Shots and Moin: a double edge of cut and thrust (5 June 1999)

5 June 1999

Shots and Moin: a double edge of cut and thrust

Trevor Chesterfield

Nottingham - It was about as bizarre as any limited overs innings you are likely to see in this World Cup: a clash between the brash and the bold, a thrust from each side as compelling as any command performance you are going to see.

The pity is that medium-fast bowler Steve Elworthy, known as 'Shots' to his South African teammates and Moin Khan, occasionally referred to as 'Dasher' in some Pakistan circles, did not cross paths in this Super Six test of skills at Trent Bridge.

Not surprisingly the outing had been billed as the 'showdown': Group A log leaders against Group B equivalents. The former favourites, South Africa up against the newly installed fancy team among the bookies; Pakistan now considered likely to repeat the 1992 and thus keep the title in the Asian sub-continent.

Yet today we had the classic confrontation without either major combatant looking down the pitch without so much as a glance, unless it was when Elworthy was fielding close to Moin when he was batting during his moments of bash and wallop which goes hand in batting glove with the slogs.

For someone who fancied himself as a batsman when he was at junior school and played, with Graeme Hick, in the same then Rhodesia side in an under/13 tournament in Pretoria, Elworthy was quite relaxed about his game. In fact he might have been playing for Zimbabwe and sharing the new ball this World Cup but for a parental decision in the early 1980s to move to South Africa.

At a venue where 11 months ago he made his Test debut for South Africa against England, Elworthy's bowling yesterday was a study of style, guile and attention to detail, and on a pitch which was inclined to be a touch slow. What a change to Chelmsford a week ago where he had over-pitched or bowled shortish at times and was generally out of sorts with his action if not his rhythm.

There was a suggestion he had bowled 'beautifully' as if he had just emerged from one of those expensive hair salons and preparing to make his TV debut. His 10 overs were strung together in succession: figures of 10-2-23-2 are not, if anything a tribute to his general economy and underlined his value to the side.

That it was done on a pitch where a race between the ball and the tortoise might has seen the ball win by the thread of the seam also shows how he was as troubles to the batsmen as Moin was when he batted. While Elworthy seemed to have the ball attached to an invisible yo-yo string, ducking it around, probing batsmen's defences and troubling their general composure yet somehow missing the edge of the bat by a greying whisker, Moin showed why he is a Mr Fix It in the lower Pakistan order.

There is a little bravado, some cavalier, perhaps but more than anything improvisation and an ability to make the most of what loose bowling there is. It is called taking your chances and he did just that, lifting Pakistan out of the trough of trouble to a score of some respectability.

Before his arrival the batting had been markedly indifferent, bothered more about occupation of the crease than the tactics of working the ball around to rotate the strike to keep the board moving. Admittedly South Africa's bowling had been tight and accurate enough to frustrate the normally free-flowing Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed and Inzaman-ul-Haq.

Enter Moin and his dash and flair in the city where Robin Hood had once roamed lifted the spirits of the supporters who had little be cheerful about. A matter of 45 runs in four overs lifted their spirits: slapping Allan Donald for a couple of sixes, planting him for extras boundaries and lifting Shaun Pollock clear of the inner ring added the touch of tandoori the innings required to give it needed spice.

When Moin Khan arrived the scoreboard did not look at all a pretty sight at 118 for five. When he left with 63 against his name in the scorebook he had revived Pakistan's hopes of setting a challenging target: the runs were off 56 balls with six fours and two sixes. With 81 off the last 10 overs, mostly thanks to Moin's efforts, South Africa knew they faced a challenging afternoon.