365WCX_1999JUN11

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Friday, June 11, 1999. World Cup Edition No. 26

IN THIS EDITION:

* Match Report ­ Zimbabwe v Pakistan * Quotes * Magic Moment * Full Scorecard * Super Six Points Table * Saturday's fixture

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PAKISTAN QUALIFY JOHN WARD The Oval - Wasim Akram won the toss and decided to bat for Pakistan on an overcast day at The Oval. The pitch looked good for batting, and the decision was greeted with much enthusiasm by Pakistani supporters.

Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton said that Zimbabwe would have put Pakistan in had they won the toss. "If we were just playing for two points we would have batted first," he said. "But we also have to take run rates into account, and batting second is the best way to increase that." The way things turned out, it was fortunate that Campbell did not have to take the blame for a decision that would have gone wrong.

Neil Johnson was still suffering from a groin strain, and Zimbabwe were forced to play him as a batsman only. They strengthened their bowling by bringing in Huckle and Mbangwa, with Viljoen and Andrew Whittall dropping out. So for the first time this tournament Zimbabwe played both leg-spinners.

Pakistan made just one change, bringing in Wasti to open the innings and dropping Shahid to the middle order. The veteran Saleem Malik was the player to lose his place. Yousuf Youhana, a batsman with an outstanding record against Zimbabwe, was still not fit to play.

With Johnson unfit to bowl, Streak bowled the first over for Zimbabwe, and predictably bowled two wides. Saeed Anwar in the second over pulled Mbangwa over midwicket for a boundary only inches short of a six, and was soon displaying superb form. His partner Wasti, uncertain of his place in the team, was rather more circumspect. Zimbabwe missed a golden opportunity when, on 18, he slashed Mbangwa hard but straight to Campbell at slip, and the catch went down; this was to prove the crucial moment of the match.

Wasti soon gained in confidence, and a six over square leg enabled him to catch Saeed. The pair added 95 together with some daring stroke play, but it was by no means chanceless and Zimbabwe had plenty of reason to rue their bad luck. Several mistimed strokes just fell clear of fielders, the batsmen played and missed very narrowly at times, and more than once they just avoided playing the ball on to their stumps. Eventually a thickedged slash from Wasti was well picked up by Huckle running round from third man, dismissing him for 40.

Saeed ran to his fifty and Ijaz pulled his first ball from Olonga through midwicket for three. Then came yet another of Pakistan's foolish run-outs, as Ijaz played the ball to midwicket and kept going while Saeed turned back. Goodwin had no problem in returning the ball to the keeper and Ijaz was out for 5, Pakistan were 116 for two.

Pakistan continued the run chase, the highlight being a superb pulled six by Saeed off Whittall. The Zimbabwe bowlers though proved most erratic, with even the spinners finding it difficult to bowl a line, and the batsmen climbed in. There were signs that Zimbabwe were beginning to flag in the field after doing so well earlier, as their chances of victory slipped ever further away.

Strang did the trick, as he lured Inzamam out of his crease and had him stumped by Andy Flower, although the replay appeared to show some doubt as to whether he had taken the ball cleanly enough. Inzamam had made 21, and Pakistan were 183 for three.

Saeed reached a superb century, despite his lucky escapes, with a cover-driven four off Olonga, who returned but was as erratic as ever. In the same over, trying to pull, he hit a huge skyer off the top edge to be picked up by the keeper running back behind the slip position. He had made 103, and Pakistan were 194 for four, and having to rebuild with two batsmen still to score. Wasim never did, trying to sweep a topspinner from Huckle and being hit on the back leg to be given out lbw second ball, with the score on 195.

Shahid soon launched his innings with an incredible six off Streak, hit into the crowd over the long boundary behind cover. Otherwise the deep-set field and high-quality boundary fielders kept fours down to a minimum. Moin escaped a run-out, though, when Streak fumbled an awkwardly bouncing return from Mbangwa as the batsmen decided to chance a second run, after which he enjoyed another lucky escape as he lobbed a ball over midwicket and Campbell running back just failed to reach the catch. But this time it was third time lucky for Zimbabwe, as he played a ball to Grant Flower at short third man - or deep slip - and set off for a run; sent back, he was narrowly beaten by a superb direct hit on the stumps. He made 13, and Pakistan were 228 for six.

