DATE : 22-02-1995
VENUE : Harare Sports Club, Harare
MATCH : 1st ODI
Writer : Karthik Narayan
Welcome to “Cricketfundas.com – And it’s a Tie” to relive a rare event of a tied match. Today we shall see the glorious ODI on the 22nd day of February 1995 at Harare. It was the first ODI when Pakistan toured Zimbabwe. Pakistan had already won the 3 test series 2-1, and Zimbabwe needed to do something to save face in this home series.
The teams were comprised of:
Pakistan: Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam ul Haq, Saleem Malik (C), Ijaz Ahmed, Shakil Ahmed, Rashid Latif (W.K), Manzoor Elahi, Aaqib Javed, Aamir Nazir and Wasim Akram.
Zimbabwe: Andy Flower (C), Grant Flower, Mark Burmester, Alistair Campbell (W.K), David Houghton, Guy Whittal, Stuart Carlisle, Paul Strang, Stephen Peall, Bryan Strang and Malcolm Jarvis.
The Toss: The two captains, Andy Flower and Saleem Malik went out for the toss. The Zimbabwean skipper won the toss and elected to bat. Interestingly, Andy Flower was the captain and Alistair Campbell the wicketkeeper in this match, and a few matches later the roles were reversed when Andy Flower started donning the gloves more regularly for Zimbabwe, and Campbell becoming skipper.
The Zimbabwean Innings: The Flower Brothers walked in to face the lethal bowling of Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed. After seeing off the opening burst of these two bowlers, at 45, Andy Flower was cleaned up by Aamir Nazir. Mark Burmester was the next man in, and their partnership of 60 for the second wicket was the highest of the Zimbabwean innings. One might say that gave the entire innings some respectability. Except Grant Flower with a very patient 41 off 83 balls, nobody managed to really capitalize on some starts. The top order got some twenties and thirties. The Zimbabwean innings folded up at 219-9 off their quota of 50 overs. For Pakistan, Akram bowled magnificently to combine tight bowling with wicket taking to end up with 8.5-0-24-2. Thanks to periodic breakthroughs, the Pakistani bowlers managed to pull back Zimbabwe to that score. The score is not big, but looked good enough to give Pakistan a run for their money. Let us see how the Pakistanis went about their chase.
The Pakistan Chase: The Pakistan team required 220 to get a lead of ONE UP in this series. The opening pair of Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, (having been such a successful pair of their times) could not be together for more than 9 runs, when Aamir Sohail was out to Bryan Strang, caught and bowled. In walked that Sultan from Multan, Inzamam ul Haq. After he struggled to make a single run off his first seven balls, he edged one off that tormenter-bowler, Bryan Strang to the keeper Alistair Campbell.
Pakistan was in a spot of bother at 13/2 when Inzamam walked back with a blob. In walked the Pakistan captain Saleem Malik. He and Anwar managed to get a partnership going when Guy Whittal struck with his medium pacers, Alistair Campbell pouching another catch. Thereafter, Ijaz Ahmed, Shakil Ahmed managed to get 25 apiece before losing their wickets. Pakistan were supposed to be cruising to victory, but they had slumped to 107/4 and that worsened to 172/5. To make matters further worse, Rashid Latif was run out in a crazy mix up with Anwar. Pakistanis never have a reputation of being good judgers of runs and this was clearly evident in this match as well.
The match was evenly poised and Pakistan looked like getting away with a tight win in the end. But the hero of the match for the home side, Bryan Strang had other ideas. He picked up two quick wickets with the score at 209 and 210, (wickets of Manzoor Elahi and Aaqib Javed). At 210/8, Pakistan needed just 10 runs with 2 wickets in hand.
Anwar completed what was a fine century by now. Amidst all the ruins, Anwar stood tall and looked like pulling off a victory. Then again, cricket is a game of global uncertainties. Guy Whittal picked up a crucial wicket at the right time – the score went up to 213/9.
Wasim Akram is a good enough batsman on any other situation, but not on this occasion. Guy Whittal again came on to bowl the last over of the match, a very tight situation indeed. Scores were level by the end of the 4th ball of the last over. It all boiled down to 2 balls and one run to win. Wasim Akram could have hit it anywhere for a simple single, but pressure builds in the minds and does strange things to cricketers. He lobbed it for the sitters of catches for the bowler Guy Whittal. That signalled the end of the game, Pakistan all out for 219 with a ball to spare and a run still to win.
The game had ended in a famous tie! We the spectators of the game love the limited overs version for its down-to-the-wire games, don’t we? That’s the specialty of this game, and when cricket is played in its finest sense without a winner or loser, that is something special. Saeed Anwar (who carried his bat through with 103*) and Bryan Strang (10-1-36-4) were jointly named as the Men of the match.
This was indeed the most exciting match of the series, which ended with both Zimbabwe and Pakistan with a win each, and the trophy was shared.