SA Wrap up the Series with an Easy Win in Game 5

Superb Effort
By SS
October 13 2003

South Africa came back from 2 down to clinch victory in the 5 match series against Pakistan. Another shambolic batting display by the Pakistanis left the away team chasing only 193 for victory.

It was an all too familiar tale in the final deciding one dayer in Rawalpindi on Sunday. Pakistan won the toss and once again decided to bat, got off to the usual disastrous start, consolidated for a period, then did the usual trick of throwing away their wickets when looking set, before being all out for 192. The South Africans knowing that they only had a moderate target to chase, paced their innings nicely. They conquered the expected early onslaught from Shoaib Akhtar and Mohamed Sami, then counter attacked and won with ease in the end.

As the South Africans got better and better during the series, the Pakistani team just got worse. From a fans perspective the manner of the defeats and the lack of a fight in the 2 matches at Rawalpindi is extremely disappointing. The batting woes in this series have almost been embarrassing and at times painful. The fact that a player so badly out of form as Hafeez played all 5 matches is amazing, especially given the selection merry go round that has affected players such as Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir.

The South African bowlers predominantly just bowled their line and length deliveries knowing full well that the impatient Pakistani batsmen would oblige with their wickets. This was an ordinary South African bowling attack, without the express pace of an Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock is not the bowler he was a few years back and they have no quality spinner, which basically means that the Pakistani batting is even more ordinary than the South African bowling attack. Dawson, Petersen and Nel are bowlers who around the world would be taken to the cleaners, instead they were made to look good by the woeful batting line up for the home team.

Younis Khan is undoubtedly a player who most in Pakistan think is a decent player, but he seems to struggle in one day cricket and is guilty of not having performed to his ability in the matches he has played in the shorter version of the game. He has the tendency to play one good innings every series and then disappear for the rest of the series. This is simply not good enough and he should be dropped from the one day squad.

One other major factor throughout this series was the lack of any Pakistani batsman being able to bat through the innings and control the innings. Even Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam ul Haq were guilty of getting out at the wrong times and this is an area that Pakistan need to look into. Quickfire twenties and thirties are ok at the end of an innings, but to reach big totals, score of 70 plus are required.

I felt sorry for the Pakistani bowlers who were not given the adequate totals to defend towards the end of the series. Sami, Shoaib, Razzaq and co deserve praise for their efforts.

I am not one to overly criticize the off field team of coaches, selectors and administrators, after all it is the players on the pitch who have the bat and ball in hand, but what is currently happening behind the microphones and behind the locked doors of PCB offices is a disgrace.

I will be as blunt as possible in this paragraph. Rameez Raja should with immediate effect be relieved of his duties. If he wants to carry on commentating then let him, but he should have no involvement in the running of Pakistani cricket. Aamir Sohail should also be relieved of his duties. Aamir has tried in vain to bring into international cricket players that he favours, but players that are simply not good enough. He is not prepared to let the others get on with their jobs and is obviously interfering in every aspect of the team. He is not good for the health of Pakistani cricket.