To say that this was an unusual day in the life of Shoaib Akhtarand of Pakistan cricket in general would be a grossunderstatement

John Polack09-Jan-2000To say that this was an unusual day in the life of Shoaib Akhtarand of Pakistan cricket in general would be a grossunderstatement. To postulate that it was momentous probably wouldnot be overselling the position either. In whatever manner it isdescribed, though, it is likely that it will ultimately be oneupon which he and his Pakistani teammates will look back withsupreme fondness; a forty-five run victory over Australia in theopening match of the Carlton and United Series here in Brisbanecoming at the end of an extraordinary twenty-four hours of actionboth on and off the field.The day started, in fact, with the young paceman at thecompletely opposite end of the country to the one in which thismatch was being played. Indeed, he was in Perth – around fivehours away by plane – and seemingly not in any position to playin this match at all. That he should have been so distant, andnot with his countrymen, was the legacy of the much publiciseddecision eleven days ago of the International Cricket Council(ICC) to ban him from all cricket on account of an allegedlysuspect bowling action.It was in the early hours of the morning that matters began tochange markedly for him. It was then that he was provided withthe news that chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya, on behalf of the ICC,had decided to lift the ban – although whether the reprieve istemporary or permanent appears to remain unclear. And, althoughhis humiliation was not completely over – for he was surroundedand jostled by waiting cameramen (at the core of a general mediascrum) after being escorted to the ground late in a four wheeldrive vehicle – it was from there that the portents for aremarkable day of cricket began to be set in place.Initially, Pakistan struggled on the field of play. Indeed, afterwinning the toss and electing to bat, the visitors labouredbadly, collapsing to a mark of 6/60 at one stage in an inningswhich was generally devoid of any real momentum. The first wicket- that of Mohammad Wasim (0) – was surrendered in just the secondover and the top and middle order fell with almost equivalentfrequency thereafter. Against a persistently accurate attack, andin the face of some fine all round fielding, the Pakistanis werenever able to garner any real sense of resistance; only a fortythree run partnership between Wasim Akram (35) and Moin Khan (33)for the seventh wicket and then an unexpected yet brilliantlysteadfast one of fifty-seven for the ninth between SaqlainMushtaq (37*) and Waqar Younis (23*) offering salvation. It wassymbolic indeed that even the first two of those batsmen fell toappalling pieces of judgement – Moin out to a loosely top edgedsweep at Shane Warne and Wasim suicidally setting off for asingle after pushing a shot virtually straight to Ricky Pontingat extra cover.It would have been hard to imagine that anything but the oppositemood would have been prevailing within the Australian camp atthat stage. After losing the toss and on a generally true pitch,they in fact hardly put a foot wrong until the moment at whichSaqlain and Waqar were brought together. Glenn McGrath (whoclaimed 1/35 off his ten overs despite conceding a massiveseventeen runs from the final over of the innings) and local heroAdam Dale (1/19 off ten) set the tone with excellent openingspells, maintaining a perfect length and moving the ball bothways to the general discomfiture of each of the batsmen to whomthey bowled. And while both Warne (2/52) and one-dayinternational debutant Brett Lee (0/39) were at far from theirbest, it scarcely mattered; particularly once part time mediumpacer Andrew Symonds (3/34) had cut an early swathe of his ownthrough the Pakistani order.But, for as one-sided as the affair seemed in a season oflopsided matches, there was still at least one more dramaticShoaib-inspired twist to follow. Essentially, it arrived in thesixteenth over of the Australian innings with the localsapparently cruising to victory on the back of a rapid firepartnership of fifty-three runs for the second wicket betweenPonting (32) and Adam Gilchrist (27). More specifically, it camein the form of two wickets in successive balls in the sixteenthover for the paceman, whose success (together with the generous,moving support afforded him by a huge ‘Gabba crowd) must surelyhave swelled tears in more than one eye on what was a publicholiday back in his home nation.Bowling wholeheartedly, with sheer energy and aggression, and infront of a panoply of flashing camera bulbs, he first removedPonting with a delightful leg cutter that was edged straight tosecond slip and then followed up with a scorching off cutter thattrapped Australian captain Steve Waugh (0) palpably lbw. Later,he foxed Dale (15) into spooning a shot to cover but, after that,there was little more that he needed to do in the way of wickettaking and his final figures of 3/31 from seven overs spokeloudly of the extent of his triumph.Inspired by their brave teammate’s burst, Shoaib’s fellow pacementhen exposed further, and ultimately fatal, weaknesses in asuddenly brittle Australia’s defences. Man of the match AbdurRazzaq (4/23) was the first to join in, doing so emphatically ashe also claimed wickets with successive deliveries in a stunningspell of his own. He induced an always uncomfortable-lookingDamien Martyn (4) to drive away from his body to gully to end apoor innings; forced Symonds (0) to retreat after edging hisfirst ball to second slip with his next ball; and then smearedthe stumps of Lee (2) with a glorious inswinging yorker.As Australia crashed to lose five wickets for seven runs in theprocess, so the crowd seemed to lose its previously deafeningvoice and so indeed thoughts turned to their team’s inability tofind its way to a better position than this after having theiropponents not only 6/60 but also 8/127 earlier in the day. It wasmerely left to Waqar (2/25) to wrap up the exhibition at 139around yet another innings of sheer defiance from Michael Bevan(31*) and another of significant courage from an injured ShaneWarne (9).Polemics will doubtless follow this day’s cricket and Dalmiya’sactions, coming as they do at the end of a remarkable fortnight,during which the very validity of Shoaib’s immediate future as aninternational cricketer has hung gravely in the balance. Asthings stand now, cricket seems as far away from an answer to thewhole contentious issue of chucking as it has ever done. Even theICC’s actions in forming a panel to scrutinise suspect actionsand supposedly ease the pressure upon umpires who seek to no-ballapparently thrown deliveries appears only to have inadvertentlyexacerbated the difficulties which apply in such circumstances.Although the ban on Shoaib actually made for this most emotionalof re-appearances, cricket’s authorities should indeed hang theirheads in shame that it should ever have come to this. This wholesaga has been a mess and that it leaves the players and all whofollow the game in such confusion is a matter of serious regret.