Aussies Take Videocon Trophy

Youhana
By Saj
August 29 2004

Australia took the Videocon Trophy in Amsterdam as they beat Pakistan by 17 runs in a low scoring affair. Crucial knocs from Hayden and Lehmann and then tight all round bowling helped the Aussie cause.

Australia won one match in Amsterdam and it was rather strangely enough for them to lift the trophy in this triangular series which has been badly affected by the weather.

Strong favourites going into this match, even without the services of Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne, the Australians only disadvantage was not having completed a match in this tournament to date.

Pontings decision to bat first may have raised a few eyebrows, but the Aussie plan obviously was to get the runs on the board and then exert pressure on the unpredictable and less experienced Pakistani top order.

Caution and patience were obviously the key words as the Aussies muddled their way through the early overs. An unusually circumspect Hayden epitomising the way the Aussies were going to play this game. However the Australians were confronted by a pitch that offered assistance to all the Pakistani bowlers and a disciplined bowling attack which was focussed and determined.

The Australians having seen the conditions and the way that all their players were struggling obviously changed their gameplan and realised that survival was the key and they could really only make a late attack on the opposition bowling in the last few overs. Haydens patient 50, Lehmanns unorthodox and gutsy innings and some lusty hitting by Symonds at the end took them to 192 for 7. It was a total that neither team would have been totally satisfied with. Pakistan would have probably felt that they should have restricted the Aussies to around 175, given the tight bowling early on. However Australia will probably have thought that they messed it up a little at the end and should have got a score of minimum 200.

In my opinion, some of the bowling changes were rather strange, especially Shoaib Malik bowling an over too many in his final spell, with the over in question costing 15 runs. Sami and Shabbir were excellent, Shoaib Akhtar a little cautious with his approach, Razzaq and Afridi were tidy and Malik was consistent with the exception of one over.

Pakistan could have gone for this chase all hell for leather and although their run rate may have been good, as a result they could have lost early wickets and thus create more pressure on the middle order.

What materialised was a combination of some good bowling by the Australians, a confused mindset from the Pakistani batsman in that they did not know whether to go for it or to conserve wickets. The new ball was always going to be a tough proposition for the openers but both after getting settled were out to lose strokes.

Shoaib Malik continues to enhance his reputation at number 3 and I believe that he should be persevered with at that position. He seems to be flourishing under Bob Woolmer and Inzamam and is fast becoming a crucial player for Pakistan.

For a player of Yousuf Youhanas experience, the 2 runouts were absolutely criminal. There is no 2 ways about it, his calling was atrocious and possibly cost Pakistan the match. The fact that one was a settled player who was just starting to increase the tempo and the other a player who could have swung the match in Pakistans favour in the space of a few overs, adds to the frustration. Youhana has for a number of years been a poor runner between the wickets and has been involved in countless runouts. He needs to improve this feature of his game now, before he costs Pakistan any more matches with his lousy running.

The easy option for fans around the globe in many a sport is to blame the referee or umpire for their teams inadequacies, but in this match against Australia an umpire was revealed to be incompetent and unworthy of taking charge of an international cricket match. David Shepherd was a good umpire, but he should have taken a leaf out of Harold Birds book and retired a few years ago whilst at the top. His umpiring in this match was woeful, his calling and non calling of wides, his failure to uphold a couple of plumb LBWs in Pakistans favour and the 2 diabolical decisions against Pakistans 2 premiere batsman are unforgiving. The painful aspect of the Shepeherd/Pakistan saga is that this is certainly not the first time Shepherd has given dubious decisions against Inzamam and co.

The game could still have been won, but the Aussies once Razzaq and Youhana had departed were not going to let go and Pakistan could only muster 175 all out in the end.

In truth I am disappointed that we could not beat the Australians in this game having only allowed them to make 192, but to come within 17 runs of the worlds best team is a feat in itself. The batsman seemed to be in a confused state of mind and at times made their own job more difficult with an overly cautious and ultra negative mindset.

However, Pakistan continue to improve under Woolmer and its clearly visible that some of the hard work is beginning to pay off, a reduction in the number of extras in every match, more concentration and discipline from the bowlers, rather than all out aggression, some better on field communication and decisions from the skipper.

A one day fixture at Lords next Saturday against Australia is next on the agenda for Pakistan, followed by the ICC Trophy where their group opposition is India and Kenya.