Pakistan comes up trumps

By G. Viswanath

SHARJAH, APRIL 1. The South African captain Hansie Cronje pushed hard for a championship final win. It would have been a terrific embellishment if he had striven a little longer and fought till the very end. His confrontation with Pakistan very nearly typified one man's battle against a combined crusade of a team that had been beaten only in seven of the eighteen finals on the second Friday here before the Coca Cola Tri-series. He was in the thick of all action and seemed to have reached a phase of peaking individually when his own impetuous stroke diminished the chances of making a memorable final for himself and his team.

His was a stupendous effort, but one that came to a disappointing end when the target was reached only half-way. There was evidence of he and Neil McKenzie playing a calculated game, but eventually they had to face the harsh realities in quest of making 264 runs which was a tall order at Sharjah on a Friday.

For Pakistan's captain Moin Khan, it was a major victory, having been handed over captaincy after Saeed Anwar decided to step down. As a batsman, Moin Khan went through a horrendous time, making only two runs in the last three innings. But his bowlers, Waqar Younis (Man of the Match & Man of the Series) in particular, gave a pleasant gift to him before the tri-series against the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

By posting the second highest total in the tri-series - they had made 272 against the Indians - Pakistanis might have appeared to have holding the trump cards. The pitch was a beauty. There was little assistance for the South Africans bowlers in the afternoon session. But the soft dismissals of Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis, who were expected to take a heavy responsibility in the absence of a steadfast batsman in Gary Kirsten, put a kind of pressure, Cronje not only handled admirably, but also guided the young McKenzie in facing the situation he was new to. In the circumstances, Cronje's 79 was an incredible display because, in a partnership of 105 for the third wicket, McKenzie's contribution was negligible.

The absence of Shoaib Akhtar, who was ruled unfit to play, was a blow for Pakistan. Akhtar' place was taken by Mohammad Akram. The Akrams. Wasim and Mohammad, shared two wickets in their opening spells, before Cronje showed character and a powerful urge to sustain the contest alive.

Cronje struck five fours, but it was his three sixes, one each of Abdur Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and Arshad Khan that shook Pakistan. After clearing the off spinner, Arshad Khan over mid-wicket, Cronje tried to repeat the shot, but he hit the ball straight to the throat of Younis Khan. McKenzie could not maintain the tempo, but his teammates stood up to applaud his feat of compiling a half-century. And after two more runs, Arshad Khan bowled Derek Crookes.

Pakistan seemed to be in control when suddenly Mark Boucher's plucky display took the final to a situation where the South Africans were not hopelessly out of the contest. What came as a disappointment was the failure of Nicky Boje (he was not asked to bowl) and Lance Klusener. But Boucher's capacity to score at a fast clip came to the fore once again. It was after his exit, in Younis' effective second spell, that it looked like Pakistan would triumph. After losing the first two matches, it was a fine performance from it. The likes of Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi, gave them a roaring start and the experience of Younis - who took his wicket aggregate to 13 - turned to be more than handy in the end.

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