World Cup Classics: Pakistan v England Headingley, Leeds 16 June, 1979
Second cricket world cup was eagerly awaited after the success of the inaugural one in 1975. Pakistan was placed alongside strong England, depleted Australia and minnows Canada. Hot favorites West Indies easily topped the other group through trouble-free victories over India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. After one-sided low scoring matches and an upset defeat of India at the hands of Sri Lanka the fans at last saw a nail-biter at Leeds between two of the pre-tournament favorites, Asif Iqbal’s Pakistan and Mike Brearley’s England.
Asif Iqbal chose to field after winning the coin on that damp Headingley morning. Imran Khan took Brearley in the very first over and Derek Randall too did not last long. Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch put on a slow but important 3rd wicket stand of 47 runs. Sadiq Muhammad took a brilliant catch at gully to remove stubborn Gooch off the bowling of Sikandar Bakht. He made 33 off 90 balls. Majid Khan instead of bowling his medium pacers chose to bowl off-breaks as he was struggling with his fitness. He proved effective that way too and removed Boycott, Gower and Botham to leave England wobbling at 115 for six. Gower and Botham were going smoothly on a difficult wicket but both got clean-bowled by Majid. Captain Asif Iqbal then struck twice to nip out Phil Edmonds and Chris Old to make it even more precarious 118 for 8. England were going nowhere as Pakistan went for the kill. But England tail did not give in to the pressure and Bob Taylor along with Bob Willis brought England back into contention with some gritty batting display. Willis was bowled by Bakht for invaluable 24 runs off 37 balls with 3 fours while Taylor remained not out on 20. Majid and Bakht both took 3 wickets apiece. They finished at 165 for 9 in 60 overs. For a batting line up as good as Pakistan’s it was not a big target to achieve.
Majid Khan and Sadiq Muhammad started safely for Pakistan. At 27 for no loss they had negotiated the early storm but Mike Hendrick struck Pakistan like lightening. He ran through the top order to leave them reeling at 34 for six. Hendrick removed Majid, Sadiq, Mudassar and Haroon Rasheed while Botham took out two big guns Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad. After demise of the big names it was still not all over for Pakistan. They had three quality all-rounders in Asif Iqbal, Wasim Raja and Imran Khan along with keeper Wasim Bari to drag them out of the hole. Man of the crises Asif played a captain’s knock and started resurrecting the innings. First with Raja he put on 52 to halt the slide and then with Imran he was looking all set to take his team to safety. But Bob Willis got Asif out through a slip catch by Brearley. He made 51 off 104 with 5 fours, the only fifty of the match. It was a crucial breakthrough for England. Brearley was juggling his bowlers around wisely and putting pressure on the batsmen to score freely as well as tempting them into false strokes. Imran who was playing an unusually sedate innings put on valuable 30 runs with Bari for the 9th wicket but Brearley introduced Boycott who enticed Bari to a false stroke. Last pair needed 21 runs but Sikandar Bakht repeated the same mistake and in trying to hit an innocuous delivery was caught by Hendrick at mid off. Imran remained stranded at the other end and left the field fuming while Bakht was hanging his head in embarrassment. Man of the match Hendrick took 4 for 15 in 12 overs with 6 maidens while surprise package Boycott took 2 for 14 in 5 overs.
Crowd went berserk as the world cup had lit up for England because this win ensured that they meet New Zealand instead of West Indies in the semi-final. On the other hand Pakistan was left disappointed on both accounts; they lost an easy match and were left to face the might of defending champions in the knock-out stage.
Asif Iqbal chose to field after winning the coin on that damp Headingley morning. Imran Khan took Brearley in the very first over and Derek Randall too did not last long. Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch put on a slow but important 3rd wicket stand of 47 runs. Sadiq Muhammad took a brilliant catch at gully to remove stubborn Gooch off the bowling of Sikandar Bakht. He made 33 off 90 balls. Majid Khan instead of bowling his medium pacers chose to bowl off-breaks as he was struggling with his fitness. He proved effective that way too and removed Boycott, Gower and Botham to leave England wobbling at 115 for six. Gower and Botham were going smoothly on a difficult wicket but both got clean-bowled by Majid. Captain Asif Iqbal then struck twice to nip out Phil Edmonds and Chris Old to make it even more precarious 118 for 8. England were going nowhere as Pakistan went for the kill. But England tail did not give in to the pressure and Bob Taylor along with Bob Willis brought England back into contention with some gritty batting display. Willis was bowled by Bakht for invaluable 24 runs off 37 balls with 3 fours while Taylor remained not out on 20. Majid and Bakht both took 3 wickets apiece. They finished at 165 for 9 in 60 overs. For a batting line up as good as Pakistan’s it was not a big target to achieve.
Majid Khan and Sadiq Muhammad started safely for Pakistan. At 27 for no loss they had negotiated the early storm but Mike Hendrick struck Pakistan like lightening. He ran through the top order to leave them reeling at 34 for six. Hendrick removed Majid, Sadiq, Mudassar and Haroon Rasheed while Botham took out two big guns Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad. After demise of the big names it was still not all over for Pakistan. They had three quality all-rounders in Asif Iqbal, Wasim Raja and Imran Khan along with keeper Wasim Bari to drag them out of the hole. Man of the crises Asif played a captain’s knock and started resurrecting the innings. First with Raja he put on 52 to halt the slide and then with Imran he was looking all set to take his team to safety. But Bob Willis got Asif out through a slip catch by Brearley. He made 51 off 104 with 5 fours, the only fifty of the match. It was a crucial breakthrough for England. Brearley was juggling his bowlers around wisely and putting pressure on the batsmen to score freely as well as tempting them into false strokes. Imran who was playing an unusually sedate innings put on valuable 30 runs with Bari for the 9th wicket but Brearley introduced Boycott who enticed Bari to a false stroke. Last pair needed 21 runs but Sikandar Bakht repeated the same mistake and in trying to hit an innocuous delivery was caught by Hendrick at mid off. Imran remained stranded at the other end and left the field fuming while Bakht was hanging his head in embarrassment. Man of the match Hendrick took 4 for 15 in 12 overs with 6 maidens while surprise package Boycott took 2 for 14 in 5 overs.
Crowd went berserk as the world cup had lit up for England because this win ensured that they meet New Zealand instead of West Indies in the semi-final. On the other hand Pakistan was left disappointed on both accounts; they lost an easy match and were left to face the might of defending champions in the knock-out stage.
Published in SportPulse
ReplyDelete- http://sportpulse.net/article/low-scoring-thriller-leeds