Date-stamped : 13 Mar94 - 06:24
Pak v NZ, ODI4, Auckland, 13 Mar 94

WONDER WAQAR BOWLS UP ONE DAY THRILLER
Pakistan and New Zealand tied the fourth one day international of
their  series  at  Eden  Park   Auckland  in a thrilling clash on
Sunday.  New Zealand needed 162 for their  first  win but   Waqar
Younis  bowled  superbly  to  dismiss the last two batsman in the
50th and last over in an amazing  climax.  Waqar  finished   with
6-30  in 9.4 overs as New Zealand tied an international match for
the first time ever.
<END> Contributed by Goochie (jdw5@*.ac.uk)
====> MORE
It was the ultimate mis-match, possibly the world's greatest fast
bowler   up   against   possibly   the  world's  worst tailender.
Three runs needed from five balls with only one wicket in hand.
The ball cannons into de Groen's pad, and the batsmen run through
for  the riskiest of singles. The throw hits a fieldsman and runs
towards the unprotected long off boundary. For a moment the  game
seems  to be New Zealand's, but a desperate chase means that only
1 overthrow is scored. De Groen must once again face Waqar,  this
time with the scores tied.
The big Pakistani bowls possibly the perfect ball. Again the ball
hits  the  pad,  but  this time there is no edge. The batsmen run
through for the match winning leg bye but this time it is  to  no
avail,  as  umpire  Cowie  completes a world class performance by
raising his finger, signaling that rarest of cricketing  results,
a tie.
Pakistan's openers started comfortably against  the  opening  New
Zealand  medium pace attack of de Groen (in his first game of the
series, as Morrison was rested) and Pringle. The pitch was  flat,
and a total well in excess of 200 seemed on.
The game took its first turn however  with  the  introduction  of
Gavin  Larsen.  His first over saw the end of the opening stand &
marked the beginning of an 8 over spell which knocked the top off
the  batting  order,  at  a cost of just over two an over. At the
other end Cairns was reasonably inexpensive, and then Hart  began
a fine debut.
The pitch was painfully slow, and the slow, accurate bowling  was
hard  to get away. The run rate, which had been 3.4, dropped well
under 3. Thomson kept up the good  work  after  Larsen  finished,
bowling Malik in his first over and finishing with 2-22 off 7. It
was great to see the two young spinners  bowling in  tandem   and
complementing  each other so well, with Thomson's flat off breaks
providing great variation to Hart's flighted left armers.
Larsen, Thomson and Hart took six wickets between  them  in  this
middle stage of the innings, which meant that Basit was forced to
merely accumulate during his uncharacteristicly restrained knock,
and  Wasim  and co couldn't really lunch a big charge in the last
few overs. Larsen took another scalp to finish with a career best
4-28  from 10, but the final target of 161 wasn't a bad effort on
this dreadful Eden Park pitch.
After 3 quiet overs, Waqar got his  inswinger  going,  to  deadly
effect.  Hartland  left  his  leg stump just slightly exposed and
lost it, while Young was literally brought to his knees by one of
the best yorkers international cricket will ever see.
Jones and Rutherford slowly set  about  rebuilding  the  innings.
After W&W were seen off, a wayward Rehman allowed the run rate to
briefly increase. But then the acid test began, as the Kiwis were
faced  with  the slow bowlers who so effectively tied them down a
week previously.
At this point Malik's  decision  to  bat  first  reaped  handsome
rewards,   as  the  pitch  had  slowed down even further.  Superb
field placements and accurate bowling by Raza, Sohail and   Malik
meant  that  the  batsmen  were  reduced  virtually  to a diet of
singles, and even these were difficult  to  come  by.  The  fifty
partnership   was  brought  up  but  it  was  slow going, and the
frustration was evident when Jones was dismissed.
Cairns started slowly, and it was left to Rutherford to lift  the
pace.  He  hit  a few good blows but was eventually caught in two
minds, and gave Waqar a relatively simple chance at mid off, just
a  couple of runs short of his half century. This united Cairns &
Thomson, the pair who have batted so  well together   previously,
including  that  match  winning century partnership against South
Africa in Brisbane in January.
At about this point the required rate reached 4.5, but  the  pair
quickly  swung the game in the home side's favour. When Raza's 10
over spell ended Rehman was surprisingly  brought back   (despite
the  fact  that  Sohail  had  five overs left) and was put to the
sword to such an extent that he was taken off after just 1  over.
Then the 37th over, bowled by Malik, cost 10 runs including a big
Cairns six. Akram was immediately brought  back,  even  though  6
overs  were still to be bowled from that end and he only had five
left.
All that didn't seem to matter though, as the young Kiwis  for  a
time  managed  to make even the two W's look ordinary. Balls were
regularly struck to the boundary, and the win appeared assured.
Then, to everyone's surprise, drinks arrived after about the 42nd
over,  instead of the 34th over when they were due. This happened
because Pakistan's slower bowlers got through their overs at such
a  speed.  All of the momentum was lost, and Waqar soon found the
edge of Thomson's bat. Wasim then took his only wicket, as Rashid
dived forward to take an excellent catch off Blain.
Everything seemed in hand though, as less than 20 runs  were  now
needed, and Cairns and Larsen acted sensibly. But then Cairns was
a little slow starting off for a quick single, and Rehman's  pick
up  and throw at mid on caught him just a couple of inches out of
his ground on the tv replay. Then Waqar had Larsen LBW,  and  New
Zealand was in big trouble.
The decision to bring on Akram one over early then came into play
as  after a long consultation which involved most of the team the
skipper decided to bowl the 49th over himself, with New   Zealand
needing   10  runs  but  only having two wickets left.  Pringle &
Hart at first could only manage singles, until Hart advanced down
the  pitch   for  the  fourth  ball,  hitting  Malik  for a vital
boundary at cover. However he was unable to repeat  that  effort,
and the  Kiwi tailenders needed 3 runs from Waqar's final over.
Hart was bowled from the first ball, and de Groen was  his  sixth
victim  with  the  scores tied. He was an awesome sight, his huge
frame charging in from outside the 30 metre circle, before firing
a white ballistic missile at the unfortunate batsman. Credit must
also go to umpire Cowie. He was firm (and accurate)  in  his  not
out  decisions,  and  under  intense pressure gave two vital (and
correct) late LBWs against his countrymen. Umpiring like this  is
one reason why this tour has been such a happy one.
For Pakistan, we once again saw that they are able to get out  of
any  difficult  situation  through  amazing fast bowling. For New
Zealand this was really one that got away, but at least  we  were
competitive, and Larsen, Rutherford, Thomson, Cairns and Hart all
had good games. Perhaps we'll get that elusive win at the   scene
of our third test triumph.
<END> Contributed by Jason (jmas@waikato.ac.nz)