Email Us Forum Mail Article Print Article

Sami wrecks New Zealand

Tuesday, December 2 2003

Pakistan began the day with the knowledge that their experienced skipper Inzamam Ul-Haq would play no part in the game because of a sore throat. However stand-in captain Yousuf Youhana had no hesitation in electing to bat first after he won the toss. The pitch was bone dry and the outfield was lightning quick and a score of 250+ was on the cards.

The Pakistan opening pair of Hameed & Farhat began slowly. For the first 12 overs, the New Zealand bowlers bowled a great channel to the batsmen but after that it was all Pakistan & wickets were only lost because of poor shots or because of the need to accelerate the run-rate.

Hameed (53), Farhat (68) & Elahi (70) provided the bulk of the innings but it was Abdul Razzaq who once again provided the fireworks at the end smashing 42* off just 16 balls to lift Pakistan to 281. The New Zealand side should have felt that they let Pakistan score 20 runs too many.

In reply, New Zealand started off with a bang scoring 12 runs off a wayward first over from Shabbir Ahmed. But the run-rate quickly dried up & the pressure began to show on the batsmen as NZ slumped to 51/3 after 16 overs.
As is usual for the New Zealand team, no-one managed to support the main-stayer at the other end who was opener Richard Jones (63)& as soon as New Zealand had reached 155 after 35 overs, the carnage began.

Mohammad Sami bowled with extreme pace & in his quick-fire demolition of the New Zealand lower order he managed to up-root a stump of 4 New Zealand batsmen. Sami who is his first spell had recorded 5 overs, no wickets for 6 runs ended with the brilliant figures of 7.5 overs, 5 wickets for 10 runs.

The 3rd ODI will be played at Faisalabad tommorow & New Zealand will have to hope that they can re-create the batting display that saw them achieve 291 in the 1st ODI or the series could well be over very quickly.


Posted by Tim