England beat Pakistan by six wickets
Home team's 34-match unbeaten record shattered: Karachi, Dec 11: Pakistan plunged to depths of despair under darkness when England earned a hard fought six-wicket victory in the third and final cricket Test to clinch the three-match series 1-0 and a
Samiul Hasan
12-Dec-2000
Home team's 34-match unbeaten record shattered:
Karachi, Dec 11: Pakistan plunged to depths of
despair under darkness when England earned a hard
fought six-wicket victory in the third and final
cricket Test to clinch the three-match series 1-0
and a cash award of $10,000.
Under extremely poor light with street lamps on,
England achieved the victory target of 176 with
six wickets and 15 balls of the mandatory overs
remaining.
Earlier, Pakistan resuming on the final morning at
71 for three were bundled out for 158 with the
last six wickets falling for a mere 30 runs.
Pakistan captain Moin Khan made several valient
attempts to appeal against poor light and in the
process received an official warning by West
Indian Steve Bucknor as the match finished at
5.55pm and before an empty stadium as the handful
of spectators had left the venue for Iftar (time
for breaking fast).
Moin argued with the Jamaician, Buknor, that the
fielders were unable to pick the ball due to poor
visibility though the batsmen continued to throw
the bat around and much to their luck, always
connected them properly.
The victory ended Pakistan's 34-match unbeaten
record at the National Stadium and five-series
winning sequence against the Englishmen. For the
proud Nasser Hussain's men, it was their first
series triumph over Pakistan in Pakistan since
1961 when Ted Dexter's party defeated Imtiaz
Ahmad's men 1-0.
It was also Pakistan's fourth defeat in a trot on
home surface after they lost to Australia and
Zimbabwe in 1998 and then to Sri Lanka earlier
this year in February-March.
The man who made the difference in the end was 32-
year-old Graham Thorpe who played the innings of
his life while scoring a match-winning unbeaten 64
from 97 balls with the aid of four boundaries.
Together with Worcestershire's Graeme Hick, Thorpe
feature in a 91-run fourth wicket partnership in
102 minutes after Saqlain Mushtaq had struck
thrice in quick succession to leave England
reeling at 65 for three in 17 overs.
Hick, whose previous best in the series was 18,
scored a rapid 65-ball 40 before he was castled by
Waqar Younis. Nevertheless, the batsman might have
just managed to save his sinking career and
convince the selectors to retain him for the
series against Sri Lanka for which the England
team arrives there in February next year.
The two batsmen worked the ball in gaps and kept
the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos. There
was no urgency in their batting as they chalked
out their strategy to perfection and stuck to it.
For a second it looked England had lost their way
when they could score only 40 from 15 overs
between overs 15 and 30 before accelerating the
scoring rate.
It was also an excellent bit of captaincy by
Nasser Hussain when he promoted an out-of-form
Hick ahead of him. It was a gamble not many
captains would have played. But for the confidence
the captain has in the abilities of the Zimbabweborn batsman, it worked.
There can't be any two opinions that England were
a much better team than Pakistan who did nothing
but tried to play game of words by making big
claims. The tourists were composed, united,
ambitious and determined and continued the good
work they had started back home five months ago
while defeating the West Indies 3-1 for the first
time in 31 years.
The biggest strength of the Englishmen was their
conviction that they could do the impossible this
time. On alien conditions and playing against a
much talented opposition, the tourists played the
entire series without shuffling their team while
Pakistan made mind-boggling and ill-planned
changes after changes in persuit of finding a
winning combination.
It can't be more embarrassing and humiliating for
the Pakistanis to suffer defeat when they prepared
wickets supportive for the spinners in an effort
to exploit England's vulerability. In the end, it
was Pakistan that was left needing to carry out
soul-searching and probably an overhauling because
some of the players just don't deserve to be in
this trade.
It is also a moment of concern and requires
indepth ananlysis as to why the Pakistan team is
lion aboard and lamb at home.
There can't be more disappointing defeat to a team
so promising and highly-rated as Pakistan to lose
a Test after scoring 292 for three at stumps on
the first day and then accumulating 405 in the
first innings.
Without taking any credit from England in this
Test, Pakistan's batting proved disgusting, their
bowling pathetic, fielding horrendous and Moin
Khan's captaincy and wicketkeeping far from
satisfactory. Saqlain Mushtaq picked up three
wickets but conceded 64 runs from 17 overs.
Moin Khan showed that he needed a lot of
experience before he can command his men in the
field when he made senseless bowling changes. He
under-bowled Danish Kaneria, the specialist wrist
spinner, over-bowled Shahid Afridi and brought in
Waqar Younis too late in the day to scare the
England batsmen under rapidly fading light.
While fingers can be rightly pointed at Moin
Khan's inability to handle pressure situations,
there is no explanation for a disappointing
batting display in daylight. Yousuf Youhana, on
whom Pakistan's hopes rested, was out hooking
shortly before lunch and was soon joined the
dressing room by Salim Elahi (37), Abdur Razzaq
(1) and Moin Khan (14).
Nevertheless, Youhana finished with 343 runs from
four innings to earn the Man-of-the-Series.
Michael Atherton, who played a masterly innings of
125 during his 579 minutes of vigil in the first
innings, was adjudged Man-of-the-Match.
Ashley Giles, on his maiden tour with the England
team, finished with three for 38 from 37 overs to
finish the series with 17 wickets and bettering
Nick Cook's record of 14 wickets in Pakistan.
Darren Gough bowled his heart out to end up with
three for 30.
It was an extraordinary conclusion to the series
being played after 13 years. While the England
team will fly out on Tuesday with their heads
high, Pakistan cricket managers will be left doing
a lot of home work and planning for the team's
next assignment which is against New Zealand in
New Zealand in February.