistan 157/3 after they added 66 runs off 90 balls.
Batting first by their own choice, Pakistan were making full use of a superb batting pitch and Afridi was taking his chances after a slow start in which he several times played and missed at the bowling of Darryl Tuffey especially.
He brought up his 50 in the 12th over off 40 balls and hit eight fours and a six.
After 15 overs the score was 90 for one wicket with Afridi on 65 from 54 balls but to the second ball of the 16th over he was caught in two minds on the crease and edged a ball to wicket-keeper Adam Parore standing up to be out on the 55th ball of his innings.
Abdur Razzaq was the not out batsman on 10 and he was joined by Yousuf Youhana with Pakistan 91/2.
No bowler was safe as he got into both Jacob Oram and Chris Harris when they were introduced as the first change bowlers.
Saeed Anwar was not so lucky as he endeavoured to get himself out of a poor run of form. He was on 12, off 18 balls, when he edged a rising ball from James Franklin to wicket-keeper Adam Parore and was easily held.
Afridi had one life when on 52. He mishit a ball from Franklin which flew just to the left of Daniel Vettori. The left-arm bowler seemed to lose a relatively easy chance in the sun and dropped it only to see the ball roll away for four runs.
It meant that 14 runs were taken from Franklin's sixth over.
New Zealand has named an unchanged side for the game as a result while Pakistan has made three changes.
Fast man Shoaib Akhtar has returned to the side at the expense of off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Afridi replaces Imran Nazir and Imran Farhat is in for the injured Inzamam-ul-Haq.
The pitch looks superb for the game and set to maintain the ground's reputation as a run haven.
Pakistan won the toss and batted first in perfect conditions. There is a slight breeze blowing over the ground, temperatures are hot with clear blue skies.
The teams are:
New Zealand - Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Adam Parore, Roger Twose, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Chris Harris, Lou Vincent, Daniel Vettori, Darryl Tuffey, James Franklin. (12th man Andre Adams).
Pakistan - Moin Khan (captain), Imran Farhat, Saeed Anwar,Saleem Elahi, Yousuf Youhana, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar. (12th man Imran Nazir).
The umpires are: Steve Dunne and Doug Cowie (12th man Brent Bowden).
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 01 Mar2001 - 10:23