V.Roger Prabasarkar : Cricket
With South Africas seemingly good chances of victory disappearing as bloodily and painfully as a tooth extraction on the third day of the first Test in Rawalpindi, the team will be reflecting on a lost opportunity. Pakistan resumed a shortened second day on a precarious 216-6 and quickly subsided to 231-8 before the last two wickets added a match-saving 225 runs.
The kind of luck enjoyed by Waqar Younis during his Test-best hook-and-hope innings of 45 would be enough to leave any team feeling resentful, but the manner in which debutant Azhar Mehmood and last man Mushtaq Ahmed nonchalantly equalled the world record 10th wicket stand of 151 came close to pushing some tourists over the top.
That was the cricket. What incensed the South Africans far more than being outplayed was the incident that occurred two overs before the close of play on day one.
Pakistan wicket-keeper Moin Khan was unable to prevent his bat from making considerable contact with Allan Donalds shin while the batsman was completing a single two overs before the close of play on Monday. Donald collapsed to the ground, in shock more than pain, perhaps, but three pounds of sculptered willow does not generally caress a shin bone, however lovingly it is applied.
Moin claimed it was an accident. Donald claimed otherwise. The vast majority of neutral opinion agreed with Donald, including one of Moins own team mates. Waqar concluded that it was unlikely that Moin had hit Donalds shin accidentally. Donald swore that it was deliberate having had to take evasive action after the previous delivery when Moin had run two.
He tried to hit me the ball before and I had to jump out of the way at the last second. The next ball I saw him line me up before turning away to watch the ball. He claimed he wasnt watching me when he hit me, which is right, but he knew exactly where I was standing. He then hit me as he ran past. He knew what he was doing.
It was the most professional of professional fouls in a sport supposedly noted for its gentlemanly conduct. As SABC radio commentator Gerald de Kock pointed out, if accidents like that did happen then they would happen more often than once every four or five years. The shoulder- charge is certainly a tactic used by bowlers and batsmen to make a point when temperatures are reaching boiling point, and it is easily disguised in heat-of-the- moment action, but use of the bat in off- the-ball incidents is almost unprecedented.
The last time, in fact, was almost four years ago in 1994. Kepler Wesselss bat clipped Kapil Devs shin after the great Indian all-rounder had run out Peter Kirsten at the non-strikers end during a one-day game. Try and get one of Keplers team mates or friends to suggest that was an unfortunate accident. Wessels, I suggest, wanted to make a point. And he did. Even though Kapil acted honourably in offering the veteran Kirsten two warnings.
ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle had a potentially explosive incident to deal with. No TV footage was available because TV cameras routinely follow the ball. Madugalle, a former Test player for Sri Lanka, is an affable, approachable man with a certain sense of street-wisdom.
He approached Donald to say lets keep a lid on this, yes? to which Donald added a reminder that he had been hit on the shins and was the innocent party. Madugalle assured the fast bowler that he would be speaking to Moin as well. Both Donald and Madugalle knew that Moin had transgressed the spirit of the game in a way that could not be proven. The incident did nothing to build spirits. In fact …
Hansie Cronje offered a significant olive branch in the form of his own hand when, having finally separated the last pair (Mushtaq and Azhar Mehmood equalled the record of 151 set between Brian Hastings and Richard Collinge for New Zealand against Pakistan in Auckland in 1972) he shook Mehmood by the hand and congratulated him.
It was the first time in the history of Test cricket that two debutants had scored centuries for the same side, let alone in the same innings. Opener Ali Naqvis 115 on the first day set the ball rolling.
As if the ninth wicket stand of 74 had not been depressing enough, the performance of last man Mushtaq was as teeth-pullingly awful as Test cricket gets for the fielding side. A nervous starter at the best of times, Mushtaq was simply trying to survive long enough to allow Mehmood to move from 39 to 50. Not only did Mehmood reach 128 not out, but Mushtaq grew so much in stature that he recorded his first (and probably last) half century including an assault on off-spinner Pat Symcox unprecedented in the 37-year-olds career. 6-6-4-6 went Symcoxs 46th over and there was no more humiliation left for the South Africans to endure. They had been stripped naked and exposed to a laughing, giggling, taunting audience.
As much as South African followers may have suffered at the fate of their team, they will simply have to accept that there is no target for their anger. Other than the wicket, perhaps. Cronje was beyond all but petty reproach, no catches were dropped, no bowler lost control and, amazingly, no heads dropped. Not visibly, anyway.
Even the loss of Brett Schultz may not have affected the outcome. The big left-armer suffered heavy internal bleeding from a torn shoulder muscle and will be returning to South Africa this weekend. Such is his luck, the aeroplane will burst a tire on landing. He was virtually speechless with emotion and disappointment when the decision was made.
He is an emotional and sensitive man, unlike his on-field persona, and he shed several tears over the latest in a long list of injury setbacks.
A more bizarre twist in the Schultz saga, certainly for local scribes who could hardly believe what they were seeing and hearing, came with a telephone call from a South African journalist to the United Cricket Board managing director Ali Bacher.
The journalists complaint, it transpired, was that coach Bob Woolmer had not told him about Schultzs injury. Instead of sorting the problem out with the coach directly, the offended hack called Bacher and sounded, to be honest, like a spoiled child. To the ears of local newspapermen, the discussion was comical. In these parts, journalists are expected to do their job with as little or as much co-operation as the coach, management and players feel inclined to give. On the receiving end of such punishment, as South Africa were, a tight-lipped attitude would be normal.
Bacher, it transpired, had serious words with both Woolmer and SK Reddy which seems harsh on both men but especially so on Reddy whose position as manager appears to be little more than an honourary one given the UCBs policy of rotating the job amongst its executive members. He has no previous experience of touring and cannot be expected to know the finer facets of the job.
The upshot of this, and you can be sure that the local media are aware of almost all the goings on in the opposition camp, is a perception of disharmony in the greater South African camp. This is music to Pakistani ears, given their own record in recent years! Much will be made of it, true or not, for a psychological advantage is keenly sought in this part of the world.
It may sound a little like clutching at straws although it is true but South Africa should be almost grateful for this humbling experience. If they had bowled Pakistan out cheaply and forced themselves into a winning position, they would almost certainly have become a little over- confident and woefully under-prepared for Sheikhupura, the second Test venue, which has a wicket so flat it makes Rawalpindi look like a green, juicy flier.