Pakistan's Sarfraz Nawaz makes Aussies eat humble pie!
By A.C De Silva
CRICKET: The glorious uncertainties of cricket was amply displayed at
the Melbourne Cricket Ground around 33 years ago when in March 1979
Pakistan plucked off victory from Australia, going through to fine win
by 71 runs. It was the first Test and Australia were well placed for a
win as they had to get 98 runs with seven wickets intact when Pakistan's
fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz crashed through to get an almost unbelievable
win for the visiting Pakistan team.
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Sarfraz Nawaz Pakistan’s Champion pace bowler |
It was a Himalayan performance by the giant speed star Sarfraz Nawaz
who went on to grab 9 for 86 in the Australian second innings when the
Australians were well placed for victory at the early stages of their
second innings.
Australian batsmen Andrew Hilditch with 62 and Allan Border with 105
were well set and here the glorious uncertainties of cricket came to
light and Sarfraz Nawaz turned the game in Pakistan's favour with a
stupendous performance. In the first innings Nawaz had 2 for 39 and a
match haul of 11 for 125.
Victory didn't go to the Aussies as Sarfraz Nawaz brought off that
Himalayan performance.
Before this game Sarfraz previous best performance was 6 for 89
against the Windies at Lahore, but Sarfraz wrote his name in gold in the
record books with this magnificent performance.
Pakistan batted first in this game and were all out for a moderate
total of 196 with three players Mushtaq Mohammed getting 36, Imran Khan
33 and Sarfraz Nawaz also among the runs with 35.
Hogg - the Aussie paceman troubled the Pakistan batsmen and Hogg had
a haul of 4 for 49 while Hurst had 3 for 55.
However, the Australians could not take much advantage as their early
batsmen were troubled by Pakistan's Imran Khan who troubled the Aussie
batsmen with his spot-on bowling and captured 4 for 26 in the 18 overs
he bowled in the first innings. So, Pakistan enjoyed a first innings
lead of 28 runs.
Then in the second innings, Pakistan's Majid Khan came into his own
and with fluent stroke-play he notched up a fine century 108 runs and
with Zaheer Abbas contributing 59 and with valuable contributions by the
other batsmen, they were able to put up a sizable score of 353 for 9
wickets at which score they closed their innings.
With the closure of their second innings, the Pakistanis had a total
of 549 runs from the two innings.
So, Australia had to make best use of the opportunities that came
their way, by apart from Border, Hughes and Hildithch who made useful
contributions, the other batsmen failed to contribute to the total and
the Aussies had to eat humble pie at the hands of the Pakistan team.
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN 1st INNINGS
Majid Khan c Wright b Hogg 01
Mohsin Khan c Hilditch b Hogg 14
Zaheer Abbas b Hogg 11
Javed Miandad b Hogg 19
Asif Iqbal c Wright b Clark 09
Mushtaq Mohammad c Wright b Hurst 36
Wasim Raja b Hurst 11
Imran Khan c Wright b Hurst 33
Sarfraz Nawaz c Wright b Sleep 35
Wasim Bari run out 00
Sikander Bakht not out 05
Extras 20
Total 196
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-22, 3-28, 4-40, 5-83, 6-99, 7-122, 8-173, 9-177
Bowling: R. Hogg 17-4-49-4
A. Hurst 20-4-55-3
W. Clark 17-4-56-1
P. Sleep 7.7-2-16-1
AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS
G.Wood retd hurt 05
A. Hilditch c Miandad b Imran Khan 03
A. Border b Imran Khan 20
G. Yallop b Imran Khan 25
K. Hughes run out 19
D. Wahtmore lbw b Sarfraz Nawaz 43
P. Sleep c Wasim Bari b Imran Khan 10
K. Wright C Imran Khan b Wasim Raja 09
W. Clark c Mushtaq Mohammad b Wasim Raja 09
R.M. Hogg run out 09
A. Hurst c and b Sarfraz Nawaz 00
Extras 16
Total 168
Fall of Wickets: 1-11, 2-53, 3-63, 4-97, 5-109, 6-140, 7-152, 8-167, 9-167
Bowling: Imran Khan 18-8-26-4
Sarfraz Nawaz 21.6-6-39-2
Sikander Bakht 10-1-29-0
Mushtaq Mohammad 7-0-35-0
Wasim Raja 5-0-23-2
PAKISTAN 2NDt INNINGS
Majid Khan b Border 108
Mohsin Khan c and b Hogg 14
Zaheer Abbas b Hogg 59
Javed Miandad c Wright b Border 16
Asif Iqbal lbw b Hogg 44
Mushtaq Mohammad c Higgs (sub) b Sleep 28
Wasim Raja c Wright b Hurst 28
Imran Khan c Clark b Hurst 28
Sarfraz Nawaz lbw b Hurst 01
Wasim Bari run out 08
Sikander Bakht not out 05
Extras 19
Total (for 9 wkts dec) 353
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-165, 3-204, 4-209, 5-261, 6-299, 7-330, 8-332, 9-353
Bowling: R. Hogg 19-2-75-3
A. Hurst 19.5-1-115-3
W. Clark 21-6-47-0
P. Sleep 8-0-62-1
Border 14-5-35-2
AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS
G.Wood c Bari b Sarfraz Nawaz 00
A. Hilditch b Sarfraz Nawaz 62
A. Border b Sarfraz Nawaz 105
G. Yallop run out 08
K. Hughes c Mohsin Khan b Sarfraz Nawaz 84
D. Whatmore b Sarfraz Nawaz 15
P. Sleep b Sarfraz Nawaz 00
K. Wright not out 01
W. Clark b Sarfraz Nawaz 00
R.M. Hogg lbw b Sarfraz Nawaz 00
A. Hurst c Wasim Bari b Sarfraz Nawaz 00
Extras 35
Total 310
Fall of Wickets: 1-49, 2-109, 3-128, 4-305, 5-305, 6-306, 7-308, 8-309, 9-310
Bowling: Imran Khan 27-9-73-0
Sarfraz Nawaz 35.4-7-86-9
Sikander Bakht 7-0-29-0
Mushtaq Mohammad 11-0-42-0
Wasim Raja 3-0-11-0
Majid Khan 9-0-34-0 |
