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Anwar, Youhana to Pakistan's rescue

Faisal Shariff

The Wizard of Oz did it with the bat this time. A quickfire last wicket partnership between Shane Warne and Scott Muller pushed the Pakistani attack into submission on the fourth morning of the first Test at the Gabba.

An early start on the fourth morning, to make up for the time lost the previous evening due to showers, saw an entertaining exhibition of batting from Warne, though Pakistan later recovered with a solid and brisk partnership between Saeed Anwar and Yousuf Youhana, both picking up from where they left off in the first innings.

A draw now seems the only outcome, with showers preventing any play after tea. If Australia manage to pick some quick wickets on the final morning, we could well see a result in their favour.

Warne launched a brutal attack on Paki leggie Mushtaq, taking 30 runs of his two overs at one stage, and in the process turned the game again on its head. The much-hyped Pakistan bowling attack was made to suffer further when the last wicket pair of Warne and debutant Muller added 86 (a new record for Australia against Pakistan for the tenth wicket, raised in just 90 balls). Muller scored just six, while Warne scored 86, his highest Test score, adding 52 runs this morning.

Shane's career-best innings was studded with two fours and four sixes. The three sixes he hit of Mushtaq's first over this morning were all caught in the stands. In the very next over, he then smashed one into the players' viewing area. He was finally snapped up by Wasim, who had him caught by Mushtaq for 86 runs off 90 balls.

The lead was 208 runs, and on the fourth morning Pakistan had to get off to a good start to have any hope of saving the match. They had a horrendous start, losing Mohammed Wasim for a duck. Wasim was trapped plumb in front, the ball from Fleming pitching off and holding its line.

Ijaz walked out to the middle on a pair and got off the mark from the first ball he faced. But he displayed some atrocious footwork and swung wildly at a McGrath delivery, got the edge and Gilchrist did the rest.

At 2 for 8, Pakistan were all set for an innings defeat. They would have been in deeper trouble had Mark Waugh held on to an edge from Anwar at second slip, off Fleming. With 95 catches in 116 Tests, Mark Waugh, easily one of the best slip fielders in the world, seemed to have the ball covered till it lobbed out of his hands. That single drop proved to be too expensive as the Aussies realised through the course of the day when Anwar went on to score his first hundred of the tour. Sensing that fortune was on his side, he immediately smacked two boundaries.

Inzamam joined Anwar at the fall of Ijaz's wicket and looked good for a tall score, cutting McGrath to the boundary earlier on. Anwar received a reprieve again when he edged McGrath to first slip and Warne took the catch but asked the umpire to refer to the third umpire, unsure of the legitimacy of the catch. After a couple of replays, the third umpire gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt; the ball seemed to have made contact with the ground as Warne held on to it. The score at that stage was 2/31 and had the decision gone the other way Pakistan would have had their back to the walls.

Inzy then played at an outswinger and Ricky Ponting held on to a superb reflex catch at third slip to give Fleming his 50th Test wicket.

At 37 for 3 the contest seemed to be getting one-sided and Pakistan reeling towards an innings defeat. But Anwar and Youhana got together and what followed was an exhibition of superb batting. The duo batted without the pressure of the loss of three early wickets getting to them. Youhana reached his 50 of 79 balls and was followed soon by Anwar, who got his maiden Test hundred of the tour of just 133 balls with 17 fours in over three hours.

Anwar's square cuts of the back foot were immaculately placed and he used his feet well against Warne to score briskly throughout his innings. Youhana played fluently and scored a sweetly timed 75, which had some exquisite shots square of the wicket. The two reached 150 runs in 211 balls. The partnership was eventually broken when Youhana, looking to drive the ball and meeting it on the half volley, was snapped up by Mark Waugh at second gully off Scott Muller. They put together 177 runs at a stupendous run rate of 4.42 runs per over. Youhana had scored 75 runs of 117 balls with 10 fours and a six. Pakistan could breath again, relieved of facing an innings defeat.

At tea, Anwar and Abdur Razzaq were at the crease with the score at 223/4. The Pakistanis enjoy a slender lead of 15 runs with 6 wickets still standing and four sessions of play still to be played. Light showers avoided any further play pushing the game towards a likely draw. Unless the Australians pick some quick wickets, a draw looks inevitable.

This Test match has seen an amazing percentage of runs come in boundaries, courtesy the quick outfield. The percentage of boundaries in Pakistan's first innings was 59.4%. Australia, whose percentage of boundaries was 54.3%, matched it. The Pakistan batsmen in their second innings were simply electrifying, scoring 63.4% of their runs in boundaries.

With the score 489 for 9, it was disappointing to see Pakistan unable to snap up the last Australia wicket on the fourth morning despite having the arsenal to run through the tail. What seemed a 100-odd run lead eventually turned out to be a match winning lead of 208, thus pushing the Pakistanis on the backfoot yet again.

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