Yallop's Australia SARFRAZED on cloudy day

A.C. De Silva

CRICKET: "Anything can happen in cricket" is an adage. It goes to underscore the essentially unpredictable nature of the gentleman's pastime". And a classic example came forth in a incredible half-hour spell of cricket in a Pakistan-Australia Test match at Melbourne on a cloudy afternoon in March 1979 will serve as an eloquent testimony.

Australia led by Grahm Yallop were well on the road to victory on the final day. The Aussies had to make 382 runs, the home side was in a virtually unassailable position; the massive electronic scoreboard overlooking the ground at Melbourne flashed the score 305 for 3. Left-handed Alan Border was out there in the centre with a hundred and more to his credit. In the company of Kim Hughes, he had systematically blunted Pakistan's pace duo of Imran Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz.

The crowd that day was very thin as the crowd had already taken an Australian triumph for granted and were egging them on to complete the rituals quickly. At this point came Sarfraz Nawaz bolt from the blue.In the pace of 33 balls, the wiry Sarfraz cleaned up the last seven wickets and finished the innings with the record figures of 9 for 86. The only other wicket was off a run out.

Yallop who won the toss, put the Pakistanis in. Soon it was evident that he had taken the right decision, as one after another, the 'Superstars' of Pakistan trooped back to the pavilion, victims of the Hogz-Hurst fury. With some accurate blowing, the two sent the Pakistanis packing four runs under 200.

Imran and Sarfraz hit back and at the end of the second day, the home team was all out for 168, giving Pakistan a slender 28-run advantage.

The match sparked to life on the third day when the star Pakistan opener Majid Khan went to work on the Australian attack.

He played some splendid strokes during his fine knock of 108 and added 135 for the second wicket with Zaheer Abbas (59). Mushtaq Mohammad declared the innings closed at 353 for 9 wickets.

Set to score 382 for a win, Australia whittled the target down to 265 at the end of the day. Hilditch made a valuable 62. Another wicket, that of skipper Yallop fell early on the last day - and it looked as if Australia would repeat its poor batting display of the first innings. But it was not before it was within 77 runs of victory did another wicket fall.

Border and Hughes put on 177 runs for the fourth wicket before the former was bowled for 105. Regular opener Grame Wood, who had been nursing a wrist injury, came in Border's fall, but Sarfraz had him caught with his very next ball by `keeper' Bari. He was the first of the fife batsmen who fell to Sarfraz in rapid succession without scoring a run.

After the match, Mushtaq said that his players had resigned themselves to defeat when they had come off the field at tea. Happily for Pakistan, Mushtaq was wrong.

PAKISTAN: 196 (Mushtaq Mohammed 36, Imran Khan 33, Sarfraz Nawaz 35, Hogy 4 for 49, Hurst 3 for 55) and 353 for 9 wickets declared (Majid Khan 108, Zaheer Abbas 59, Asif Iqbal 44, Mushtaq Mohammed 28, Imran Khan 28, Wasim Raja 28, Hogg 3 for 75, Nurst 3 for 115).

AUSTRALIA: 168 (G. Yallop 25, D. Whatmore 43, Imran Khan 4 for 26) and 310 (A. Hiditch 62, A. Border 105, K.J. Hughes 84, Sarfraz Nawaz 9 for 86).

The teams

Pakistan: Majid Khan, Moshin Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Asib Iqbal, Mushtaq Mohammed (captain), Wasim Raja, Wasim Bari (wicket keeper), Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Sikander Bakht.

Australia: G. Wood, A. Hilditch, A. Border, G. Yallop (Captain), K.J. Hughs, D. Whatmore, P. Sleeps, K. Wright (wicket-keeper), R. Hogg, W. Clark, A. Hurst.