Mofeez Murtaza June 18, 1999

Tags: Cricket

href="/tag/cricket">cricket world cup tomorrow. There are stories and matchups. There will be confrontations and battles. Both these teams are tough to play against. One is disciplined and the other unpredictable. With Australia you know that you will get the flair of Mark, the exuberance of Ponting, the arrogance of Warne, the wrath of McGrath and the cool determination of Steve. With Pakistan you know you will get the class of Saeed, the raw power of Ijaz, the lazy domination of Inzi, the guile of Saqi, the lightening speed of Shoaib, the relentless effort of Moin and the heart of Wasim. These are two teams with the ingredients of greatness and they clash with everything on the line. Bragging rights and national pride is on the line. It is do or die in the way that phrase was meant to be used. Pakistan and Australia will go to war tomorrow. Only South Africa knows the pain that the loser of the team will feel. Both Steve Waugh and Wasim Akram know how it feels to win the world cup. They have done it before in 1987 and 1992 respectively. They did it as players but now the stakes are higher. They want to do it as captains. They want to be the ones to lift the trophy themselves.

Australia have a lot going for them. They have lost the least amount of games in the tournament. They lost to Pakistan and New Zealand. But since that Pakistan loss they have won 6 straight. They are on a high coming into the final with fantastic and unbelievable matches against South Africa. They also have not lost to a team that they should not have lost to. They lost to good teams in Pakistan and New Zealand as opposed to Pakistan who also lost to Bangladesh. The losses to India and the close thriller to South Africa is fine as they are good teams but I am not sure if a team losing to Bangladesh deserves to win the world cup. So that is what Australia has in their favor. Their strong point is ofcourse their discipline in the field. They field well. Their batting is dependable and the bowling accurate with McGrath and Warne being outstanding. Their big guns have to step up ofcourse. Steve Waugh has been their savior in the past few games and recently Warne has started to come good. Bevan has been as dependable as ever. Mark has shown signs of his touch but has not been very consistent. In the top order, Ponting has been very consistent and he will be another man to watch for the finals. Their all rounder Moody has provided them with the much-needed support as their 5th bowler and 7th batsman. They have some weak links however and Pakistan would want to expose those. The 5th bowler is a problem. Moody, Mark, Steve and Bevan are used to complete that 5th spot and at times they have been ragged. We will see how Pakistan handles that 5th bowler. Reiffel and Fleming are steady without being spectacular. Warne and McGrath are their strike bowlers. Their other weakness is that their long tail which might become an issue if they are chasing a sizable total. They are a good batting side till about Moody and then Warne, Reiffel, Fleming and McGrath are a liability. They have been chasing well with Steve being the anchor but their only two tests so far have been against Pakistan and South Africa. They lost one and won one. They will try and expose Pakistan's batting to a big total if they win the toss, which will be very important.

Pakistan have a couple of things going for them. They have beaten Australia in this tournament and they know that Australia is coming two very emotionally draining matches. Ofcourse the Australians will be motivated since they are playing the final and that they were at the short end of the same game in 1996. Pakistan's great opening stand in the last game notwithstanding, they are better off defending a total. Bowling is their strength and everyone knows that. The last match although gives them confidence that in case they lose the toss and bat second they will be able to chase a total. Saeed Anwar is in great nick and will be their backbone like always in the batting arena. Roger Twose must have thought that he was better than Lara when he said that he was the second best batsman in the world because right now Saeed looks like the best left hander. Wasti is solid and should play well. I feel that Ijaz should be sent in the one-drop position, as the best batsmen of a side should get the bulk of the overs as is indicative by opening with Mark Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar. Inzmam will follow Ijaz and let me make a bold statement here. The player who has been vilified in this tournament for his effort and running between wickets will be the main factor in this game. Shahid Afridi should come in at 5 with Moin following him. Azhar and Razzaq follow Moin with Akram being the floater so that he can jump in if the situation demands it. Saqlain and Shoaib will be the last two. Yousuf will probably not play. I remember England not playing Robin Smith in the final in 1992 as he had some sort of injury. Smith wanted to play. I had thought at the time that England made a mistake. I am not sure what should be done if Yousuf is fit. I do however feel that Afridi should be in the side no matter what. It is about time he did something spectacular and what better stage than this. The bowling is strong. They can certainly defend totals. Wasim is great, Shoaib is fast, Saqlain is wily, Azhar has been a revelation and Razzaq is very mature. They get support from Afridi if one of them is not on line. The fielding has been ordinary when it comes to ground fielding but they have taken some spectacular catches. Ijaz took the best catch of the tournament in the semi final. Australia wilted under pressure against South Africa when Reiffel dropped two sitters. Their ground fielding has been good but they do not present the same problem as South Africa do in the field. One thing was noticeable that though the second semi was a very tense and close game, the quality was not as good as the Pakistan team's performance. The South Africans had a similar situation at 48/0 as Pakistan did against New Zealand but the Africans threw it away. Kirsten should have kept his cool against Warne and since he is a left hander would have smothered the spin but he lost it for South Africa. Australia gave it away at the end with dropped catches and then Klusener lost it with that silly run. So the team that was thought to lose it under pressure (Tony Gregg on Pakistan) has been the most solid under pressure so far. Let's see if they can keep their cool in the final.

There is past glory and immense lingering pain to go with these two teams. Australia produced a similar miracle finish in 1996 to reach the final of the world cup only to be clubbed my Sri Lanka in the final at Lahore. They can still feel the anguish of that loss. It was evident when Sri Lanka visited them the first time after the world cup. The problems with umpiring, the trash talk from Warne and the biased biased umpiring. The trash talk still continues and the hate persists. Australia has given us a lot of pain in Lahore. We lost a three-nation tournament final to them there. I believe they also chased a huge total of 300 plus there against us. In 1987, Pakistan were the best team in the world. They made it to the semi finals in style. They beat the West Indies once and England twice in their pool. They were playing the semi final at home in Lahore. Everything was in their favor. Well, everything apart from the umpiring. Shepherd and Bird were the umpires in that game. I won't say that they were the reason that Pakistan lost but they were part of it. It was just Australia's day. Pakistani players got injured. Dean Jones was given not out by Shepherd when he miles out of his crease. Imran was given caught behind in a doubtful decision after he had built a great partnership with Miandad. The list goes on and on. But that is not the point of this argument. The point is the pain that we felt after the loss. Only the South Africans know that pain. They can identify with it after the semi final on the 17th. It is a feeling as if your loved one has died. It is like some one just reached down your shirt and plugged your heart out and stamped on it. You want to die at first. Then you feel anger. It starts to boil inside you till it comes to your face in a snarl. To understand what I am talking about, just look at the recording of the game with Australia earlier in the tournament. You will see a confrontation between Steve Waugh and Shoaib Akhter. Look at the face of Shoaib in that game and you will understand what I am saying. These teams do not like each too much.