[Report] South Africa v Pakistan
rsci
By Scyld Berry at Trent Bridge
IT WAS another lowish-scoring match
on another cool day in conditions made
for pace bowlers yet again. For a change
though there was an exciting finish, which
saw South Africa beat Pakistan in this
Super Six match with an over to spare,
but leaving both countries well on the
way to the semi-finals with four points
each.
South Africa's match- winner was once
again Lance Klusener, who was both physical strength and mental calmness
personified as he hit his way home in the gathering dark. The ball had to be
changed towards the end of South Africa's innings, as it had been when
Pakistan were bowling against Australia at Headingley last Sunday, and the
official explanation was that the ball was dirty. But Klusener's striking was
clean as could be.
Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock had provided some sort of momentum
after another of South Africa's weak starts, but on his arrival at 135 for six in
the 37th over Klusener had plenty of work to do if he was to win his fourth
man-of-the-match award in six games. Fortunately the run-rate required of
South Africa had not gone beyond seven, so he had time to get his eye in
before wielding his enormous club.
Pakistan's bowlers began to drop short and Klusener pulled three sixes, not
just off the quick bowlers but Saqlain too. Spin has been his weakness, but
not here, as he waited patiently for the ball to sit up before punishing it for its
laxity of length. A target of 66 off 10 was brought down to 27 off four, 18
off three, then merely nine from two, at which moment Mark Boucher
mowed a six himself off Saqlain.
A little record had to be broken though before the finishing line was reached.
The previous record sequence without being dismissed in one-day
internationals was 395 runs by Javed Miandad of Pakistan. With two runs to
win, and having scored 394 since his last dismissal, Klusener launched
himself at Saqlain off the front foot and skied the offbreak above
extra-cover, who let it slip through his hands and let the batsmen scamper
two. Simultaneously Klusener had pushed himself and his team over the
finishing line.
South Africa had beaten Pakistan in their previous 12 one-day meetings,
stretching back into one of the murkier periods of the latter's history, but this
match was never one-sided. Pakistan's total was just above par in conditions
which were friendly to swing bowling all day, thanks to some superlative late
acceleration from Pakistan's wicket-keeper/ batsman Moin Khan, the fastest
scorer in this World Cup after the Australian Tom Moody.
Until Moin mowed and flicked and carved, it was one long struggle for
Pakistan's batsmen. Allan Donald does not often swing the ball out
appreciably but he did yesterday, and his pace was only eclipsed by Shoaib
Akhtar's opening burst, which flashed meteorically across the ground and
picked up Herschelle Gibbs and Hansie Cronje in a cloud of stardust.
Steve Elworthy, though, was again South Africa's most economical bowler,
doing much the same mid-innings job as Azhar Mahmood later. Elworthy
did not pitch too short as Kallis did: Lancashire's coaching made sure of
that. For in 1996, his season with Lancashire, Elworthy learnt to keep his
head up in delivery, instead of dropping it and banging the ball in short of a
length as he had learnt to do with Northern Transvaal.
Pakistan, however, had won their four qualifying matches in which they had
batted first, and lost the only time they chased, against Bangladesh, so
batting first this time was no great hardship - indeed they volunteered for it.
Saeed Anwar managed some cuts (and was dropped by Jonty Rhodes at
point off one), Ijaz Ahmed a pull or two, and Abdul Razzaq got himself out
in frustration at his inability to play some big shots. But no big shots were to
be made against such high-calibre bowling until Moin had played himself in
and engineered the plunder of 54 runs from the last five overs.
Donald was Moin's especial fancy. In one over of his, Moin shovelled one
four, swept a six as if Donald was bowling offspin, then walked across his
stumps and helped the ball fly between the two long-legs for four more.
No Pakistani innings would be complete however without a run-out involving
Inzamam-ul-Haq. He comes from a landlord's family in Multan, through
which the Indus flows, and he takes his cue from the river at the height of the
dry season. This time though he was not at fault, except for failing to ground
his bat after passing the popping crease.
Before this match there was virtually no difference, in the World Cup overall,
between teams batting first and those batting second: the side batting first
had won 16 times, the side batting second 15 times. But often the
under-dogs of Scotland, Bangladesh and Kenya were sent in first to be
dispatched quickly. Take away those games, and in the matches involving
Test teams only a pattern does emerge: 10 of these games have been won
by the side batting first, only seven by the side batting second.
South Africa immediately felt the extra pressure which afflicts target-chasers
as their opening batsmen failed yet again, as they have done in every game
except against Kenya and England. Gibbs forced loosely off his back foot to
be caught at point; Gary Kirsten padded up to a ball which seamed in, not
swung away as he expected, and Darrell Hair does not like people padding
up.
Cronje stepped up to No 3 to make his batting presence felt, a game move
considering that he does not instinctively move into line against the highest
pace; and Shoaib's pace was the highest, clocked at 95 mph. Any quicker
and Cronje's slash to third man would have carried for six.
On flat pitches South Africa's batsmen are formidable, individually and in
their collective depth. On pitches where the ball moves around, as it did
yesterday, Kallis is all too outstanding in the tightness of his technique. But
he still needed Klusener to take over and, by bucking the trend against the
team batting second, to power South Africa home.
Thanks :: The Electronic Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk