Sport - World Cup

Pakistan stays on course

By G. Viswanath

Paarl Feb. 25. Waqar Younis had brought his team to the wine estates of Western Cape with the specific purpose of smelling victory and winning four points and retracing its steps towards getting into the winning habit and keep the team's moral high.

Outwitted by Jimmy Anderson and England by 112 runs at Newlands last Saturday hurt the Pakistan captain.

Younis felt that his team's reputation was at stake and there was urgency to regroup and get its bearings. Pakistan went to the Boland Park on Tuesday morning made 253 in 50 overs, bowled out Holland for 156.

It was not a day meant for any serious outdoor activity, though Pakistan and the sun shine boys from Holland had to fulfil a commitment. The sun had begun to blaze down in all its fury from 8 a.m. onwards , good reason for the South Africans to pack zinc creams and body lotions and wear colourful sunhats.

The Dutch, did not mind the heat at all, even when Shoaib Akhtar went to the top of his mark 30 yards from the bowling crease and turned in to bowl at 145 kmph speed. Roland Lefebvre is a smart captain. Even at 40 he operated with the new ball in a clever manner and gave no leeway for a seasoned campaigner in Saeed Anwar and a budding star in Taufeeq Umar. He bowled his first six overs most economically and took responsibility bowling at the death.

Lefebvre had made it a habit of winning the toss and inserting the opposition in. Last week he asked Australia to bat first and had its batsmen in some bother at a rain-affected pitch at Potchefstroom and Damien Maytyn and Darren Lehmann made only 47 off the last eight overs. His bowlers enjoyed a fair amount of success these two and other Australian batsmen. On Tuesday he inserted Pakistan in because he felt his bowlers would get full exposure against the Pakistan batsmen.

"Playing against them (India, Australia and Pakistan) is the highlight of our career,'' has been Lefebvre's refrain. Holland's spin department has variety and after Lefevbre finished his opening spell, left arm spinner Jacob-Jan Esmeijer and Daan Van Bunge tossed the ball up to extract spin. Both Esmeijer, who was brilliant while running out Tauseef Umar and Bunge, drew immediate admiration from Richie Benaud after they had got the ball to turn appreciably at Potchefstroom. The 30-year-old Esmeijer did not dismiss a batsman in favourable conditions at the Boland Park, but he was scored off at 3.5 run an over in his ten-over spell. Bunge impressed when he pitched his leg breaks and turned it from leg to off. The most experienced leg spinners suffer from lack of consistency and Bunge was no exception when he delivered full tosses that were promptly dispatched to the advertising boards. But he was thrilled the way he got the ball to turn, take the edge of Abdul Razzaq's bat and land into the gloves off Jeroen Smits.

He picked up his second wicket forcing Salim Elahi drive a full toss to Bas Zuidenrent at cover before Lefebvre removed him from the attack after Yousuf Youhana smashed him for two fours.

Holland made the big breaks and was in control (at 153 for 5 wickets) before Youhana, Rashid Latif and Shoaib Akhtar compiled an exact hundred runs in the last 96 balls. Youhana spent one and half hours, but never looked convincing. But the decision to recall young left hander Taufeeq Umar and promote Abdul Razzaq paid off.

Umar made an attractive 48 before Esmeijer's alacrity caught him short of the crease at the bowler's end. Inzamam-Ul-Haq lasted only two balls, adjudged leg before by S. Venkatraghavan. Haq a few runs short of completing 9000 runs, has made only ten runs in the competition innings which should only leave his captain concerned about his principal batsman's form.

Holland's run chase did not start on an auspicious note. Only six runs were on the board — four leg byes contributing to it — when Nick Statham played on Wasim Akram and became his 500th scalp. Edgar Schiferli pulled Akhtar to Razzaq at midwicket and a little later Bas Zuiderent was lost leg before to Younis. Some powerful blows, one of which was an off driven six off Saqlain Mushtaq by de Leeds and Bunge lifted the score to 156, twenty more than Holland made at Colombo against Pakistan in the ICC knock out championship last October.

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