Freshman captaincy assignments don't get much tougher than Mark Taylor's: a trip to Pakistan, where the Aussies had not won a Test series for 35 years, with the first Test at Karachi, where Pakistan had never been beaten. In the end, it was a scorcher. The first day belonged to Michael Bevan, whose assertive debut innings of 82 made a mockery of the struggles he would find in Test cricket, and led Australia to 325 for 7 - an immediate declaration of positive intent at a time when 300 runs in a day was largely a pipe dream. They eventually secured a lead of 81 after Pakistan slipped from 153 for 1 to 256 all out. Shane Warne took 3 for 61, and the gangling, corkscrew-headed Jo Angel 3 for 54.

Then the fun really started. Taylor became the first man to make a pair in his first Test as captain, but David Boon and Mark Waugh took Australia to 171 for 2 - a lead of 253 - before Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis reverse-swung the middle and lower order into oblivion. Bevan and Steve Waugh went first ball, and nobody after Mark Waugh at No. 4 reached double figures. Boon was left high and dry on 114, but a target of 314 looked enough on a wearing wicket, especially when Pakistan tumbled to 189 for 7 and then 258 for 9.

Enter Mushtaq Ahmed, who launched an audacious counter-attack with Inzamam-ul-Haq. In the blink of an eye, the target was down to three, and an injury-ravaged Australia (Warne and Angel were the only front-line bowlers left) were on their knees. Warne spun one last, weary leg-break, Inzamam charged, the ball skewed off the pad with him well out of his ground … and scuttled straight past Ian Healy and to the boundary. It was the seventh one-wicket win in Tests; none had been completed with a higher last-wicket partnership.

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Rob Smyth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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