Azhar was next to go, snicking Streak to Andy Flower behind the stumps for 2, and Abdur played on to a yorker first ball. Suddenly, at 232 for eight, Pakistan had lost much of their advantage. The hat-trick ball was another attempted yorker, hitting Saqlain on the pad but perhaps just going down the leg side, but the umpire was not required to adjudge that one as he had already called no-ball.

Zimbabwe for once had the situation briefly under control as Shahid and Saqlain had to content themselves with ones and twos, unable to pierce the field. Strang returned, to bowl defensively round the wicket, but Shahid finally got hold of him and hoisted him for six over long on, which also brought up the 250, then flicked Olonga, replacing Streak after he finished his ration, to long-leg for four. Next ball he tried another big hit, inside out, but holed out to Johnson running round from extra cover. He had hit 37, and Pakistan were now 260 for nine. Some scrambled runs, mainly to Saqlain, brought the innings to an end, but neither batsman managed to reach the boundary.

Zimbabwe were to face only 49 overs due to their slow over rate during the Pakistani innings, one of several bad habits they have picked up since gaining Test status. Johnson quickly opened their scoring with an elegant four through extra cover off Wasim, but it was Shoaib that the Pakistani supporters really wanted to see bowl, roaring him up to the wicket with every delivery. His first ball struck Johnson on the shoulder and bounced high into the air, to be caught behind square leg, which led the Pakistanis to try to convince the umpire he was out. The rest of the over was better pitched, and Johnson handled it reasonably capably, taking a single off the last ball.

Flower had more difficulty and Shoaib soon proved too much for the out-of-form opener, yorking him middle and off stump for 2, making Zimbabwe 12 for one. Goodwin just managed to chop down on his first ball, edging it through to the keeper not far from his stumps. It was a continual battle for survival by the two batsmen against superb bowling, with both Wasim and Shoaib pulling out all the stops in an attempt to shatter the Zimbabwe innings beyond repair. Goodwin was always struggling, and when Abdur Razzaq replaced Shoaib he pulled a ball directly to Shahid at short midwicket. He made 4, and Zimbabwe were 28 for two.

Johnson continued to dominate while his partners struggled, willing to throw his bat at everything outside off stump, and at times was fortunate not to find the edge. Saqlain replaced Wasim, and the batsmen began to get bat on ball more readily. But Andy Flower's luck did not last, as he played back to a ball from Abdur with a slightly angled bat, to play it on to his stumps via the inside edge and thigh pad. Three successive batsmen had departed for a total of just ten runs between them.

Campbell got going with a glided stroke for two to third man off Saqlain, but he threw away his wicket and most of Zimbabwe's remaining hopes with a soft dismissal that h rued all too late, going for a big hit off Abdur and skying a catch straight to Wasim at wide mid-on. He made 3, and Zimbabwe were now really on the slide at 50 for three.

Johnson continued to ride his luck, the sort of luck some of his team-mates were not getting, when he drove at Abdur and the resulting bottom edge shot through to the boundary just past the keeper - and his stumps. But he adopted a more cautious approach as he neared his fifty, although he was nearly run out when he slipped and fell after Whittall declined a sharp single. Whittall himself played a sensible innings, taking runs as they came without any heroics until he suddenly darted down the pitch and hit Azhar straight for four. Not long afterwards he played a weak stroke outside off stump to Azhar and snicked a straightforward catch to Inzamam at slip. He scored 16, and Zimbabwe were now 83 for five.

Johnson struggled on the verge of his fifty, but eventually scampered a quick run from a push into the covers to reach the landmark. He was not to last much longer, as Azhar brought a ball back from wide of the crease to hit him on the front pad as he played well forward, and umpire Bucknor took his usual eternity to decide this was out lbw. He made 54, standing alone among the ruins of another grossly under-productive Zimbabwean innings, and the total was now 95 for six.

