The Captain's view -- Zimbabwe in Pakistan (part 2)
John Ward and Alistair Campbell
19 January
John Ward concludes his interview with Alistair Campbell, who
talks about Zimbabwe's victorious Test series in Pakistan.
We were disappointed to lose the one-day series 2-1, but we took
heart from the fact that we had never before won a one-day maatch
in Pakistan. The biggest thing was that everybody realised now
that we really could beat the Pakistanis, and so we went into the
Test series with confidence.
We didn't actually think we could win the series, but we did
think we could snatch a Test match and make it difficult for them
to come back -- and we knew that the best time to do it would be
in the First Test at Peshawar.
First Test (Peshawar). PAKISTAN 296 (Ijaz Ahmed 87, Yousuf
Youhana 75; Heath Streak 4/93) and 103 (Henry Olonga 4/42, Pommy
Mbangwa 3/23) lost to ZIMBABWE 238 (Neil Johnson 107; Wasim Akram
5/52, Waqar Younis 4/78) and 162/3 (Murray Goodwin 73*) by seven
wickets.
They prepared a huge green seaming pitch, which actually helps to
even the chances of the teams. On a flat deck they have two
quality spin bowlers, batsmen who can make huge scores on flat
pitches, and bowlers who can reverse-swing the ball at pace. So
when we play them on flat patches we're behind the black ball a
bit, but as soon as we play on a green pitch we'tre back in
business because we have bowlers who can bowl really well on
seaming decks, and our batsmen play better than theirs in those
conditions.
So we were really confident in the first match. We were very
happy tow in the toss and put them in to bat. We didn't bowl
particularly well on the first morning -- not enough in the right
area -- and we spilt a couple of chances. Their fourth wicket
fell at 210, and we had been looking to bowl them out for 200.
We did come back a bit in a good final session, and we managed to
get them six wickets down by the close. We talked about that,
and realised we hadn't bowled enough in the right area, we hadn't
made the batsmen play enough and we weren't sharp enough in the
field. So we needed to rectify this.
The next morning it couldn't get any better than this. They put
on another 20 runs and we knocked over their last four batsmen
with the new ball. Streaky got four wickets again, and Pommy
Mbangwa bowled really well for his three wickets at less than two
an over -- he was one guy who got them in the right area. Henry
Olonga bowled really well and was unlucky to take only two
wickets.
So our seamers came back the next day, but we knew then that we
would really have our work cut out batting. It was a 200-run
wicket, and after Pakistan got nearly 300 we knew some good
batting was required.
We did a lot of playing and missing, and they dropped a few
catches and gave us a few chances. But we were in dire straights
at six for 115. We knew that the Pakistanis' ability to wipe up
the tail is quite phenomenal.
But then Neil Johnson came to the rescue to play one of the
finest innings I've ever seen on a green pitch. He played in a
typical Ian Botham mould -- he didn't hang about, but hit on the
up, hit through the line of the ball, took them on, pulling and
cutting, and hit the ball really sweetly. He played really
aggressive cricket, and scored 107 off only 117 balls. It was
virtually a chanceless innings; perhaps there were a few
half-chances -- he was dropped at slip on 99 -- but on that pitch
you were always liable to get edges to slip. He took calculated
risks, choosing his balls correctly: whenever it was short he
pulled well, whenever it was pitched up he drove, and he left
well when the ball wasn't quite there. ``Fortune favours the
bold'' is the age-old saying which came true in this particular
innings.
Streaky batted really well in support, and so did Andy Whittall.
We now knew we had to bowl well, as we didn't want to be chasing
more than 250 in the last innings. So our goal was to bowl them
out for under 200.
Then came one of the most exciting passages of Test cricket I
have ever been involved in. Henry Olonga, just bowling very
quick and very straight, knocked the stuffing out of their
batting. We caught our catches; we were a little fortunate on a
couple of occasions when the ball hit the pads and rolled on to
the stumps, but when it's your day it's your day!
We had them six down for 41 at one stage, which was a magnificent
effort. They recovered a bit; if they had reached 150 and we had
needed 200 to win it was a different ball game. Things looked to
be sliding a bit: Wasim, as we know, can bat a bit -- a truly
good all-rounder -- and Saeed Anwar, probably their best batsman,
was still in.
But Pom accounted for Wasim, and then I called back Henry and he
knocked over Saeed Anwar. Saeed had been trying to steal the
strike and Johnson ran out Mushtaq brilliantly from gully. Then
Streaky knocked over Aaqib Javed, and they had folded pretty
meekly, for 103.
On that pitch, Pakistan must have backed themselves to make us
fight for the 162 we needed to win. We lost Gavin Rennie early,
but Grant Flower and Murray Goodwin put us in a good position.
