By Kersi Meher-Homji
November 30th 2009 @ 5:03am
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Two teenagers battle in lost causes
Last week will be remembered for the gallantry shown by two teenagers in the Brisbane and Dunedin Tests. Both were unrewarded as the West Indies lost to Australia by an innings at the Gabba, and Pakistan lost by 32 runs to New Zealand in the Dunedin thriller.
I am referring to the West Indian Adrian Barath, born on 14 April 1990 and the Pakistan prodigy Umar Amal, born a month later on 26 May 1990.
Barath, who Brian Lara ranks very highly, scored 15 and 104 in a lost cause as his country was thumped by Ricky Ponting’s men by an innings within three days at the Gabba.
Incidentally, only India’s Sachin Tendulkar had previously scored a Test century against Australia as a teenager.
Barath showed his skipper Chris Gayle and Test veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul how Test cricket should be played.
Pakistan’s Umar Akmal almost single-handedly brought his country to a near win by scoring 129 and 75, top-scoring in both innings. He is one of the few cricketers to register a century and a fifty on Test debut.
Pakistan was struggling at 5 for 81 facing New Zealand’s total of 429 when Umar was joined by his eight years older brother Kamran Akmal, playing his 44th Test. They added 176 for the sixth wicket. Umar’s 129 included 21 fours and two sixes.
In the second innings, needing 251 to win, Pakistan was well on the way with Umar Akmal playing confidently (75 runs with five fours and a six) and the score at 5 for 195.
At one point only 56 runs were needed for a win with five wickets intact. But they lost their last five batsmen for a meager 23 runs after Umar Akmal’s exit.
As poet John Whittier had said:
“For all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’ ”
Only seven batsmen have scored more runs in their Test debut than Umar’s 204 (129 and 75). They are:
Lawrence Rowe, 314 (214 and 100 not out), WI v. NZ, Kingston, February 1972.
RE Foster, 306 (287 and 19), England v.Australia, Sydney, December 1903.
Yasir Hameed 275 (170 and 105), Pakistan v. Bangladesh, Karachi, August 2003.
Jacobus Rudolph, 222 (222 not out), South Africa v. Bangladesh, Chittagong, April 2003.
KS Ranjitsinhji, 216 (62 and 154 not out), England v. Australia, Manchester, July 1896.
Matthew Sinclair, 214 (214), NZ v. WI, Wellington, December 1999 and
Kepler Wessels, 208 (162 and 46), Australia v. England, Brisbane, November, 1982.
Big names, indeed!
Australia should not take the next two Tests against the West Indies and the 3-Test series against Pakistan lightly.
The teenagers Barath and Umar Akmal could turn the game around. Their performances should encourage Australian selectors to show faith in Phil Hughes, who will be 21 today.
It was as a 20-year-old that he became the youngest to score centuries in both innings (115 and 160) of a Test against South Africa at Durban this March. It was his second Test.
Happy birthday, Phil, and many happy returns to the Test fold!
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Brett McKay said | November 30th 2009 @ 7:39am | Report comment
nice piece Kersi – Barath looked super impressive in making his hundred, and at the rate he did, considering all around him were falling like flies. He even showed his captain a thing or two about patience too…
Freud of Football said | November 30th 2009 @ 7:53am | Report comment
“Big names, indeed! ” – Oh yes, how we bow to the might of Matthew Sinclair, the Aussie who wasn’t good enough or Jacques Rudolph (who has a striking picture on his Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Rudolph ), a man who hasn’t been good enough for the SAF test side for 3 years.
Sorry Kersi, I know you love stats but they just don’t fit the bill here. I can only go by reports as I haven’t seen a great deal of Pakistani cricket over the last years but by all accounts, Akmal and Aamer are world-class, indeed they supposedly have a few very good players in and around the squad now, perhaps a new era of Pakistani cricket is dawning?
M1tch said | November 30th 2009 @ 8:13am | Report comment
Umar Akmal looks a good talent, pakistan might not be as bad as some say. Asif is a quality bowler, Gul is a fighter, at least they have someone like Yousuf who can score big runs but can also stay around for a long time
Kersi Meher-Homji said | November 30th 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
Freud,
Thanks for pulling me up for including Yasir Hameed, Sinclair and Rudolph as big names. I feel a bit like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer! But look at the other names: Ranji, ‘Tip’ Foster, Kepler, Lawrence of Windies.
If I am Umar Akmal, I’ll be delighted to be in the company of these names; some great, some very good, others fairly good.
The two Umars, Gul and Akmal, will give Australian spectators plenty to clap about.
Greg Russell said | November 30th 2009 @ 3:55pm | Report comment
The other Pakistani über-talent is Mohammad Aamer, a left-arm pace bowler who is also a big hitting tail-ender. Given this description, it should come as no surprise that Wasim Akram is his hero. Aamer, having already made a big mark in T20 cricket, bowled impressively in Dunedin. He is supposedly only 17 years old, but I do wonder about that given that he was already playing for Pakistan U19 in 2007, when supposedly only 15. Batsmen can play beyond their teenage years, but this is highly unusual for pace bowlers given the obvious link with physical development. If Aamer’s age has been fudged, it wouldn’t be the first such case in Pakistani cricket (not that this matters in terms of playing in the open ranks).
I agree with Kersi that Barath and Umar are real talents. However most people can play a cover drive worth a million dollars. It’s what happens on the tens of thousands of other balls, faced over seasons, that ultimately tell the story of how good a batsman you are. The cases of Sinclair, Rudolph and Yasir are good examples of this.
Barath reminded me a little bit of Damien Martyn, with his effortless timing of good balls through the covers. He’s a player who was also super talented but who took a decade to find his bearings.
Umar will have to tone down his aggression to be successful in Australia – just have a look at Chris Gayle in Brisbane for evidence of that. The Australians feed off any shots played in the air, and Umar gave them plenty of video clips to get excited about in Dunedin.
Nevertheless I agree that all three players are very exciting for world cricket. In this vein, maybe Kersi should also have mentioned Mitchell Marsh’s performances for WA against NSW over the last week?
vinay verma said | November 30th 2009 @ 5:24pm | Report comment
Greg,Umar is a very handy legspinner and this is one of the resons why Danish Kaneria is on the outer. The pitch in Dunedin was not a great one for spinners and that is why Umar didn’t get a trundle. The opening batsmen on both sides look short of International Standard. I watched most of this Test and the pitch had a lot to do with the good cricket played. Get the curator out to all the World centres to oversee pitch preparation. I was pleased for Bond and the effort of O Brien with a dislocated finger on his bowling hand. Very commendable. I am expecting big things of Ross Taylor and the figures dont show it but he is the one batsman who really reminds me of Martyn,more so than Umar. Umar I think is more a counter puncher in the Musthaq Mohammed class.
Greg Russell said | December 1st 2009 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
Vinay, I can see a physical resemblance between Martyn and Taylor, but they are very different in the way they play. Taylor’s wagon-wheel is all onside (the Australians always strive to get him out lbw playing across the line) whereas Marto’s great strength (and beauty) was his play through the arc from cover to backward point. Don’t you remember the test at the Gabba where Fleming had something like 4 or 5 fielders in this arc, and NZ frustrated the poop out of him?
Freud of Football said | November 30th 2009 @ 5:28pm | Report comment
Wasn’t Akhtar’s age supposedly incorrect?
@Kersi: If I were Akmal I wouldn’t be worried about the company on that list, I’d be more proud that I’m following in the footsteps of Imran Kahn and Wasim Akram than some names in some stats.