PERTH, Australia, 31 January 2005 — A jubilant Pakistan finally found the form which had deserted them throughout their tour of Australia, defeating the host nation by three wickets in their tri-series limited overs match at the Western Australian Cricket Association Ground yesterday.
Pakistan, beaten 3-0 in the Test series against Australia and losers in three of their four previous tri-series matches, chased down the 266 runs needed for victory, losing only seven wickets and with almost three overs to spare. Man of the Match Abdul Razzaq and his partner Rana Naved-ul-Hasan punched the air with joy as the winning runs came up off four leg byes.
In the end it was decisive knocks from Yousuf Youhana, Razzaq and Shahid Afridi which set up the win, Pakistan’s first against Australia on tour. The Australians, who had already qualified for the best-of-three finals series, paid the price for an ineffective bowling attack with spinner Brad Hogg and all-rounder Andrew Symonds proving very costly at 1-71 off 10 overs and 2-65 from 9 overs respectively.
Speedster Brett Lee also failed to extract any life from a wicket known for favoring pace and he was took just 1-63 from 9.2 overs.
The win didn’t come as easily as it might have for Pakistan after they made a string of fielding blunders while Australia were batting.
But they finally cast aside the inconsistency which has plagued their tour while batting, with several players taking important roles.
Yousuf Youhana was the keystone of the innings, making a decisive 72 before being caught by Simon Katich trying to blast an Andrew Symonds delivery over mid-off.
He and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq came together with Pakistan struggling at 49 for 3 forming a comfortable 74-run partnership until Inzamam was trapped lbw to spinner Brad Hogg for 29.
Shoaib Malik was the next to arrive at the crease but he departed almost immediately after for just one, run out by a direct hit from Symonds with the score at 125 for 5.
