5th Match: Pakistan v Australia at Nairobi (Gym), 4 Sep 2002 Agha Akbar |
Pakistan innings:
Australia innings: Pre-game: |
Caution in the beginning didn’t stand Pakistan in good stead, for once the Aussie pace attack got amongst the wickets, it never let go. But more than the lethalness of the Aussie pace trio, it was the laden-footed, reckless and indisciplined Pakistani batsmen who brought the doom on themselves. Lack of responsibility and commitment from the upper order was quite conspicuous that the two best partnerships of the innings were for the eighth and ninth wicket.
When Waqar won the toss on a decent batting pitch, and elected to bat first, it was thought that Pakistan would have learnt some lessons from their earlier outing. It soon transpired that they hadn’t. Imran Nazir, inducted in place of Wasim Akram, was the first to go after scoring just 7 runs off 23 balls, caught low in the covers by Damien Martyn off Jason Gillespie to make it 13 for 1 in the 6th over.
Not in good form for quite some time, Saeed Anwar seemed to be in good nick today. He was middling the ball, but his placement was somehow not right. He hit two lovely fours, on-driving Glenn McGrath and cutting Jason Gillespie to the point fence to take Pakistan to 24 for 1 in the 10th over. But McGrath dealt a double blow in the 11th over to start the procession. First he got Shoaib Malik, driving on the back foot away from his body with Ponting picking the resulting edge at second slip. Younis Khan, in good form of late, tried to essay a forcing stroke too early, his cut ending in Gilchrist’s gloves to make it 24 for three.
Brett Lee (four wickets for 32 runs in eight overs) replaced Gillespie in the 14th over, and had a wicket apiece in each of his first three overs to complete the rout. Anwar (22, 39 balls, 3 fours) despatched him to the cover boundary, but Lee bounced back next ball as his rising delivery getting the top edge with Warne doing the rest.
In Lee’s next over, Azhar Mahmood hit him for a four through mid-wicket, but over-confidence got him too as he drove into Ponting’s hands at the second slip. Razzaq came in at the fall of Azhar but was out before scoring when he played a shocking shot of Warne and was bowled. Afridi was also dismissed on the first ball he faced caught, by Ponting, his third catch of the innings, off Lee and Pakistan were down in the dumps at 48-7 in the 18th over.
Rashid Latif also went for just 12 caught in covers by Martyn as Brett Lee took his fourth wicket of the innings after a stand of 20 with Misbah-ul-Haq. Misbah (39, off 49 balls, 4 fours, two sixes) continued to play well, contributing 44 in 60 balls for the ninth wicket with skipper Waqar Younis.
This stand between Misbah and Waqar together retrieved the situation somewhat, but it was never going to be enough after the capitulation of upper and middle order. But Misbah, who took two huge sixes off Warne at long-on and drove Lee and Gillespie for fours in the covers, perished at trying to guide the latter for a second time through the slips to the boundary. Gilchrist took the catch at the wicket to get past Ian Healy’s work record of catches in ODIs (195 to Healy’s 194). Younis (24 off 36 balls, 2 fours, 1 six) having clouted Warne for six over mid-wicket and driving and pulling Lee for fours at covers and mid-wicket was bowled by McGrath.
This should be a preview of the final as both are through and will play each other on Saturday.
The pitch looks perfect for batting but the ball should seam and swing in the first session in these overcast conditions.
In their last game Pakistan were overwhelmed by 224 runs, their biggest defeat ever.
Waqar Younis won the toss and immediately decided to bat. Today Wasim Akram has been rested, replaced by Imran Nazir and Inzamam is still out for a knee injury.
The Aussies are unchanged, playing the same team that totally outplayed Kenya in the last match.
The Australian team:
+AC Gilchrist, ML Hayden, JP Maher, MG Bevan, SR Watson, DR Martyn, *RT Ponting, B Lee, JN Gillespie, SK Warne, GD McGrath.
The Pakistan team:
Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, +Rashid Latif, *Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik.
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Date-stamped : 04 Sep2002 - 14:54