THE HAMMERING

 

Image Credit - ESPN CricInfo. 

Venue- WACA Ground, Perth [16-19 December 2004].

In the Australian Summer of 2004, Pakistani Cricket Team toured Australia to play 3 Test Matches along with a Triangular ODI Series. The first test of the series was scheduled in WACA. A venue which is a graveyard for all the visiting teams. So, it was not going to be an easy task for the visitors to breach this fortress.  On a bright sunny day Pakistani Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to field first. And Boy! What happened in the next 2 hours was literally unbelievable. The duo of Akhtar and Sami reduced Australia to 78/5 in 27 overs. It appeared that the Hosts will be bowled out soon and the fortress will be breached. However, this is when Adam Gilchrist arrived on the crease who along with Langer stitched a brilliant partnership of 152 runs. The duo soaked the pressure and turned the tables around. Justin Langer was the star of the show as he scored a gritty 191 in such an adverse situation. Adam Gilchrist too scored a quickfire 69 as the Aussies posted 381 in their first innings.  For Pakistanis Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami picked up 5 and 3 wickets respectively.

In response the Pakistanis were bowled out for just 179 runs in their first innings. It is pertinent to note that no Pakistani Batsman was able to cross the 50 runs mark. It was such a horrible display on their part.  For Aussies, Kasprowicz picked up 5 whereas Shane Warne picked up 3 wickets respectively.  The Hosts had a lead of 202 runs, but instead of enforcing a follow-on they came out to bat.

Interestingly in the first innings there was some fight put on by the Pakistanis, however in the second innings they just surrendered themselves before the Hosts. The Aussies declared at a score of 361/5 in their second innings which implied that the Pakistanis needed 564 runs to win the test match. Damien Martyn scored a wonderful hundred, whereas Langer (97) and Ponting (98) missed their respective tons by the barest of margins. 

Everyone knew that the Visitors had no chance in the game. The question which arose now was will they put a fight or will they go down without a fight. It turned out that they went down without a fight as they were bowled out for just 72 runs in their second innings. It took Aussies just 32 overs to wrap the Pakistani second innings. Glenn McGrath blew the Pakistani batting line-up with a figure of 8-24. 

The Hosts won the game by 491 runs. To be honest it was not a defeat, it was a hammering. 

To watch the knock of Langer, Click Here.

To watch the spell of Glenn McGrath, Click Here.