All-rounders Streak and Strang were now at the crease, with three rank tail-enders to come. Wasim brought back Shoaib in an attempt to bring the match to a quick conclusion. Streak struggled to stay there, but eventually lunged and took a four past point. Strang then brought up the hundred with a push to mid-off for a single.

An amusing incident took place when a yorker from Shoaib thudded into Strang's pads, knocking him over and forward as he tried to evade it. He just regained his crease as the throw-in hit the stumps, and the batsmen managed to take two runs from the rebound. Next ball, though, he slashed and was brilliantly caught one-handed in the gully by Azhar for 5. Zimbabwe were now 110 for seven, with only their trio of number-eleven batsmen to come.

Shoaib continually beat Olonga outside the off stump, but was unable to zone in on the stumps. The policy now seemed to be to stay there and reduce the deficit by as much as possible, but in such a dire situation significant progress was unlikely. Streak began to look solid, but was unable to do much more than put the ball away for singles.

Then Zimbabwe suddenly decided to yield to a death wish. First of all Olonga over-reached himself, advancing down the pitch to Saqlain in an attempt to hit him out of the ground, missed and was easily stumped for 5. Then Huckle, well known for his first-ball dismissals, did exactly the same thing with exactly the same result. Zimbabwe slumped in a hurry to 123 for nine. Finally Mbangwa, prodding forward, was adjudged lbw to give Saqlain the gift of a hat-trick, and Zimbabwe an ignominious defeat. This was only the second hat-trick in a World Cup match, the first being by Chetan Sharma for India against Sri Lanka in 1987/88. It must be conceded that Saqlain could hardly have found any easier victims, and the first two at least could hardly have been more co-operative.

Despite Zimbabwe's failings, it should not be overlooked that Pakistan played thoroughly good cricket and would have been more than a match for almost any team on this occasion. Their batting was very good until their middle-order slump, which Wasim put down to poor strokes probably caused by excitement, and their bowling was magnificent, even if the fielding was mundane. On this day the cornered tiger was more than a match for the cornered rabbit.

Remarkably, so even are the teams in this competition that Zimbabwe will still go through to the quarter-finals, unless both Australia and New Zealand win their final matches. No doubt everybody will be saying how lucky Zimbabwe are if they do make the quarter-finals, which is true, not because they are not good enough, because they are, but because they have played so far below their true ability for most of this tournament. Johnson alone has played to potential; not a single one of the other batsmen or bowlers has consistently played his best, and many of them have not even put in one significant performance. There has been some brilliant fielding, but even in this department they have fallen well short of their best.

Coach Dave Houghton accused his team of 'choking' in the first round after the feeble performance against England, and his verdict is still true. Zimbabwe had written themselves off before they put it together for the only time of the tournament and defeated South Africa. In the Super Sixes their only performance of note was their batting against Australia when the match was already as good as lost. It takes them a long time to handle a new situation, and if they do win through to the semi-finals nobody will be betting on them. But clearly the accumulated experience will serve a young team well in the future - eventually.

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=================================================================== QUOTES Wasim Akram - Today we were under pressure, we were disappointed to lose to India although we did well against South Africa and the boys were keen to perform. Saeed Anwar played a brilliant innings, he is one of the best in the world. We don't really mind who we come up against in the semi-final. We lost against South Africa, but we looked good, and we believe we can beat them.

About Shoaib Akhtar: - For Shoaib you need a hard run up and at Old Trafford today the ground was soft and spongy and I don't know why they started the game.

Alistair Campbell - 260 to 270 was a decent score and we did not play very well. There was not enough commitment by the top order and far too many rash shots. For the semi-final we still have a chance. We have got 2 bites at the cherry and we will have to wait and see.

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MAGIC MOMENT Saqlain Mushtaq becomes only the second bowler after Chetan Sharma (WC87) to take a hat-trick in a World Cup match. His victims where Henry Olonga (stumped), Andy Whittall (stumped) and Mpumelo Mbangwa (lbw).

