da premier bet： The final ended with a whimper, rain having the final say, depriving Australiaof a probable win, the no-result providing Pakistan a reprieve in the formof a shared PSO Trophy
da blaze casino： Agha Akbar07-Sep-2002The final ended with a whimper, rain having the final say, depriving Australiaof a probable win, the no-result providing Pakistan a reprieve in the formof a shared PSO Trophy.Two spells of rain interrupted Australia’s chase of Pakistan’s modest 227with some gusto at Nairobi’s Gymkhana club. The second of these brought thematch to a premature close, with only 9.3 of the overs bowled and Australiawell ahead of even the revised asking rate of 5 an over (210 off 42 overs)after the first interruption.Abdul Razzaq’s glorious late flourish had provided Pakistan an outsidechance of making a famous comeback in the final of an otherwise mostforgettable excursion in East Africa of what was supposed to be a homeseries. But Pakistan’s erratic pace spearheads Wasim Akram and Waqar Youniswere totally unable to discipline themselves in terms of gifting deliveriesand runs through no-balls and wides as well as bowling short and wide to getmassacred by Ricky Ponting and Mathew Hayden.When the rain struck for a second time, at 67 for 1 in 9.3 overs, theAussies were indeed running away with the game. Skipper Ricky Ponting ledfrom the front with a rapid 29, off only 33 balls, 4 fours, 1 magnificentsix off Waqar Younis at mid-wicket. Mathew Hayden, Man of the Series withhis most-prolific run-scoring, was not lagging that far behind, at 20 (24balls, 3 fours), his best shot on the up and straight past the fence offAkram.Pakistan frittered away the early initiative that Akram provided early on bycastling the dangerous Adam Gilchrist through the gate in the very firstover. That raised the hopes but his own errant ways (10 extras – 7 wides,3no-balls) combined with his and Younis’ continued inability to get theright line and length resulted in Ponting and Hayden carving them reallybad.With the bowling strength and variety of Pakistan, you never can be sure,for the ability to turn it around, no matter how hopeless the situation, isalways there. But in this instance rain definitely provided the rescue.Razzaq blast saves Pakistan’s blushes:
With the exception of Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s upper and middle order wasagain a failure as the Aussie bowlers reduced it to 55 for 4. But Razzaq yetagain displayed his awesome strokemaking prowess to give the Pakistaninnings some impetus and respectability. With him going after the Aussieattack hammer and tongs, 87 runs were gathered in the last 10 overs to put227 runs on the board, by far Pakistan’s best in this tournament against theAussies.To Jason Gillespie’s great relief, the last over was quite disappointing asPakistan lost three wickets for just one run. But the rather tame close wasno fault of Razzaq’s (59, off only 43 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes), as he wasrun out desperately trying to get to the batting crease. With Wasim andWaqar giving him his wickets, Gillespie walked away with another five-for,but this time at a hefty price of 70 runs.As Afridi hoiked McGrath for a six at square leg and Anwar took twoboundaries off Gillespie, Pakistan’s start seemed promising when Younis wonthe toss and elected to bat. But it went haywire rather quickly, as Afridiwas dismissed by McGrath. Shane Warne jumped high and handsome to bring offa spectular catch off a thick outside edge as Afridi wanted to club himstraight.Saeed Anwar (28, 33 balls, 6 fours) in the meanwhile again seemed to be ingood nick, but he again squandered it, playing away from the body once toooften, and this time the inside edge unerringly went straight intoGilchrist’s gloves. Coming back after a lay-off, Inzamam-ul-Haq wasdistinctly unlucky as he was given leg before off an inside edge.Two wickets in four balls, and Shoaib Malik (37, off 94 balls, 3 fours, 1six) merely putting a premium on survival, the Aussie bowlers wereabsolutely on top. First McGrath and Gillespie and then Watson and Lee, allbowled excellent spells, but they were made to look even better because ofan utterly defensive Malik monopolising the strike. He abhorred working theball around, and resisted driving even the length deliveries.Lee claimed Younis’ wicket, and when he was finally opening up, having justdriven Warne for a six over covers, Malik ran himself out. Misbah and Razzaqgot together and picked up the scoring rate a trifle by rotating the strikeand taking an occasional boundary here or there.At the start of 41st over, Pakistan had recovered to 140 for five, andMisbah and Razzaq were all poised for an assault. Misbah took fours off Leeand Warne at point, reverse-sweeping the latter, to raise his 50 (off 73balls, 6 fours), but was bowled off an inside edge off Lee.With overs running out, Razzaq got into the act of giving momentum toscoring. Gillespie came back for his final spell and was ferociously hit fortwo fours to the extra cover fence. His next over, Razzaq tore into him,taking a six and a four at mid-wicket and finishing the over with anotherboundary at covers to take Pakistan soaring to 210. McGrath too was rippedapart as Razzaq clouted him for two sixes straight over the roof.But for the last over’s disappointment, Pakistan may have gotten few more.But since this has topped off their previous-best by some 100 runs, therewas hope that it might inspire the mostly errant bowlers to do their bit.They weren’t delivering, but then the rain saved them from the ignominy of athird straight defeat against the Aussies.
