Shoaib has the last chuckle as Australians buckle

If all bowlers are judged in the same manner as Akhtar, there will be a few big names missing from international cricket, but to allow him to fly to Australia before banning him and then renege and let him back into the competition at the last minute is confirmation that the administration ismore confused than Shoaib’s travel agent. Cricket administrators have the ability to complicate reasonably straightforward decisions and it usually comes about because they fail to think things through properly.

If you think the administration of the game is a mess, then you should see the Pakistan top order batting. It is in disarray at the moment and once again the top five were out with little on the board. A collapse could be excused if it were caused by Glenn McGrath’s aggression or Brett Lee’s pace, but on this occasion, the wrecker was Andrew Symonds, a part-time medium pacer. There is a lot to commend Symonds; he refused to play for England (the country of his birth) in order to try and represent Australia (the country of his upbringing) and his decision has been vindicated.

The fact that he took the tougher option indicates the young man is prepared to accept a challenge and he also has the skill to match his determination. He is an exciting strokemaker and an all-round fielder with the skills tomatch Mark Waugh, but as a medium pacer, he is a tyro. His plan revolved around bowling the odd wide outswinger to see what resulted and to his amusement, he discovered the Pakistani batsmen were in an obliging mood. If they were fish, you wouldn’t have had to bait the hook.

Once again it was left to Moin Khan and his tail-end mates to resurrect the innings, something the wicket-keeper is experienced at doing. The Pakistan top order batsmen haven’t adapted to the extra bounce and they need to find a way to score off the back foot in the early overs, rather than pushing tentatively forward and then sending the bat on a reconnaissance mission.

On the other hand the fast bowlers don’t need any reminders before going into battle and they went on a seek and destroy mission. The rejuvenated Waqar Younis batted with vigour and bowled well with the new ball, swinging it out and then fooling Mark Waugh by suddenly producing an off-cutter. It was the much travelled and talked about Shoaib who got the two bigbreakthroughs; Ricky Ponting and the Australian skipper the following ball. Just to cloud the issue over his action, Akhtar bowled a couple of fast short-pitched deliveries (the one that apparently caused most consternation among the advisory panel), without a murmur from the umpires.

Then it was Abdur Razzaq’s turn and he produced some good length bowling with just enough movement to be disconcerting. Suddenly, the much-vaunted Australian batting was looking a little frayed at the edges.

Even with the match seemingly in Pakistan’s grasp Australia refused to lie down. The injured Shane Warne valiantly held up an end and with Michael Bevan picking up runs as easily as a seagull scavenges crumbs, memories of the Bellerive Test were being revived. For a while, it appeared as though Pakistan had gone to sleep again and were again going to fail top press home the advantage, but Waqar disposed of Warne and the agile Moin ran out McGrath. The bottom half of the Pakistan side had contributed greatly to a victorythat was urgently required to dent the confidence of the Australian side.

SCOREBOARD
Pakistan: Saeed Anwar c Gilchrist b McGrath 12, Mohammed Wasim lbw Dale 0, Abdur Razzaq c Gilchrist b Symonds 9, Ijaz Ahmed c Gilchrist b Symonds 8, Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw Warne 12, Yousuf Youhana c Gilchrist b Symonds 0, Moin khan c Mark Waugh b Warne 33, Wasim Akram run out (Ponting) 35, Saqlain Mustaq not out 37, Waqar Younis not out 23; Extras (5lb, 8w, 2nb) 15.
Total (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-20, 3-23, 4-32, 5-34, 6-60, 7-103, 8-128
Bowling: Glenn McGrath 10-1-35-1, Adam Dale 10-2-19-1, Andrew Symonds 10-1-34-3, Brett Lee 10-1-39-0, Shane Warne 10-0-52-2.

Australia: Adam Gilchrist c M Khan b Razzaq 27, Mark Waugh lbw Younis 1, Ricky Ponting c Wasim b Akhtar 32, Michael Bevan not out 31, S Waugh lbw Akhtar 0, D Martyn c Ijaz b Razzaq 4, Andrew Symonds c Wasim b Razzaq 0, Brett Lee b Razzaq 2, Adam Dale c Anwar b Akhtar 15, S Warne c Ijaz bYounis 9, Glenn McGrath run out 0; Extras: (b2, lb7, w3, nb 6) 18.
Total (in 39 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-60, 3-72, 4-72, 5-77, 6-77, 7-79, 8-112, 9-132.
Bowling: Wasim Akram 8-0-39-0, Waqar Younis 8-2-25-2, Shoaib Akhtar 7-1-31-3, Abdur Razzaq 8-1-23-4, Saqlain Mushtaq 8-2-12-0