The Hindu : Sport : Emphatic win for Australia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

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Sport

Emphatic win for Australia

PERTH, DEC. 19. Glenn McGrath obliterated Pakistan's batting line-up on Sunday, taking a career-best eight for 24 as Australia scored a crushing 491-run win in the first cricket Test.

Pakistan was all out for 72 when Test rookie Mohammad Khalil (5) was caught and bowled by Michael Kasprowicz in the over before the scheduled lunch interval on the fourth day.

It was Pakistan's fourth-lowest total in a Test and Australia's fourth-biggest winning margin by runs.

McGrath took seven consecutive wickets before Kasprowicz broke the sequence to remove No. 8 Mohammad Sami (2) with the last ball of his first over.

Pakistan resumed on Sunday at 18 for one and lost nine wickets for 54 runs in 25.3 overs.

``When I had seven (wickets) I thought, `this might be my best chance for a 10-for.' And Kasper came in and ruined it,'' McGrath joked.

Fantastic bowling

``I really couldn't be happier. To walk off with 8 (wickets) on a ground where I haven't taken as many wickets as I would have liked — it ranks up there with my greatest days in the middle.''

McGrath, who now has 472 wickets from 104 Tests, had never taken a five-wicket haul in a Test at the WACA. He now has the best Test bowling figures ever at the ground and the second-best figures in one innings by an Australian behind Arthur Mailey's nine for 121 in 1920-21 against England.

``He bowled fantastically,'' said Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. ``The conditions are suited to fast bowlers, but (McGrath) was great ... a match winner.''

Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar took three wickets at the start of the Test as Australia slipped to 78 for five on day one, before Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist combined in a 152-run stand that swung the momentum back in favour of the home team.

``We were in trouble early, but we turned it around — to win by nearly 500 runs goes to say something about this team,'' said Ponting, who celebrated his 30th birthday with the win. ``It was a great present here. An awesome effort.

``Everyone was probably expecting a very close encounter here with Pakistan's fast bowlers as well, but once again we've performed exceedingly well.''

The second Test starts on December 26 in Melbourne and the third on January 1 in Sydney.

McGrath, who trapped Imran Farhat (1) leg before on Saturday evening, conceded six runs in his first over on Sunday morning and then did not concede a run in four overs while dismissing Salman Butt (9), Younis Khan (17), Abdul Razzaq (1) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (0) as Pakistan collapsed to 49 for five.

Hat-trick averted

He had Razzaq and Inzamam caught behind off consecutive balls to start his ninth over and had a stacked slips cordon for Kamran Akmal, who survived the hat-trick ball.

Kamran (0) batted for 20 minutes before McGrath struck again in consecutive overs, having the Pakistani wicketkeeper caught at gully and Yousuf Youhana (27) caught behind.

Kasprowicz bowled Sami as Pakistan slipped to 66 for eight and held up a hand to McGrath in a mock apology for depriving him of a chance for a 10-wicket haul. McGrath took the next wicket, when Shoaib Akhtar drove a catch to Darren Lehmann at mid-on.

Despite the fast bowler's efforts, Justin Langer was voted `man of the match' for accumulating 288 runs. Langer scored 191 in Australia's first innings of 381 and 97 in the second innings before Australia declared at 361 for five, setting Pakistan 564 runs to win. — AP

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