The Pakistan cricket squad had left for Australia in a confident frame of mind despite the fact that they had to face a challenging task on their tour Down Under. The selected set has more youngsters than experienced campaigners.
The game's followers were, however, surprised when a full-strength formation, minus captain Inzamamul Haq, slumped against a Western Australia second eleven, having mostly teenagers in their fold, and got a shock of defeat despite chasing a slim score of 94. The Pakistani players repeated their mistakes in batting and fell short of the target by 11 runs in the second venture.
The cricket management on tour was supposed to blame the new conditions on the team's stopover in Perth. Besides, complacency in taking on a weak combination was the main reason of debacle, forgetting that the Australian base is very sound; their youngsters, though having little exposure of foreign trips, know how to put up a tough fight against visiting combinations. Though young and still under training they have a toughness of character to face any opposition. And that is the reason of the Australian success in international campaigns in Test matches and the limited-overs ties, despite the fact that recently they were given a surprise bashing in a one-dayer to the lower rated New Zealanders at Melbourne. The Kiwi supporters were in large numbers to cheer their players and crowed like cocks when the winning hit was made by the Man-of-Match, Harmish Marshall, who make a hard-hitting and bold fifty to the consternation of the Australian bowlers.
Captain Fleming, trapped for a duck by pacer Brett Lee, was worried about the result but joined in the celebrations after the Australians were brought to earth from their high pedestal.
As former Australian captain, Greg Chappell, said it was good for cricket as the high position of the country in cricket and its repeated success in both versions of the game would have devalued the game. If other countries too were measuring strength on equal terms with the Kangaroos the game would stay popular and attract spectators, otherwise the crowd interest would wither away.
Australia's stumble should be taken as a warning to them that there are chinks in the armour of the Australian pack, particularly their batting which is powerful at the start but shows signs of brittleness later as happened at Melbourne where after Lehmann's fall the middle order proved shaky and the tail was seen to be considerably long for only Michael Clarke played a gutsy knock. For others it was a procession to the pavilion.
Anyway it should not be considered that the Australians are becoming weak and the Pakistanis should not take the hosts as strong as they were during the previous seasons. The Pakistani stumble at Perth against the second string of Western Australia is a sad and serious matter. Both the captain and the coach gave absurd statements when they said it was a warm-up game and that there were some positive gains from the Perth loss. Why gains, why not some lessons?
Younis Khan hit a quickfire century in the first innings in a Pakistani score of 257. Young pacer Justin Coetzee did plenty of damage in the second knock with controlled line and length to take 5 for 23. Except Yousuf Youhana no Pakistani batsman had the right technology to deal with the raw bowler sending two-way swings on a bouncy strip In the first innings also he had grabbed five wickets.
He was almost unplayable in the second venture when Youhana and Younus Khan (28) again defied the Aussie boys, Sprague and Coetzee, who combined control and accuracy to an unusual degree.
Foreign tours have a different setting and the playing conditions on alien surface are also dissimilar to the home strips yet the tourists were expected to have the necessary skill to cope with the players still under training.
The Pakistanis had done well in the first knock with a score of 235. Only 93 had to be knocked off, a small target, in the second attempt. Regretfully the Western Australia second eleven had the upper hand with their tight bowling, rapid field work and fine anticipation while catching.
It is a moot point if the tourists can put up a better show when the rehearsal ends and the main trial of strength starts from Dec 16.
Will the bowling press hard the Australian batting? Will the Pakistani batting click and display a consistent performance? Will the fielding be alert and quick during the team's whole sojourn in Australia? Inzamamul Haq, the Pakistani captain on tour, has promised that the outfit would give a decent exhibition of cricket in the Test matches as well as the later slated matches in the Australian triangular.
He said the Perth match had given us an opportunity to attune to the conditions in Australia; much should not be read into it. Inzamam is sure when the Tests come the tourists will play with a different mindset and attitude.
The critics, no doubt, are within their right to question his decision to shuffle and scramble the batting arrangement. Perhaps that disturbed the players' bent of mind.
But the captain insisted that there were gains from the match as Youhana and Younus showed their capabilities as batsmen and Danish Kaneria lived up to the expectations of the cricket fans in Pakistani with his flight turn and deceit. Let us hope the visiting combination fares better in the next matches and the Test skirmishes.
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