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Pakistan make it a whitewash

Monday, December 8 2003

Another comprehensive victory for the rampant Pakistan team was the widely-expected outcome from today's final encounter with New Zealand - and the home crowd were not disappointed.

Once again, Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed were completely dominant, adding 197 for the first wicket - the fourth time in succession that New Zealand had failed to take a wicket before three hooks were occupied on the scoreboard - then Farhat lofted Tamahau Canning to Jacob Oram in the deep.

New Zealand can take some comfort from the fact that their early bowling was perhaps their most disciplined of the series, certainly since the first game, with Jacob Oram in particular troubling both openers, but all too often the resultant edge as the batsmen took liberties tended to fly wide of the despairing fielders.

Canning continued with his useful knack of picking up wickets, this time accounting for Abdul Razzaq who despite scoring just 2 from seven deliveries finished the series with a strike rate of better than two runs per ball faced.

Shoaib Malik stuttered his way to a run-out via the trusty hand of Sinclair at cover, then Moin Khan presented his wicket to Hitchcock, but through it all Yasir Hameed was solid, composed and thoroughly in command, ending undefeated on 127 out of a total of 277-4.

At no point in the New Zealand reply did the Kiwis come to terms with the magnitude of the task in hand. Cumming and Jones started as if in test match mode, and with the series in New Zealand between the two sides only just arouind the corner, that may well have been the idea anyway. Certainly, Richard Jones in particular looks the part with the longer game in mind - his unfussy air puts one in mind of John Wright's mirror-image, perhaps.

The pair took New Zealand to fifty before Craig Cumming was trapped in front by Abdul Razzaq for 17, but the runs were coming at such a slow pace that already a run a ball was the asking rate. Mathew Sinclair added a little momentum to the proceedings, making the lion's share of another half-century partnership before Jones, who had earlier lofted Razzaq for a sublime six over midwicket, ran himself out one short of fifty.

Hamish Marshall played the only really aggressive innings for the Kiwis, making an undefeated 62 in busy if not swashbuckling style, then a late flourish by Canning helped to reduce the margin of defeat to under fifty.

At the end, the only major difficulty was forecasting which of the Pakistani openers would scoop the Man of the Match Award - and it was no real surprise that they could not be separated.

Canning, Auckland Cricketer of the Year for 2003, looks to have the makings of a genuine all-rounder, as his record in domestic cricket last season seems to indicate. Making the step up to Test level does not look to be beyond him, certainly as far as his last two performances in this series seem to indicate.

New Zealand, despite a 5-0 series drubbing, can take some consolation from the approach taken by some of the players taking their first tentative steps on the big stage, but some of the more established members of the side appear so out of form that they might well be looking uneasily over their shoulders come the start of the Test series in New Zealand.

Pakistan can only get stronger, one feels, for the bigger contests yet to come. Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Akhtar only appeared three times apiece, and with Inzamam ul-Haq and Younis Khan added to the current squad for the visit to the Land of the Long White Cloud, it is they of the current combatants who will be looking forward to locking horns once more.

Match Summary

Pakistan 277-4 (Yasir Hameed 127*, Imran Farhat 107, Canning 2-59)
beat
New Zealand 228-6 (Marshall 62*, Jones 49)
by 49 runs


Posted by Eddie