Murray played superbly for his 73 -- great concentration, picking
the right ball, left the ball superbly, excellent discipline. He
was really the backbone; it looks a comfortable victory in the
end, but let me tell you that a lot of hard work went into that
and some very good individual performances throughout the match.
It was a team effort and the guys really felt good within
themselves; we had a few beers that night and really let it sink
in.
Second Test (Lahore). ZIMBABWE 183 (Andy Flower 60*; Waqar
Younis 4/54, Saqlain Mushtaq 5/32) and 48/0 drew with PAKISTAN
325 (Saeed Anwar 75, Yousuf Youhana 120*; Henry Olonga 3/63).
The Second and Third Tests you can basically put down to fog. At
Lahore we played on another green-top and were in rather a poor
position there. Andy Flower batted well to give some
respectability to the score, but we scored 183 on what we thought
was a 250 deck.
We had them 215 for eight, which was a great comeback. Henry
Olonga on the third morning bowled really well and knocked the
stuffing out of their batting. Then Waqar and Shoaib hung around
with Yousuf Youhana to frustrate us in good tail-end stands. The
pitch had flattened out by then and it was a little easier to
play on.
Then we had a bit of a testing time to bat, when Wasim and Shoaib
Akhtar were bowling really quickly. They had to guts it out, and
Grant got hit a couple of times on the foot with yorkers. It was
a time to show your true colours, and Grant and Gavin Rennie did
that.
We reached 48 for no wicket by the close, but there was no play
the next day due to the conditions, which were unbelievable. You
would wake up in the morning and be unable to see ten metres in
front of you, and when it did clear it was just hazy and the
visibility was still poor. It was a thick white fog, rather like
you see up in the Eastern Highlands in the early morning.
It was the same in the last Test match, just thick fog until
eleven or twelve, and then it cleared up a bit but the haze still
prevented play. I suppose you could have played club cricket in
it, but not Test cricket when there is so much at stake.
It was pretty disappointing in that respect because we wanted to
play all the games in the series. A series victory is still a
series victory, but playing cricket would always be better than
sitting on your butt doing nothing, especially in a place like
Pakistan where there's not much to do.
But when we got on the plane the guys were really delighted with
what they had achieved. It was a series win against a side which
in their own country are hardly ever beaten.
Regarding the Pakistan captaincy, Aamer Sohail was captain for
the one-day matches and the First Test, then Moin Khan took over.
It's hard to understand what goes on over there; it's obviously
a lot to do with politics. With the match-fixing inquiry going
on, that obviously didn't help matters, but you never get to know
the bottom line. We have played them in 12 Test matches and they
have had six different captains.
The two teams got on really well despite that, though. It was
competitive on the field but no worse. I think most sides get on
well with the Zimbabweans because we are a naturally friendly
race and don't have the traditional feuds that some other
countries have. We're the youngsters just coming into this, so
we go out on the field and are just grateful for the opportunity
to play tough competitive cricket.
I think that's what most sides admire in us; with the
infrastructure we have here, to compete the way we do they find
it quite an admirable quality. We do have moments: things happen
at times when bowlers get heated up and it adds to the edge. But
it never got very far at all in Pakistan.
We were rather lucky with injuries on the tour. Paul Strang was
injured when somebody wearing spikes stood on his hand and so he
couldn't play in the Second Test. There were a few niggles that
go with the territory as far as the fast bowlers were concerned,
but the batsmen kept free from injury.
(In answer to a question about Waqar Younis) He may have lost a
bit of pace, but he still swings the ball. He gives you plenty
of opportunities to drive, but also bowls a great many that you
can nick behind the stumps. He can still reverse-swing the old
ball and now has a good slower ball. He has gained in guile and
is still quite a formidable bowler.
Wasim is the best bowler in the world, in my opinion. His
variety is unbelievable. He can bend the ball either way at
will, seam it at will, he uses the crease well, has a
well-directed bouncer, a good slower ball, a very economical
run-up -- he is just a complete bowler.
(In answer to a question about which players made the most
progress on tour) I think everybody made psychological progress.
This game is all in the mind, and everybody now realises what
it's like to win now, and what we have to do to win.
As far as performances go, I think obviously Henry Olonga played
really well, Mbangwa came through in the Test we won, Murray
Goodwin had one good innings, and Neil Johnson played
particularly well throughout. Perhaps there wasn't enough
consustency in our batting; we weren't getting the scores we
should have done, especially in Sharjah.
But at the end of the day results are what count, and as a team
we achieved more than we ever thought we would have achieved. It
was just disappointing in the crunch games not to have performed
as well as we did in the other games. But that's something we
obviously have to work at.
Our fielding had its moments, but also needs to be more
consistent; we put down more chances than we should. But we now
realise that we are a competitive, competent side, and if we
continue to play the way we are doing with added improvements,
then we could be a very strong force in the World Cup.
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