Two topsy-turvy SCG Tests between Australia and Pakistan (Part II)

It sure was snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I mean the SCG Test against Pakistan in January 2010 which Australia won miraculously.

To me, one of the highlights of a Sydney Test in the last ten years has been the media dinner hosted by the Australian Cricket Media Association usually on Day 3 of the Test to present the Australian Cricketer of the Year Award at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Australia was on her knees that day against Pakistan on 5 January 2010. It was not a question as to will they lose the Test, but when will they lose it. The Australian journalists appeared dejected which is to be expected but, surprisingly, so were their Pakistani counterparts.

I sat on the same table with the Pakistan journalists, introduced myself and said, “Let me be the first to congratulate you.”

“Why, for what?” was their gloomy response.

“Because Pakistan will win this Test sometime tomorrow afternoon with a day to spare and level the series one-all,” I explained.

“Don’t be too sure,” one of them mumbled. “Australians are fighters and Pakistan is Pakistan. They self-destruct.”

“They snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” commented another. In view of what happened the following day, their predictions proved spot on.

So let us revisit the topsy-turvy Sydney Test of January 2010. It was a gloomy and wet morning when Ricky Ponting won the toss and surprisingly decided to bat on a green wicket.

He must have regretted it as Australia was bowled out for 127 in 44.2 overs, Ponting scoring a duck and fast-medium bowler Mohammad Asif grabbing 6-41.

Pakistani openers Imran Farhat and Salman Butt almost overtook the Australian total by adding 109 on a pitch which was improving by the hour.

They were at one stage 2 for 205, a lead of 78 runs with eight wickets in hand. Eventually they totalled 333 to be 206 runs in front.

At stumps on the third day, Australia was 8 for 286 despite opener Shane Watson’s 97. And so they were just 80 runs ahead with only tail-enders to support a resolute Mike Hussey, unbeaten on 73.

The expected early breakthroughs did not come the next morning as Hussey and the No.10 batsman Peter Siddle added 123 runs for the ninth wicket, 94 of them on the fourth day before Siddle was dismissed.

The pair was lucky because Pakistan wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal dropped four fairly easy catches, three of them enabling Man of the Match Hussey to make an unbeaten 134.

The other dropped catch helped Siddle to make 38, then his highest Test score. The bowler to suffer from these lapses was leg-spinner Danish Kaneria who despite poor catching finished with 5-151 as Australia totalled 381.

What surprised the critics and commentators was that instead of going for the kill on the morning of the fourth day of the Test, the Pakistan captain – the bearded Mohammad Yousuf – set an overly defensive field.

Set only 176 runs to win, a lacklustre Pakistan was dismissed for 139 to lose by 36 runs, an astonishing turn around.

The words of the Pakistani journalists uttered 19 hours earlier at the Media Night were ringing in my ears, especially the phrases “self-destruct” and “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”.

Eyebrows were raised and the general attitude was that of nudge-nudge, wink-wink. But according to Cricket Australia there was nothing suspicious.

Was it one of cricket’s glorious uncertainties or inglorious certainties?

Here are the views of David Jenkins, the author of ‘Near Death on the Sub-continent – The Gavin Stevens Story’ on this contentious Sydney Test:

“At lunch time on the fourth and last day, with Hussey and Siddle still in and a century partnership to boot, I asked Channel 9 commentator and former Australian captain Mark Taylor if he could have imagined this lunch time score at the start of play that day. His response was, ‘Not before play – but as soon as I saw those field-placings, I could imagine this result.’”

Earlier, Shane Warne was so confident Pakistan would win quickly that he had booked an early flight to Melbourne. Now, with Australia still batting, he had to cancel his plans and stay in Sydney.

With Hussey being dropped on a seemingly regular basis, and a missed run out on top of those dropped catches, it looked like Pakistan had been very generous to say the least.

“If they had dismissed Siddle, or Hussey – who was missed several times – Pakistan could not have explained a loss chasing sixty or seventy runs,” commented Jenkins with a wink.

“By allowing Australia a lead of nearly two hundred they could now deliberately lose honourably.”

Subsequently, Kamran was accused of deliberately under-performing during Pakistan’s surprise defeat against Australia in the above Test, where he failed to run out Shane Watson besides those four dropped catches.

Despite the allegations, Kamran claimed to have a clearance letter from the ICC saying he is not being investigated.

Kamran also vowed to clear his name through the integrity committee, which reportedly asked for details of his assets and bank accounts. He was axed from the team after a dismal keeping behind the stumps at the 2011 World Cup where he dropped New Zealand’s Ross Taylor twice in fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s one over.

Pakistan losing the Melbourne Test on Friday after scoring 443 in the first innings with Azhar Ali carrying his bat for a double century was very disappointing. Especially skipper Misbah-ul-Haq’s two rash shots in the second innings.

Pakistan has always been either terrific or terrible on the field. Let’s hope they show their terrific side in the Sydney Test starting on Tuesday, as they did on the final day of the Brisbane Test a fortnight ago.