Another Big Test for Pakistan
Reeling from 12 consecutive test defeats the beleaguered Pakistan test team ushers in a new era under the inspirational Shahid Khan Afridi as they take on a team that has tormented them in the longest format of the game since 1999.
Once again they play them away from home this time at ironically the home of cricket in a test match that is set to be noticed by the English public and the huge base of Pakistani supporters that reside in and around London and are set to pack in their numbers in what can be regarded as an acid test of the Pakistan team in alien conditions.
This would not be the first neutral series for Pakistan and Australia, the last one was in 2002 when three test matches were split over Colombo and Sharjah.
After a promising start in Colombo the Pakistanis narrowly lost the match on the final day chasing a huge total in excess of 300 in the last innings.
They were brought back from the dead in the second Australian innings by one of the greatest spells of fast bowling ever witnessed in test cricket by Shoaib Akhtar who claimed five wickets in a tremendous display of speed and reverse swing.
The then Australian captain Steve Waugh who was one of his victims in the second innings regarded Shoaib’s effort as the best spell he had ever seen along with Curtly Ambrose’s 7 wicket effort at the WACA in Perth in 1991-92.
The second test staged in Sharjah would go down as the most embarrassing in the history of Pakistan cricket, which is no mean achievement considering the incredible inconsistency displayed by Pakistani teams over the years.
On a docile track the Pakistanis caved in for 59 runs in the first innings against a bowling attack comprising of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, only to better their feat a day later folding for 53 runs in the second innings as the match ended inside two days.
The shocking performance saw the resignation of the then chief of Pakistan cricket Gen Tauqir Zia, who later withdrew his stance after intervention from the government.
The third test was hardly better as Pakistan crashed to an innings defeat despite an outstanding bowling effort by skipper Waqar Younis.
Steve Waugh returned to form with a brilliant hundred, and the Aussie attack was once again too hot to handle for the brittle Pakistan batting line-up sans Inzamam Ul Haq and Mohammad Yousuf who both sat out of the test series due to varying reasons.
An alarming parallel for Afridi’s men is that in the last neutral test series, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 fielded an in experienced batting line up that was totally exposed against the wiles and guiles of the Aussie bowlers.
This time around another rookie batting line-up is assembled in London, with the middle-order looking extremely thin on paper.
The most accomplished batsman in the side is Umar Akmal who has played a total of six test matches, he would be supported by Shoaib Malik who has always remained vulnerable in the test format, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 on the other hand returns to the test format after four long years.
Pakistan is also expected to include http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 withered away and has since then failed to cement his spot in the test or one-day formats.
The worry for Pakistan is surely its batting and one hopes that the ghosts of the last neutral test series besides the recent memories of another 3-0 whitewash in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 don’t return to haunt the national team in the two test match series, whatever conditions they may encounter they have their task cut out.
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