AUSSIES COMPLETE SAVAGE ROUT
Pakistan must have heaved a sigh of relief. The rout has been savage and comprehensive, but the torture is finally terminated. The Aussies go back Down Under, hot and tired but none the worse for their exertions. Which wasn't much of a toil anyway as the Pakistani batsmen didn't keep them in the field for very long, especially in the last two Tests of the rubber, losing by some distance - the last game by an innings and 20 runs on Tuesday.
The game got into the fourth day, but only just, for an hour or so. Only the last rites remained anyway, and once Hasan Raza (68, off 154 deliveries, 11 fours), the only one offering some measure of obdurate resistance, was snapped up through a smart catch by Adam Gilchrist on Andy Bichel's short one, it really was all over. Only nine deliveries later, Mohammad Sami too holed out to mid-on essaying a pull to give Bichel his third wicket but after pushing Pakistan's total to 203.
With eight wickets in the match and 27 in the series, Shane Warne walked away with the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards.
So 3-0 winners for the second successive time against Pakistan, the side which has often expressed ambitions loudly, rather too loudly with little to impress whenever it has mattered, of being the pretenders to their pre-eminence, the Aussies have a lot be satisfied about. They go on to another Ashes campaign, and though England has promised stout resistance, Steve Waugh dismissed it, with a casual remark and a shrug: "they'd said it the last time too".
For Pakistan the whitewash has not just been a massive blow to the ego. And while everyone from the cricketing establishment, including skipper Waqar Younis, is talking about looking at the 'plus points' emerging from the series, the fact is that nobody is sure about the complexion of the team when in about a week's time when it leaves for Zimbabwe.What one can, however, be sure of is bit more of uncertainty.
