McGrath's best humbles Pakistan

Career-best innings figures of 8/24 from Australia's pace veteran Glenn McGrath has blasted Australia to a crushing 491-run win over Pakistan. To add to the humiliation, man of the match Justin Langer outscored Pakistan in both innings of the match.

Beginning the day in the unenviable position of 1/18, chasing an impossible 564 to win, Pakistan added 16 before the McGrath onslaught began. McGrath, who manages to extract bounce from the flattest of pitches, naturally proved a threat on Australia's paciest pitch at the WACA. The overnight batsmen Imran Farhat and Younis Khan fell in quick succession, handing catches to Hayden and Warne to get the ball rolling, and bouncing, for McGrath.

Abdul Razzaq failed to revive the innings, caught behind for just one, bringing Inzamam to the crease, lowered in the batting order due to back injury. He too, however, was adjudged caught behind, giving McGrath his fifth wicket and sealing Pakistan's fate at 5/49. Kamran Akmal, the last of the recognised batsmen, failed to score, leaving McGrath with six from six and a look at the tail.

Yousuf Youhana, the only batsmen to cross twenty in Pakistan's innings, fell when he attempted to pull out of a hook shot only to edge to Gilchrist, giving McGrath his seventh. With only the tail to resist, the prospect of becoming the first Australian to take ten wickets in an innings was distinctly possible, but first-innings hero Michael Kasprowicz joined in with the wicket of Sami. McGrath grabbed his eight, dismissing Shoaib for 1, leaving Kasprowicz to end proceedings with the wicket of Mohammad Khalil.

McGrath's final analysis read 16-8-24-8, the cheapest eight-wicket haul by an Australian, and the second-best Australian haul behind Arthur Mailey's 9/121 in 1921. It also eclipsed McGrath's previous best of 8/38 against England. Man of the match however went to Justin Langer, whose 191 and 97 outscored Pakistan's team totals of 179 and 72. Pakistan will be mildly heartened by the news that Shoaib Akhtar will be fit to play the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, but clearly have to make monumental leaps if they are to challenge Australia in the next Test.



Score Summary:

AUSTRALIA 381 all out
JL Langer 191; Shoaib Akhtar 5/99

PAKISTAN 179 all out
Younis Khan 42; MS Kasprowicz 5/30

AUSTRALIA 5/361 dec.
DR Martyn 100*, JL Langer 97

PAKISTAN 72 all out
Yousuf Youhana 27; Glenn McGrath 8/24

Result: Australia win by 491 runs
Man of the Match: JL Langer

Posted by Adam