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Pakistan white-washed Down Under

Scores: Australia 451; Pakistan 155 & 276

A defiant ton by Ijaz Ahmed and an attacking late assault by skipper Wasim Akram were the only bright spots in a lost cause as Pakistan succumbed to the Aussie assault and conceded the third Test inside three days to crash to an innings defeat at the WACA.

Ricky Ponting reaffirmed his class with a chanceless 197 and walked away with the Man of the Match Award after three successive ducks this series. Justin Langer on the other hand stamped his authority on the number three spot in the Aussie batting line-up by grabbing the Man of the Series Award with two huge match winning hundreds.

The result of the game was a foregone conclusion ever since day one of the Test after the Aussie blitz wrapped up the Pakistan team for a paltry 155.

The demoralising defeat of Pakistan by the Aussies will definitely play on the minds of the Indians who elsewhere in the same country are on the verge of losing their first tour game to highly rated Queensland.

The Pakistan batsmen spent 519 minutes at the crease in both their innings, which is about the same time that the Aussies spent in their lone innings. That single statistic explains in a nutshell the problem the Pakis faced throughout the Test series in Australia. The Australians faced 111 overs in their single innings compared to the 122 overs the Pakis faced combining both their innings.

Resuming their innings at 40/2, Pakistan in trouble even before they took the field when the night watchman Saqlain was rushed to the hospital due to food poisoning. Their fortunes in the middle weren't getting any better with Inzamam, their main batsman, and Yousuf Youhana falling in quick succession to the express pace of McGrath.

Inzamam was snapped up by Mark Waugh in the slips while Youhana failed to trouble the scorers as he found Steve Waugh at gully, giving the lanky Aussie his third victim in the innings and sixth in the game.

Despite the fall of wickets at the other end, Ijaz continued his brutal attack on the Aussie pacemen clubbing them all over the park. The unorthodox batsman got under the skin of the Aussies as he took toll of Fleming in an over sending him to the fence of three successive deliveries. He reached his half-century of only 73 balls laced with 6 boundaries in less than two hours.

Never failing to cash in on anything short, Ijaz took up the challenge against Warne and sent him packing to the fence as well.

After coasting to a 58 run partnership with Ijaz, Azhar Mahmood lost his concentration and tried to hoist a perfect leg-spinner from Warne only to hear the timber rattle behind him with the score at a precarious 114/5. Without moving his feet well enough to the spinner Azhar tried to play the ball from Warne which pitched on leg stump and finished taking the off-stump.

Immediately after lunch Ijaz survived a caught behind appeal from McGrath after umpire Willey failed to hear the distinct snick although devoid of much deviation. With his appeal turned down McGrath spat fire at the batsman with some express bouncers aimed at his neck.

Moin soon walked as he nicked a well-disguised leg-cutter from McGrath to the keeper leaving the tourists reeling at 168/6.

Ijaz got his hundred when he edged a delivery over the slips to third man. This was his 12th Test century and his sixth against the Aussies. He reached his third century on Australian soil in 138 balls and had 13 hits to the fence. He barely played a single false shot on the back foot and hit boundaries all around the park with the exception of long off. He excelled square of the wicket and had half a dozen pulls to the fence in his essay.

His skipper Wasim, suffering from a groin injury, admirably supported him with some aggressive batting and the two of them put together a 50 run partnership in only 44 balls within half an hour.

Ijaz finally perished trying one too many pulls of the Aussies when Kasprowicz had him caught by Slater at deep square leg. Ijaz scored a valiant 115 and was the only Pakistan batsman who coped with the WACA wicket with ease. Pakistan at that stage was at 230 /7 with only the tail enders to come in.

Wasim took over from Ijaz as Saqlain made his way out into the middle after recovering from his illness, and hammered the Aussie bowlers. He reached his fifty of just 35 balls in an hour with the help of 9 boundaries.

Saqlain suffered yet again but this time from a dubious LBW decision off the bowling of Kasprowicz. The ball was clearly missing leg stump. At 256/8, there was little hope of play being pushed into the third session of play. Wasim chanced his arm a bit too often and finally holed out to Kasprowicz at long-on.

Shoaib Akhtar edged one from Fleming into the slips for Warne to finish off the Pakistan resilience. The Pakistan second innings folded up for 276 in the 70th over, giving the Aussies a 3-0 white wash.

McGrath found his form as he finished with 4 for 49 to go with his 3 wickets in the first innings. McGrath finished with match figures of 7-93 as the match ended just before the tea-break leaving eager fans, hoping to see a full day's play, disappointed

The Pakistan team fly back home after the defeat pondering over their mistakes and planning much better for the tri-nation series early next year in Australia.

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