AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN 1989-90

At Sydney, February 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Drawn. Toss: Australia. What had promised to be another good match was ruined by rain. After the first two days had been washed out an extra day was added, at the request of the New South Wales Cricket Association (the home authority), in the hope of making up the time already lost; but in Sydney's wettest week for more than 100 years (16½ inches of rain fell between the morning of the eve of the match and lunch-time on what should have been the second day) there was little play of any consequence. Australia had Alderman back in place of Campbell, while Marsh and Boon, both injured, were replaced by Veletta and Moody. Pakistan preferred their orthodox left-arm spinner, Nadeem Ghauri, to Mushtaq Ahmed, and Aamer Malik returned for the injured Salim Malik. Altogether there were eleven hours twenty minutes of play, distributed between the third, fourth and sixth days.

The chance to field first gave Australia the initiative on a pitch which had never previously been played on, the whole square and much of the ground having been relaid since the end of the football season. The faster bowlers were soon in their element, none more than Alderman, whose swing took any amount of watching. Batting always with extreme caution, as though they thought the pitch might go to pieces and so render something in the region of 200 a winning total, Pakistan took seven hours to make 199. Miandad took almost four hours for his 49, and Imran, playing another particularly stoical innings, batted for four and threequarter hours.

In the end, though, the loss of the fifth day to rain meant that by the sixth and last day, which Australia spent at the crease, the play was of merely academic interest. Taylor made his sixth hundred for Australia (258 minutes, eight fours), all within a period of nine months. A total attendance for the match of 13,864, for the series of 133,309, and for the season's six Test matches of 206,646, represented a disconcertingly low return.

Man of the Match: T. M. Alderman. Man of the Series: Wasim Akram.

Close of play: First day, no play; second day, no play; Third day, Pakistan 110-5 ( Imran Khan 27*, Wasim Akram 4*); Fourth day, Australia 0-0 ( M. A. Taylor 0*, M. R. J. Veletta 0*); Fifth day, No play.