South Africans go down in big match again

LAHORE: It seems that Cronje's men have made it a habit of going down in the crunch match. The South Africans have barely won the title showdown despite their invincible show during the group matches and the series encounters. After being knocked out more by rain rules, rather than England, in the 1992 World Cup, luck continues to elude them when it matters the most. They lost to West Indies in the quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup after remaining unbeaten in group matches and when they seemed to run away with the semi-final and perhaps with that the 1999 World Cup the tragedy struck in the shape of Donald's run out and what happened next will be still fresh in everybody's mind.

The latest incident occurred in the tri-nation Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah where they went down fighting to Pakistan after their brilliant show in the group matches. True that they lost to the same opposition in the return match of the tournament but they had rested five of their regulars for the final. After overcoming a powerful stand between the young Pakistani openers the Proteas were cruising towards the target of 264 with 66 to get off the last 10 overs. And with six wickets in hands and Mark Boucher firing on all cylinders, the writing was on the wall for Moin's men.

Then Waqar Younis produced a spell for which he was so famous during early days of his international career. After conceding 29 runs in five overs, the Burewala Express caused irreparable damage to the South African lower middle-order to win the title for Pakistan. The figures of 4-62 took his tournament tally to 13 for which he not only won player of the series award but was also declared man of the match. It is nice to see Waqar getting back to his rhythm with each passing game. Although he cannot be as quick as he used to be he is back with his habit of turning the match around single-handedly - an ominous sign for the contemporary batsmen.

Besides Waqar's performance the other satisfying thing to happen for Pakistan cricket was the top class fielding show from the players particularly the young guns. Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and even Waqar and Wasim dived all over the place to save some crucial runs which made a lot of difference.

But hats off to the South Africans for putting up such a tremendous fight. Very few teams attempt to chase as big a total as 263 after losing two early wickets. While Neil McKenzie was holding one end up it was skipper Hansie Cronje who took the responsibility of scoring. The seasoned campaigner threatened to run away with the match by striking some telling blows in his 79 off just 73 balls before being hold out by Younis Khan in the deep. Thereafter, Mark Boucher was at his brilliant best keeping his cool even after the fall of three quick wickets. The South African wicketkeeper played a gem of an innings to score 57 off 49 balls. He was dropped by Abdur Razzaq off Waqar Younis before being dismissed by the same bowler two balls later.

And a thing or two about Pakistan's top order batting which finally clicked after a series of failures. The young Pakistani openers gave flying start to the innings to put on 123 for the opening wicket and later the middle-order batsmen survived a Klusener scare to post a challenging total.Inzamam-ul-Haq, who rightly took his time to settle in, played the most important innings under the circumstances. He held the innings together along with Yousuf Youhana after Pakistan slumped from 121 for 0 to 137 for 3.

Everybody knows that Shahid Afridi can be deadly dangerous when he gets going in the first 15 overs but the way Imran Nazir has fared in this tournament is a good omen for the Pakistan cricket. The good thing about the lad is that he scores quickly without taking undue risks and doesn't fear to attack even against the strong opposition like South Africa. A gifted player like Imran Nazir deserves to be given proper chances, irrespective of his failures, as the boy has all the potential to become one of the finest players in the coming years.