da dobrowin： As they say, when it rains, it pours
da realsbet： Anand Vasu31-Mar-2000As they say, when it rains, it pours. Pakistan having got into awinning frame of mind were unstoppable. In a clinical battingdisplay followed by some inspired bowling the Pakistanis won theCoca Cola Cup 2000 by 16 runs.When Shahid Afridi is at the crease he does not muck around.Either he is scoring runs or is back in the pavilion. Off late,he has not spent enough time at the wicket to make a decentscore. However, the shiny batting track that the final was playedon was perfect for Afridi to go for his shots. With no lateralmovement to speak of, Afridi launched himself into drives withvigour not commonly displayed.Though the South Africans were as sharp in the field as ever,there was little they could do as the ball raced through the offside with regularity. When he flicked the ball past mid wicket tobring up his fifty off just 46 balls, his joy was obvious for allto see.The first to go was Shahid Afridi, attempting to hit LanceKlusener back over his head for six. The ball went straight up inthe air and Kallis chased after it. Running backwards, Kallisthrew himself full length at the end of running a fair few yardsand pulled off what was easily the best catch of the tournament.Afridi had made 52.Imran Nazir went down the wicket too early to a Derek Crookes offspinner and was beaten by the line of the delivery. Seeing himcome down the wicket Crookes sent the ball down the leg side.Mark Boucher whipped the bails off before Imran Nazir could makeit back and all of a sudden Pakistan had lost both its openers.Imran Nazir’s 69 laid the foundation for a good Pakistan score.Inzamam and Youhana consolidated the Pakistan innings with somesensible batting. The brilliant start that they were given byImran Nazir and Shaid Afridi meant the Pakistanis could take iteasy for a period of time.Inzamam restricted himself to pushing the ball into the gaps andpicking singles while Youhana took the initiative. Stroking theball well, Youhana picked up the occasional boundary to add tohis score. Nantie Hayward almost lost his head evading a straightdrive by Inzamam. The ball was struck so fiercely that he had todive out of the way very quickly in his follow through.Inzamam got to his fifty in steady fashion. However, in anattempt to boost the scoring rate, Inzamam was clean bowled byShaun Pollock. Coming late in the innings, the loss of his wicketwas not such a blow to the Pakistan charge.Razzaq and Wasim Akram heaved a few lusty blows towards the endand took Pakistan to 263/6 off their allotted 50 overs. LanceKlusener with 2/27 off his 10 overs was easily the pick of thebowlers.The tried and tested opening pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younisbegan brilliantly for the Pakistanis. Akram used all thevariations in his armoury and troubled the South African batsmen.Herschelle Gibbs has enjoyed some good form in the recent timesand his confidence was up. Stroking the ball firmly, Gibbsbrought up the first boundary of the innings driving Waqar on theup through the off side.Akram finally got his man when Gibbs played loosely at a deliverythat left him. The ball flew off the edge to the slips whereInzamam’s safe hands clasped the ball quickly.Jacques Kallis, the man whose contribution was crucial in SouthAfrica’s path to the final, was beaten all ends up by MohammedAkram. In his very first over, Mohammed Akram got the ball tobounce a little more than the batsman expected. Kallis was lateon the shot, the ball slid off the face to Moin Khan who snappedthe catch up.The South Africans had no choice but to consolidate after theyhad lost two early wickets. The going was predictably slow.Captain Hansie Cronje and new comer Neil McKenzie did not attemptto do anything fancy. In the face of some disciplined Pakistanibowling they nudged the ball into the gaps and picked up ones andtwos.Hansie Cronje’s captain’s knock came to an end when he attemptedone big shot too many against Pakistani off spinner. Arshad Khangave the ball good loop, tempting the South African captain to gofor his shots. After hitting one clean six over mid wicket,Cronje attempted to repeat the stroke with bad results. The ballstopped on Cronje and he went through with the stroke anyway. Theball headed straight towards the fielder mid wicket. Younis Khantook his time and completed the catch comfortably. Cronje’sinnings of 79 in 73 balls ended just when things were going wellfor the South Africans.Neil McKenzie who had struggled on for seemingly endless amountsof time, misread an arm ball from Arshad Khan and presentedMohammed Akram with a catch at short cover. His 58 runs took allof 107 balls.Waqar Younis returned at the end of the innings to destroy allSouth Africa’s hopes. While Mark Boucher fought spectacularly atone end, the wickets tumbled around him and South Africa’s hopesdiminished with every passing over.In successive deliveries Waqar had Nicky Boje caught behind andLance Klusener clean bowled. South Africa hoped for a lot fromKlusener. In the past there have been many occasions whenthe aggressive all rounder has been called upon to hit South Africa out of a hole. On this occasion Klusener was dealt with swiftly by Waqar. Comingaround the wicket to the left hander, Waqar let slip a quickdelivery that came in with the arm and pegged the off stump back.After that it was simply too much of an uphill task for the SouthAfricans. Mark Boucher played a gem of an innings, picking upcrucial boundaries. Improvising well, Boucher used the width ofthe crease superbly, making room for himself and smashing theball through the on side with regularity. However, Waqar gotsweet revenge for all the times he was hit away by Boucher whenhe bowled the South African stumper with the last ball of hisspell.The match was all over at that stage. Abdur Razzaq bowled a welldirected yorker to clean up Nantie Hayward and Pakistan had wonthe Coca Cola Cup 2000 by 16 runs.
