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DATE : 03-04-1993

VENUE : Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana

MATCH : 5th ODI, West Indies Vs Pakistan

Writer : Karthik Narayan

Scorecard

After the thrilling encounter in Dec 1992 (Pakistan vs Australia at Hobart), the Pakistanis were once again involved in a super match and a super TIE! This time it was against the West Indies at Bourda, Georgetown in Guyana on 03/04/1993. This match was the 5th and final ODI, the series decider, with both teams having won two matches each. This was going to be by and large the best match of this series.

The teams:

West Indies:
Desmond Haynes, Brian Lara, Phil Simmons, Richie Richardson (Capt.), Carl Hooper, Augustin Logie, Ian Bishop, Junior Murray (wkt), Curtly Ambrose, Anderson Cummins, Courtney Walsh.

Pakistan:
Aamer Sohail, Rameez Raja, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Basit Ali, Wasim Akram (Capt.), Rashid Latif (wkt), Asif Mujtaba, Waqar Younis, Ata-ur-Rehman, Aamer Nazir.

Toss: Pakistan won the toss and elected to make first use of the batting conditions.

Pakistan's Innings:

Pakistan started off with Sohail and Rameez Raja. Interestingly, Richardson brought Ian Bishop and Phil Simmons to bowl together with the new ball. This proved disastrous as both went for plenty of runs. After just 2 overs for 19 runs, Phil Simmons was promptly taken off the attack and in came Walsh and Ambrose. A decent opening partnership of 66 was broken when Amir Sohail was out caught and bowled off Ambrose. No more than ten runs separated the second wicket from the first. Rameez Raja soon followed his partner, caught and bowled off off-spinner Carl Hooper, thus making a rare record of both openers similarly dismissed.

Inzamam ul Haq and Javed Miandad did not have a great partnership as well, when Anderson Cummins took care of Miandad lbw, the game was in the hands of Inzamam and new comer to the crease Basit Ali. They stayed together for the next 103 runs. At 188/4, Inzamam was out leg before to Walsh. Basit Ali after a really good half century edged one back to Murray off Walsh and a double strike!

But Skipper Wasim Akram proved why he is called an all rounder in this game – his cameo of a scintillating 39 off just 27 balls with four neat boundaries made sure that Pakistan would give themselves a respectable total to bowl at. And at the end of their quota of 50 overs, Pakistan managed 244/6. for the West Indies, Hooper bowled very tidily for just 27 runs off his 10 overs and the important wicket of Rameez Raja.
 

West Indies:

Needing 245 from 50 overs, Desmond Haynes and Brian Lara set foot to face the deadly duo of the TWO “W”s – Wasim and Waqar! Lara started off with 2 boundaries but was consumed by second change bowler Amir Nazir- who was lucky to get his prize wicket. Phil Simmons did not make amends to his poor bowling show, when he walked in to bat. After struggling for 23 balls for a mere 12 runs, he got mixed up with Haynes and was run out. The score was 54/2.

Haynes managed to ground his bat and make important runs by now in the company of Richie Richardson. The captain and the best batsman of the team (at that time, Haynes was one of the leading aggregators of runs in ODI cricket) stuck their heads and played sensibly for a half century partnership. Richardson himself played some good strokes over and beyond the boundaries – he had to his name 41 off 37 balls with 3 sixers. Haynes also played deft strokes and except for Aamer Nazir and Aamer Sohail, every bowler went for runs.


At the fall of Richardson, in came the hero of the game, Carl Hooper. Having bowled very well restricting the scoring rate, Hooper carried with him the confidence to make this match a thrilling one and take West Indies home. He and Haynes nearly pulled off the match in favor of West Indies; but Waqar had a toe crusher on to veteran Haynes and got him after a great knock of 82. Things now looked closer than what it seemed.
 

Carl Hooper got his eye in, and started seeing the ball like a football. His feet moved and his assault grew into multiple proportions. Logie did not trouble the scorers for more than four balls for a measly single. At 228/4, West Indies would do anything but lose this match.

But cricket is a very funny game – the best sometimes also looks amongst the rest. This was a classic example. From a strong position, West Indies slowly tightened the noose on their necks.

Wasim Akram put himself to bowl down the last over of the match and this was to determine who would win this match. Cricket was thrown to the background in the last ball of the match. Tight bowling boiled it all down to the last ball.

Carl Hooper had made a magnificent innings of 69 unbeaten off 70 balls with a sailing hit over the fence to go with 5 boundaries.

Ian Bishop played a handy role at the end battling Wasim Akram’s tight bowling and scrambling the singles. The end was though very tough on the West Indies. Going strictly by the rules, they should have won it when both Bishop and Hooper grounded their bats at the opposite ends. But the crowd came rushing into the ground, and as a common feature in West Indies grounds, this turned around the result. Crowd invasion is certainly something to think about quickly by the ICC and West Indies Cricket board.

The fielder managed to throw the ball in to Akram and there was no question of a run out as both the batsmen had reached home safely. But the confusion was created by the crowd and nobody could react on the field. They were all shocked by this flow of so many people in the ground. The Match referee, Mr.Rama Subba Row of England, after giving all considerations to both teams conceded the match as a tie.


This was perhaps the most bizarre of all our TIED ODIs, where the crowd determined and caused the tie to happen. This was the first ever tie adjudged on the basis of crowd trouble or invasion into the field. We at Cricketfundas.com are proud to bring and relive this match to you as our very special feature – AND IT’S A TIE!
 

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