New zeal douses Pak fire
Faisal Shariff
The year 1992, and the Kiwis were on a roll in the World Cup until they barged into a cornered Pakistan side and lost in the semi-finals in one of the closest matches of that tournament.
The year 1999, and yet again the Kiwis came up against the Pakis and were knocked out again.
The script seemed similar for this ICC knock-out tournament as well, with Pakistan crushing Sri Lanka and a depleted Kiwi side beating minnows Zimbabwe after having recently lost a one-day series to them.
But déjà vu it was not supposed to be. Pakistan took the Black Caps too easy and paid the price.
New Zealand pulled off the biggest upset off the ICC Knock-out Trophy when they beat the former World champions by four wickets in the first semi-final at the Gymkhana grounds in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Having won the toss, Moin elected to bat out the Kiwis with a huge total. This despite the fact that it was a new pitch, and seemed
to have more grass on it than any that was used at the Nairobi Gymkhana thus far. That could have been good for seamers,
especially early, when the dew would have added to the fun and given the seamers a bit more of purchase.
From the moment he edged the second ball of the innings over slip for four, Anwar started where he left off from against the
Lankans. He punished the Kiwi opening bowlers, who dished out too many gift balls. Off Allott’s fourth over he cracked two boundaries and soon enough Imran Naizr, the young kid, joined in the carnival. This time it was the other left-armer Shayne O’Connor who was clobbered for two fours in one over.
Imran, however, lacked the maturity of his illustrious partner and he pushed his maverick stroke-play miscuing a pull of O'Connor, off the last ball of the 10th over, to be caught by Craig Spearman running back from square leg.
At 59/1 in 10 overs, Pakistan seemed to be going along fine. Saeed Anwar seemed set to play a long innings and he didn’t
disappoint his team. Youhana joined him and they both put on 52 for the second wicket. Astle bowled a slower one and Youhana, walking into the shot, tried to force the pace and flared the ball off the edge to Fleming, at point, who held on to it high over his head. Pakistan was 111/2.
Inzamam walked in and walked out, literally. He walked forward in the a prody of a drive and missed the ball completely. Parore completed the formalities.
Chris Harris continued irritating with his nagging slow dollies and Ijaz pushed a dolly back to him, for a low catch. Pakistan 133/4 and Moin Khan was sent back by Saeed to be run out for 2.
From 111 for one, Pakistan got stuck in a hole to find themselves at 143 for five and New Zealand, who had seemed to be blown out of the match by Saeed's methodical innings in the opening overs, had fought their way back into the game.
Between the 20th and 30th overs of the innings, Pakistan lost four wickets for 44 runs.
Anwar went on to complete his 19th ODI ton and his second consecutive century of the tournament. Anwar was unlucky to be dismissed while driving at Allott. The ball seemed to hit the ground as the ball whizzed pass the bat into Parore’s gloves.
Both Allott and Parore went up and the sound convinced umpire Dave Orchard, who lifted the finger that matters. Anwar made 104 off just 114 balls.
Akram and Razzaq came together and ran smartly between the wickets to take the score to 237/6 in the 46th over.
A seventh wicket partnership of 59 off 53 balls brought up the 200 in the 42nd over as the pair put Pakistan on track for a defendable total. Razzaq looked set for a 50 till he hit a low full-toss from Shayne O'Connor into the hands of Astle at long-off.
Azhar came and went soon enough without making much of a difference to the side’s fortunes. Wasim Akram was dismissed in
the same over trying to pull a waist high full toss off O’Connor. The ball hit the wrong part of the bat and he holed out to Fleming at
deep mid-on. An upset Akram made his displeasure known when he chucked his bat away as he entered the dressing room.
Shayne O'Connor then took a superlative, low reflex catch when he gobbled up Saqlain. That wicket also gave O’Connor
figures of 5-46, for which he was later adjudged the Man of the Match.
New Zealand began disastrously as Craig Spearman played with the bat away from the pad and Azhar castled him with the score reading 3/1 in the second over.
Skipper Fleming walked out in the middle and after threatening to play a match-winning knock edged one from Azhar Mahmood to
Inzamam, at first slip, who took an awesome low catch, diving to his left. New Zealand 15/2. Two quick wickets and it seemed a cakewalk for Pakistan from hereon.
In walked Roger Twose and along with Nathan Astle put on a 135-run partnership for the third wicket, with Twose going on to score his fifth consecutive half century, the second of the tournament.
Azhar Mahmood yet again provided the breakthrough when he had Astle edge one to the keeper Moin Khan. Astle, who had batted patiently until then, made 49 off 81 balls with five boundaries.
Twose departed soon after trying to sweep Saqlain Mushtaq against the turn and ballooning the ball up into the air, giving Wasim Akram a simple catch at short fine leg. Chris Harris, who replaced Twose, was run-out immediately after that attempting to run off a leg bye. He was unable to beat the direct hit from Imran Nazir and departed for no score.
Just when everything seemed lost for the Kiwis, Craig McMillan put together a fighting partnership of 68 with Styris, for the seventh wicket.
Moin’s problem seemed to be fifth bowler Arshad Khan, who just failed to stem the flow of runs and ended up as the decisive weak link of the team. Saqlain also bowled too much on leg and ended up with a rather undisciplined bowling performance.
Roger Twose was unfortunate to have missed his maiden ODI hundred but it was his innings that led the way for the Kiwi revival.
The victory was special for the fact that the Kiwis were without star player Chris Cairns. It also erased the ghosts of the previous World Cups.
Scoreboard
Mail Cricket Editor
