Proteas pummel Pakistan in the opener

TANGIERS -- In this brand-new cricketing venue at the northern most tip of Africa overlooking the Straits of Gibralter, Pakistan started off their campaign for the Morocco Cup 2002 in a disastrous manner. Set to chase a large target of 283, their innings which had started with such promise, fizzled out for 229 with nearly 7 overs of the regulation 50 remaining unconsumed, to hand South Africa a huge win by 54 runs.

Herschelle Gibbs superb hundred, which won him Man of the Match award, with good hands played by Nicky Boje and Jonty Rhodes had guided South Africa to a massive 283, which in the end proved beyond Pakistan's scope.

After an exhilarating start to their innings, this was a rather disappointing end. The openers Imran Nazir and Saeed Anwar had provided the momentum and the impetus, but the quest for a win was derailed somewhat in the middle overs as Yousuf Youhana (19, 38 deliveries, 1 four) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (24, 39 balls, 1 four, 1 six) after taking time to play themselves in, failed to build on it. What was really woeful was the running between the wickets, as sure twos were reduced to mere singles when these two were on the crease.

In the context of the match, the pottering around of this otherwise most reliable duo made an already steep target look steeper. Before the two of them could raise the hundred of the innings, Youhana trying to clear the mid-wicket ielder fell to Allan Donald as Gibbs brought off a good catch. That setback was compounded when Inzamam tried to find the boundary at long-off only to find a running Donald bringing off the catch.

Pakistan was in dire straits, but guided by Younis Khan (39, 38 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) and Shahid Afridi (34, 29 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) the late middle order tried to retrieve the situation but wickets kept falling at regular intervals to set Pakistan back. And once Younis and Afridi were gone, it was more or less a procession until Klusener bowled out Akram to bring the curtain down on the match.

For their part, the Pakistan openers were not to blame as they, facing a daunting asking rate of 5.68 from the outset, picked up the gauntlet. And they did it in spectacular fashion, going after the Springboks with gusto and elan.

Pollock started off well, with a maiden to the bearded Saeed Anwar, but Nazir smacked two fours to Makhaya Ntini in the next over after he was hit on the helmet ducking into a bouncer. If anything that brought out the vengeance in the gutsy youngster, and his first stroke to the extra cover fence and then straight behind the bowler were indeed pretty well executed.

This unleashed a deluge of boundaries, as Anwar clubbed three off Pollock next over, first guided to the fine leg fence, the next driven past long-off and the third to third man. Nazir repeated his cover drive to Ntini, while Anwar edged one to third man and drove another Pollock delivery imperiously to long-on. Nazir kept on tearing into Ntini, driving him for boundaries on both sides of the wicket, to mid-wicket and covers. In the next over, Nazir deftly steered Pollock to third man for four to raise Pakistan's first fifty, 53 to be exact off just 42 balls.

The dominance of the Pakistani openers at this point was reflected in the overwhelming number of boundaries - 12, with 48 off 53 runs coming off these. Ntini had gone for 20 runs in his three overs, when Pollock changed him to bring on Kallis. The decision had paydirt, as Anwar (23, 5 fours) miscued him to Ntini at mid-on. Nazir kept going after the bowling, burrowing two fours to Pollock at third man and extra cover when Kallis got him leg leg before after he had made 40 off only 29 deliveries, with 9 fours.

Pakistan had got the start, but it still had a long way to go. They didn't make it, in the main because their batsmen didn't go about it in a planned manner.

GIBBS POWERS PROTEAS:
Earlier, facing an attack devoid of Shoaib Akhtar, the Proteas led by Herschelle Gibbs' 114 and flamboyant knocks by Nicky Boje (52) and Jonty Rhodes (46), left behind their blues to club their way to an imposing 283 for the loss of nine wickets after they won the toss and elected to bat first. Five wickets fell in a bunch in the slog overs, the last five of them for the addition of only 27 runs as Waqar Younis, the only redeeming feature in the Pakistan attack, claimed another 5fer, for only 38 runs to put skids under the Proteas. This restricted the flow of runs right when the South Africans threatened to soar well past 300 and put the game away from Pakistan.

Once Gary Kirsten departed early, the Proteas mostly stuck to the basics, with the emphasis on partnerships as Gibbs played an uncharacteristically subdued role till he was in sight of his hundred. First Gibbs and Kallis steadied the innings, but when Kallis was caught at the wicket as Waqar struck a second time after posting the 50 of the innings, in walked Nicky Boje. And he straightaway took the attack to Pakistan by tearing into the first change seamer, Abdul Razzaq, hitting him for three fours and a six in the space of two overs.

That prompted the double change, as the duo of spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi were brought on from both ends. They made little impression, but skipper Younis had no fallback as he had gone into the match with just five bowlers, including the all-rounders. Boje struck Afridi over long-on into the stands, and then repeated the stroke for a one-bounce four. He tried to go after Afridi, and was dropped by Waqar in the covers. Not a costly lapse that, because Nazir made no mistake running backwards at point when he miscued Afridi again in the same over. That brought on Jonty Rhodes, and thus ensued the most enterprising partnership of the innings and when it was terminated 120 runs later, the score was already a mammoth 256 with six overs and a bit still to go.

Gibbs' superb 114, his seventh century in ODIs, came off only 130 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 9 fours. He holed out to Inzamam at deep square leg, trying to pull Razzaq's waist high full toss. Rhodes (46, off 50 balls, 3 fours) followed two balls later, run out by Akram. That triggered the collapse, as Waqar castled Mark Boucher and his counterpart Shaun Pollock in one over. Waqar got Klusener too on the penultimate delivery of the innings to get five for 38 in an otherwise lacklustre bowling performance in which Saqlain went for 80 runs without getting a wicket. Wasim Akram, in his 335th ODI, the highest by any player in the world, too failed to add to his world record 463 scalps.

This was a highly competitive target, and given Pakistan's distaste for a chase an uphill one. They didn't make it in the end.