1st Test: Zimbabwe v Pakistan at Harare, 9-13 Nov 2002 John Ward |
Pakistan 1st innings:
Pre-game: |
Soon after lunch, Zimbabwe believed they had Younis Khan on 40 caught off Whittall at second slip off an inside edge, but umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan ruled - probably correctly - that there was no contact with the bat. Younis did not score another run, though, before he cut Blignaut hard and low, straight to Dion Ebrahim in gully. Pakistan were 122 for two, after a partnership of 115 for the second wicket.
Inzamam-ul-Haq got off the mark with three, but next ball Taufeeq Umer (75) edged a sharp catch to Andy Flower at first slip and Pakistan were suddenly 125 for three.
Inzamam and Yousuf Youhana consolidated for about half an hour before they began to accelerate steadily. Inzamam was not timing the ball perfectly, while Youhana, belying his lack of match practice, overtook him in the 30s. Again Zimbabwe’s bowlers had failed to maintain the pressure and allowed the batsmen too many scoring opportunities; the 200 came up in the 53rd over.
On 39, on the stroke of tea, Inzamam tried to pull Olonga but was late on his shot, skying an easy catch over the bowler’s head for 12th man Mark Vermeulen to take.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers did not use the pitch effectively to start with; Andy Blignaut was erratic, while Henry Olonga pitched too short. But when Blignaut did get a ball on line to straighten, Saleem Elahi (2) played a cramped stroke and was held low at second slip by Alistair Campbell and Pakistan were seven for one.
Taufeeq Umar and Younis Khan batted positively, but they had to work hard for their runs as the outfield was very slow. Zimbabwe nearly took another early wicket as Taufeeq, then on 10, narrowly beat a fine throw by Olonga from the long-leg boundary as he looked for a second run. While Younis settled down, the left-handed Taufeeq grew increasingly aggressive, pulling powerfully and driving the overpitched balls.
Raymond Price came on to bowl after the drinks interval, and was immediately hoisted for six over long-on by Taufeeq, who thus reached his fifty off 54 balls. Despite almost being on course for a century before lunch, he then went into a shell and only added another 14 runs in almost an hour until the interval.
This is a Test between two wounded sides, a match that may well be decided more by what goes on in the head than by relative strengths on paper. Pakistan are by far the stronger side on paper, especially in the bowling department. In the absence of Heath Streak, Zimbabwe have no bowlers to match the likes of Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq, although Raymond Price will have the chance to add to his growing reputation and may well be required to bowl 60 or more overs in the match. But he is used to it by now. Henry Olonga is a wild card, but it is more than two years since he last imposed himself on an international match.
Both sides are unpredictable, but Pakistan are perhaps the least predictable of all the Test sides. They can be a collective disaster, as they have been recently against Australia, or they can be brilliant. The main test for them will be in their batting. Their batsmen do not have a good record in Zimbabwe: in their first tour, in 1994/95, they would have fallen apart in Tests and one-day internationals alike were it not for the supremacy of Inzamam-ul-Haq; three years later they would probably have lost both series but for the unsung reliability of Yousuf Youhana. Both are playing today.
Zimbabwe finished last season creditably in India, but thanks to the antipathy of the Australians have had no chance to develop that progress until now. Andy Flower as always stands head and shoulders above his team-mates as the side’s one truly world-class player, but he cannot win Test matches on his own. His colleagues must stand up and be counted. Even in Pakistan do prove mentally unprepared, Zimbabwe will have to play well to overcome that array of talent.
A word must be said about the media reports concerning the supposedly elaborate security precautions taken at Harare Sports Club. They implied that these reflected an insecure situation in the country, which is quite incorrect. They were only in operation before the Test as a ‘dry run’ for the World Cup, when international regulations require much tighter security than is or has ever been necessary in Zimbabwe, and were not in evidence at all on the match morning.
Alistair Campbell won the toss for Zimbabwe and, no doubt sharing Houghton’s view of the pitch, put Pakistan in to bat. Test debutants were all-rounder Blessing Mahwire for Zimbabwe and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal for Pakistan, replacing Rashid Latif who is unfit.
The teams were as follows:
Zimbabwe: *Alistair Campbell, Hamilton Masakadza, Dion Ebrahim, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Guy Whittall, +Tatenda Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Blessing Mahwire, Raymond Price, Henry Olonga.
Pakistan: Saleem Elahi, Taufeeq Umar, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Hasan Raza, +Kamran Akmal, Saqlain Mushtaq, *Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 09 Nov2002 - 18:49