By SS
February 23 2003

Pakistan suffered a heavy defeat against England in the crucial Pool A encounter, and now face 3 do or die matches against Holland, India and Zimbabwe. Pakistan find themselves once again in Cornered Tiger Street, but this time without the charismatic and inspirational Imran Khan. Who is going to get the squad together and make then fight like Cornered Tigers 2003 style?

Starting from Tuesday, the Pakistanis face the 3 most important matches since the World Cup final 4 years ago. For some of the current crop of players it could be the last chance to save their international careers and for some it could be the last time they wear the green of Pakistan. One thing is for sure though, if any player is not motivated and up for the next 3 matches, then they do not deserve to be called a Pakistani cricketer.

There were few plus points from the England match and its sad that the only noteworthy effort in the batting belonged to the worlds fastest bowler and a man who was batting at number 11. Saeed Anwar without looking at his best played some nice strokes but perished leg before in predictable fashion.

Probably along with millions around the world my heart sank when I heard that Pakistan had lost the toss, knowing that this was a day night match and the bowling advantage would clearly be with the team given the kookaburra second. This reaction of course proved correct and Pakistan were soundly beaten as the England seamers took full advantage of the helpful conditions.

At 59 for 3 after 13 overs Pakistan were on top with the dangerous leftie openers back in the pavilion as well as skipper Hussain. Vaughan had a major stroke of luck as he was caught first ball of Wasim. Vaughan and Stewart fought back and maintained a healthy run rate, as Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis struggled. Both fell in the space of 2 overs and once again the pendulum had swung towards Pakistan, with England on 118 for 5 and the barmy army almost silent.

Once again though from a position of strength, the Pakistani bowlers lacked the killer instinct that has been part of their game over the years, and Collingwood and Flintoff were allowed to rotate the strike at will against some bowling which lacked conviction.
Saqlain accounted for Flintoff who departed with the score at 160 for 6 after 35 overs. With 15 overs remaining Pakistan were in the ideal position to bowl out England for under 200, but on the other hand England could not take to many risks. A combination of bowling which lacked penetration and some sensible batting by Collingwood meant that England reached a respectable total of 246 for 8. Surprisingly, in the last 15 overs England scored 86 for 2 wickets.

It seemed as though the Pakistani batsman were clueless against the seam movement that Anderson was enjoying, but it couldnt have been a major surprise to them. In the first 15 overs when the ball was going to swing the most, there should have been a policy of preserving wickets and relying on singles. Instead after 15 overs the game was all but over, with Pakistan reeling on 52 for 4.

It appeared as though there had been no counter plan to combat the threat of the new ball, with all the batsman just either blocking or playing and missing. Disappointingly nobody tried anything different to upset the line and length of Caddick and Anderson.

Thereafter a procession of batsman came and went, and it was left to Shoaib Akhtar to bring some smiles to the faces of Chacha and the rest of the Pakistani fans in Newlands.

It was a heavy defeat for Pakistan and its one that they will have to get out of their system very soon. The English bowlers, especially Anderson must be congratulated for putting the ball in the right areas and allowing it to swing. The Pakistani batsman were hardly given any lose deliveries and instead had to struggle throughout their innings.

Batting second though was always going to be difficult and I really do believe that most teams would have struggled to reach a victory target of 247 in those conditions, however some other teams may have approached the chase in a more planned and unorthodox way.