Episode 2000
Only 19 days after the World Cup ended, and already there's another tournament final to be played, as Pakistan take on Zimbabwe to decide the winners of the Cherry Blossom Cup in Sharjah
Freddie Auld
09-Apr-2003
Only 19 days after the World Cup ended, and already there's another
tournament final to be played, as Pakistan take on Zimbabwe to decide the
winners of the Cherry Blossom Cup in Sharjah. It may be just another match in
just another one-day competition, but there is something special about tomorrow's final - it's the 2000th one-day international.
Yes, it was just over 32 years ago that Graham McKenzie bowled to Geoffrey
Boycott at Melbourne to start the ODI circus rolling all round the world.
And yet, while it's taken only that long to reach the 2000th ODI, there have
been only 1637 Test matches since the first - also at Melbourne - way back
in March 1877.
But while the Sharjah Cup final may not be the most important match to grace
this landmark, it is fitting that the game is being held at what might be
called the spiritual home of one-day cricket. The SCG has hosted 115 ODIs,
the MCG 114, and Lord's only 32, but Sharjah leads the way with a whopping
197.
But enough of the history lesson, what about the game itself? Pakistan start
as favourites, having won three out of three here, including a comfortable
68-run win over Zimbabwe in the first match of the tournament. With a
new-look young team under the older heads of the captain Rashid Latif and
the coach Javed Miandad, they have made a good start to their life after the
World Cup. Younis Khan has relished the responsibility as the senior batsman
of the team and new boy Mohammad Hafeez has also made a good impression at
the top of the order.
Zimbabwe also had their problems in the World Cup, mainly off the field - so
a chance to escape the poverty and politics which currently engulf their
homeland has been a welcome weight off their shoulders. They have played
well to reach the final, including a hard-fought and unexpected win over Sri
Lanka, and Pakistan should be wary of the Zimbabweans, despite their earlier
win over them. Douglas Marillier has excelled at No. 2 in the batting order,
scoring his maiden ODI hundred against Kenya, while Grant Flower has done
his best to fill in the huge hole left by his brother's enforced retirement.
A lot depends on the Sharjah pitch, too. The wickets have been on the slow
side, which has meant low scores. However, Pakistan smashed 286 against
Kenya - the highest total of the tournament - on one of the more lively
pitches in the last round-robin match, and they will be hoping tomorrow's
track is of a similar nature. If it is - and they don't have any pre-match
football games - then expect a Pakistan win.
Teams (probable)
Pakistan
1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Faisal Iqbal, 4 Yousuf Youhana, 5
Younis Khan, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Rashid Latif (capt, wk) 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9
Naved-ul-Hasan, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Umar Gul.
Zimbabwe
1 Craig Wishart, 2 Douglas Marillier, 3 Gavin Rennie, 4 Grant Flower, 5
Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Dion Ebrahim, 8 Heath Streak (capt), 9
Andy Blignaut, 10 Ray Price, 11 Douglas Hondo.
Freddie Auld is editorial assistant of Wisden CricInfo Ltd in London.