da 888casino： TANGIERS — In this brand-new cricketing venue at the northern most tipof Africa overlooking the Straits of Gibralter, Pakistan started offtheir campaign for the Morocco Cup 2002 in a disastrous manner
Agha Akbar12-Aug-2002TANGIERS — In this brand-new cricketing venue at the northern most tipof Africa overlooking the Straits of Gibralter, Pakistan started offtheir campaign for the Morocco Cup 2002 in a disastrous manner. Set tochase a large target of 283, their innings which had started with suchpromise, fizzled out for 229 with nearly 7 overs of the regulation 50remaining unconsumed, to hand South Africa a huge win by 54 runs.Herschelle Gibbs superb hundred, which won him Man of the Match award,with good hands played by Nicky Boje and Jonty Rhodes had guided SouthAfrica to a massive 283, which in the end proved beyond Pakistan’s scope.After an exhilarating start to their innings, this was a ratherdisappointing end. The openers Imran Nazir and Saeed Anwar had providedthe momentum and the impetus, but the quest for a win was derailedsomewhat in the middle overs as Yousuf Youhana (19, 38 deliveries, 1four) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (24, 39 balls, 1 four, 1 six) after taking timeto play themselves in, failed to build on it. What was really woeful wasthe running between the wickets, as sure twos were reduced to meresingles when these two were on the crease.In the context of the match, the pottering around of this otherwise mostreliable duo made an already steep target look steeper. Before the twoof them could raise the hundred of the innings, Youhana trying to clearthe mid-wicket ielder fell to Allan Donald as Gibbs brought off a goodcatch. That setback was compounded when Inzamam tried to find theboundary at long-off only to find a running Donald bringing off the catch.Pakistan was in dire straits, but guided by Younis Khan (39, 38 balls, 3fours, 1 six) and Shahid Afridi (34, 29 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) the latemiddle order tried to retrieve the situation but wickets kept falling atregular intervals to set Pakistan back. And once Younis and Afridi weregone, it was more or less a procession until Klusener bowled out Akramto bring the curtain down on the match.For their part, the Pakistan openers were not to blame as they, facing adaunting asking rate of 5.68 from the outset, picked up the gauntlet.And they did it in spectacular fashion, going after the Springboks withgusto and elan.Pollock started off well, with a maiden to the bearded Saeed Anwar, butNazir smacked two fours to Makhaya Ntini in the next over after he washit on the helmet ducking into a bouncer. If anything that brought outthe vengeance in the gutsy youngster, and his first stroke to the extracover fence and then straight behind the bowler were indeed pretty wellexecuted.This unleashed a deluge of boundaries, as Anwar clubbed three offPollock next over, first guided to the fine leg fence, the next drivenpast long-off and the third to third man. Nazir repeated his cover driveto Ntini, while Anwar edged one to third man and drove another Pollockdelivery imperiously to long-on. Nazir kept on tearing into Ntini,driving him for boundaries on both sides of the wicket, to mid-wicketand covers. In the next over, Nazir deftly steered Pollock to third manfor four to raise Pakistan’s first fifty, 53 to be exact off just 42 balls.The dominance of the Pakistani openers at this point was reflected inthe overwhelming number of boundaries – 12, with 48 off 53 runs comingoff these.Ntini had gone for 20 runs in his three overs, when Pollock changed himto bring on Kallis. The decision had paydirt, as Anwar (23, 5 fours)miscued him to Ntini at mid-on. Nazir kept going after the bowling,burrowing two fours to Pollock at third man and extra cover when Kallisgot him leg leg before after he had made 40 off only 29 deliveries, with9 fours.Pakistan had got the start, but it still had a long way to go. Theydidn’t make it, in the main because their batsmen didn’t go about it ina planned manner.GIBBS POWERS PROTEAS:
Earlier, facing an attack devoid of Shoaib Akhtar, the Proteas led byHerschelle Gibbs’ 114 and flamboyant knocks by Nicky Boje (52) and JontyRhodes (46), left behind their blues to club their way to an imposing283 for the loss of nine wickets after they won the toss and elected tobat first. Five wickets fell in a bunch in the slog overs, the last fiveof them for the addition of only 27 runs as Waqar Younis, the onlyredeeming feature in the Pakistan attack, claimed another 5fer, for only38 runs to put skids under the Proteas. This restricted the flow of runsright when the South Africans threatened to soar well past 300 and putthe game away from Pakistan.Once Gary Kirsten departed early, the Proteas mostly stuck to thebasics, with the emphasis on partnerships as Gibbs played anuncharacteristically subdued role till he was in sight of his hundred.First Gibbs and Kallis steadied the innings, but when Kallis was caughtat the wicket as Waqar struck a second time after posting the 50 of theinnings, in walked Nicky Boje. And he straightaway took the attack toPakistan by tearing into the first change seamer, Abdul Razzaq, hittinghim for three fours and a six in the space of two overs.That prompted the double change, as the duo of spinners Saqlain Mushtaqand Shahid Afridi were brought on from both ends. They made littleimpression, but skipper Younis had no fallback as he had gone into thematch with just five bowlers, including the all-rounders. Boje struckAfridi over long-on into the stands, and then repeated the stroke for aone-bounce four. He tried to go after Afridi, and was dropped by Waqarin the covers. Not a costly lapse that, because Nazir made no mistakerunning backwards at point when he miscued Afridi again in the same over.That brought on Jonty Rhodes, and thus ensued the most enterprisingpartnership of the innings and when it was terminated 120 runs later,the score was already a mammoth 256 with six overs and a bit still to go.Gibbs’ superb 114, his seventh century in ODIs, came off only 130 ballswith the help of 3 sixes and 9 fours. He holed out to Inzamam at deepsquare leg, trying to pull Razzaq’s waist high full toss. Rhodes (46,off 50 balls, 3 fours) followed two balls later, run out by Akram. Thattriggered the collapse, as Waqar castled Mark Boucher and hiscounterpart Shaun Pollock in one over. Waqar got Klusener too on thepenultimate delivery of the innings to get five for 38 in an otherwiselacklustre bowling performance in which Saqlain went for 80 runs withoutgetting a wicket. Wasim Akram, in his 335th ODI, the highest by anyplayer in the world, too failed to add to his world record 463 scalps.This was a highly competitive target, and given Pakistan’s distaste fora chase an uphill one. They didn’t make it in the end.