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ODI # 1479 ICC World Cup, 1999, 7th Super Six Match Pakistan v Zimbabwe Kennington Oval, London 11 June 1999 (50-over match)

Result: Pakistan won by 148 runs Points: Pakistan 2, Zimbabwe 0

Toss: Pakistan Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and DL Orchard (SA) TV Umpire: DB Cowie (NZ) Match Referee: PJP Burge (Aus) Man of the Match: Saeed Anwar

Pakistan innings (50 overs maximum) R B 4 6 Saeed Anwar c A Flower b Olonga 103 144 11 0 Wajahatullah Wasti c Huckle b GJ Whittall 40 42 5 1 Ijaz Ahmed run out (Goodwin/A Flower) 5 5 0 0 Inzamam-ul-Haq st A Flower b Strang 21 36 0 0 *Wasim Akram lbw b Huckle 0 2 0 0 +Moin Khan run out (GW Flower) 13 17 0 0 Shahid Afridi c Johnson b Olonga 37 29 1 2 Azhar Mahmood c A Flower b Streak 2 3 0 0 Abdur Razzaq b Streak 0 1 0 0 Saqlain Mushtaq not out 17 22 0 0 Shoaib Akhtar not out 1 1 0 0 Extras (b 6, lb 3, w 20, nb 3) 32 Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 271

FoW: 1-95 (Wajahatullah, 18.5 ov), 2-116 (Ijaz Ahmed, 21.2 ov), 3-183 (Inzamam-ul-Haq, 35.6 ov), 4-194 (Saeed Anwar, 37.6 ov), 5-195 (Wasim Akram, 38.4 ov), 6-228 (Moin Khan, 43.3 ov), 7-231 (Azhar Mahmood, 44.1 ov), 8-231 (Abdur Razzaq, 44.2 ov), 9-260 (Shahid Afridi, 48.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W Streak 10 0 63 2 (1nb, 5w) Mbangwa 8 0 28 0 (3w) GJ Whittall 8 1 39 1 (3w) Olonga 5 0 38 2 (1nb, 5w) Huckle 10 0 43 1 (1w) GW Flower 2 0 13 0 (2w) Strang 7 0 38 1 (1w)

Zimbabwe innings (target: 272 runs from 49 overs) R B 4 6 NC Johnson lbw b Azhar Mahmood 54 94 5 0 GW Flower b Shoaib Akhtar 2 9 0 0 MW Goodwin c Shahid Afridi b Abdur Razzaq 4 15 0 0 +A Flower b Abdur Razzaq 4 12 0 0 *ADR Campbell c Wasim Akram b Abdur Razzaq 3 7 0 0 GJ Whittall c Shahid Afridi b Azhar Mahmood 16 31 2 0 HH Streak not out 16 31 1 0 PA Strang c Azhar Mahmood b Shoaib Akhtar 5 15 0 0 HK Olonga st Moin Khan b Saqlain Mushtaq 5 31 0 0 AG Huckle st Moin Khan b Saqlain Mushtaq 0 1 0 0 M Mbangwa lbw b Saqlain Mushtaq 0 1 0 0 Extras (lb 3, w 7, nb 4) 14 Total (all out, 40.3 overs) 123

FoW: 1-12 (GW Flower, 5.5 ov), 2-28 (Goodwin, 9.3 ov), 3-46 (A Flower, 13.4 ov), 4-50 (Campbell, 15.2 ov), 5-83 (GJ Whittall, 26.1 ov), 6-95 (Johnson, 28.2 ov), 7-110 (Strang, 33.2 ov), 8-123 (Olonga, 40.1 ov), 9-123 (Huckle, 40.2 ov), 10-123 (Mbangwa, 40.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W Wasim Akram 6 1 23 0 (1nb) Shoaib Akhtar 7 1 22 2 (3nb, 1w) Abdur Razzaq 9 1 25 3 (1w) Saqlain Mushtaq 6.3 1 16 3 Shahid Afridi 4 0 20 0 (1w) Azhar Mahmood 8 1 14 2

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World Cup 1999 Super Six Points Table: Played Won Lost NR Tied Points Net RR South Africa 4 3 1 - - 6 0.23 Pakistan 5 3 2 - - 6 0.65 Zimbabwe 5 2 2 1 - 5 -0.79 Australia 4 2 2 - - 4 0.44 New Zealand 4 1 2 1 - 3 -0.76 India 4 1 3 - - 2 -0.14

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