Tags:
Journalism of Courage
SYDNEY, FEBRUARY 4: Australia completed a demolition job in the final series, by amassing their highest-ever One-Day International score and in the process reduced the Pakistan fielders to a fumbling mess. When you consider that Pakistan is probably the second best side to Australia and the team with the most aggressive approach against the World Cup champions, it was a tribute to the home side that they steamrolled their opponents.
From the moment that first chance was missed, the Pakistan fielding went downhill like a slalom race, the hapless Youhana and a listless Waqar Younis the main offenders, but some sloppy ‘keeping from Moin Khan did nothing to help lift the standard. With their opponents in disarray all Australian batsmen came out with fire in his eyes and three of the top four scored at virtually a run a ball. Ricky Ponting again led the way to continue his excellent final series and Andrew Symonds, promoted to increase an already high run rate was able to achieve his aim without the aid of anysixes, but he did reach the boundary on four occasions.
Australia’s long batting line-up was able to keep up a terrific pace and the records tumbled as the score rose. When they passed 300 it was the first time it had happened in a ODI match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (testimony to a much improved pitch) and by the end it was Australia’s highest ever score in an ODI.
The batting had been exhilarating, but the fielding made the task a lot easier. This meant that Pakistan had to score at better than a run a ball right from the outset and after taking a blow from Glenn McGrath, Shahid Afridi set about trying to pull off a miracle. He clubbed four boundaries, but he’s always more comfortable hitting down the ground when the ball is full and the Australians opening bowlers restricted those opportunities and his flurry was all too short. Ijaz Ahmed then completed a horror final series of two ducks, caught behind off the indefatigable McGrath, who then lured Saeed Anwar into a drive only to find the edge.McGrath is one of the most difficult bowlers to hit out of the attack as he maintains pretty good line and length under fire and eventually the batsmen find themselves having to try and attack good balls — not an easy task.
Youhana, after his nightmare in the field tried for retribution with the bat, but despite his natural ability he has a tendency to be lazy with his footwork, especially against the leg-spin of Shane Warne. In the end he holed out in the 40s, a score that far too many Pakistan batsmen have reached in this series without going on to make a match winning score.
Relentless to the end Steve Waugh brought McGrath back to finish what he’d started and his ally was Brett Lee. The two pacemen have been dominant since they joined forces and on this occasion it was the senior partner who claimed the bag of five wickets, but there’s no doubt Lee’s pace has added an extra dimension to what was a very good side before he joined the fray.
Throughout the summer Australia has set the standard and ithas gone unanswered by either India or Pakistan. All teams now have to look at what Australia is doing and attempt to match it, otherwise international cricket could face another period of dominance like that experienced during the period when the West Indies were unbeatable. As yet, this Australian side hasn’t shown that it can win all around the world like those West Indies sides, but if they achieve that level of domination it would not be good for the game.
SCOREBOARD
Australia:
Mark Waugh run out 53
Adam Gilchrist c Moin b Mahmood 51
Ricky Ponting c Moin b Afridi 78
Andrew Symonds st Moin b Saqlain 45
Michael Bevan b Akram 3
Steve Waugh run out 37
Shane Lee c Youhanna b Saqlain 12
Damien Martyn not out 23
Shane Warne not out 4
Extras: (lb:14, w:12, nb: 5) 31
Total: (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 337
Fall of wickets:1-74, 2-170, 3-220, 4-224, 5-290, 6-297, 7-308
Bowling:Akram 10-1-65-1, Shoaib 9-0-61-0, Waqar 4-0-38-0, Mahmood7-0-51-1, Saqlain 10-0-54-2, Afridi 10-0-54-1
Pakistan:
Saeed Anwar c Gilchrist b McGrath 16
Shahid Afridi c Bevan b Brett Lee 18
Ijaz Ahmed c Gilchrist b McGrath 0
Yousuf Youhanna c Warne b Shane Lee 41
Mohammed Wasim lbw Brett Lee 0
Azhar Mahmood c Shane Lee b Brett Lee 27
Moin Khan b McGrath 33
Wasim Akram c Steve Waugh b McGrath 18
Saqlain Mushtaq c Gilchrist b McGrath 0
Waqar Younis run out 15
Sohaib Akhtar not out 1
Extras:(lb:7, w:3, nb:6) 16
Total: (all out in 36.3 overs) 185
Fall of wickets:1-20, 2-21, 3-42, 4-43, 5-80, 6-131, 7-149, 8-153, 9-177
Bowling:McGrath 9.3-2-49-5, Brett Lee 9-0-51-3, Warne 7-2-28-0, Shane Lee 6-0-20-1, Symonds 5-0-30-0
Result:Australia won by 152 runs
Australia won the best-of-three finals 2-0
