The Hindu : Razzaq shores up Pakistan innings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 23, 2003

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Razzaq shores up Pakistan innings

By Ted Corbett

LONDON June 22. We had hoped for a sunny day, a true, fast pitch and a third one-day international fit to decide the NatWest Tournament between England and Pakistan. After all it is the middle of the summer.

Instead we had enough rain to delay the start by 45 minutes, low overhead cloud, a swinging ball; alien conditions for Pakistan as it was put in to bat and reached 131 in 38 overs. Just at the moment when we began to suspect that there was another early finish in the offing Abdur Razzaq played precisely the innings that was needed.

He is a familiar face on this ground where he is the overseas professional for Middlesex — sometimes called Abdur and sometimes Abdul — and today he made the best of his local knowledge by top-scoring with 64 off 53 balls.

Little of his innings could be described as pretty or be judged by classical, straight bat orthodoxy but it was robustly what Pakistan needed. By the time he had been caught off a skier at mid-on after a stand of 60 off 37 balls with Azhar Mahmood they had a final score of 229 for seven and given themselves the faintest chance of victory in both the match and the series.

For almost 40 overs victory and Pakistan could not be put in the same sentence. Although James Anderson, the Oval hero for all he could not win the man of the match award with four wickets and a hat trick — a feat beyond some of the greatest England bowlers — gave away 11 runs in his first over the first ten were kept to 37 and by the 11th both openers had made the long walk back through the Long Room.

Andrew Flintoff produced a spell of such tight bowling that he had figures of 3-2-1-2 when he had Yasir Hameed caught in the 14th over and each Michael Vaughan bowling change brought another wicket.

He brought on Flintoff whose first ball removed Imran Nazir. He changed Darren Gough from the Nursery to the pavilion end and saw the end of Mohammad Hafeez. Rikki Clarke got Yousef Youhana in his first over.

There is no doubt that Vaughan has handled his first series calmly. He stands still at mid-off yet he only has to move an arm and his fielders are instantly alert; he changes the field and the runs dry

up. Nasser Hussain advised him to "make your players fear you'' but instead he has released their inhibitions.

Even those who have failed with the bat — Clarke and James Troughton for instance — have fielded tigerishly and the look is of a side of young men desperate for success.

Younis Khan made the change of tempo possible. He batted slowly for almost two hours but when he left at 165 for six the foundations were laid for an all-out attack and Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Mahmood drove the score onwards and upwards so that at the end Vaughan's face portrayed worry and the England fielding faltered for the first time in the three matches.

Razzak passed 2500 runs and 150 wickets while he was batting; ten matches slower than Lance Klusener and behind Kapil Dev (128 matches) and Imran Khan (132).

The ball was still swinging when England began its reply but as Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki scored 19 runs off the first five overs — and Solanki caught behind in the sixth — it knew that victory was not the only hallmark of success in this summer of change.

There is already a noticeable difference in the team; going to the office each morning appears to be a joy not a burden. We know now that England can compete with any team save Australia, that the failure to play the Zimbabwe World Cup match was a mistake will not be repeated and that safe hands now control the destiny of the side.

It is not perfect - a Vaughan's dithering start proved — and there is much hard work to be done but the age-old principles of cricket are being obeyed and the trophy cupboard will not be bare for long.

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