Watch the highlights of Australia vs Pakistan 2nd Match Benson & Hedges World Series Cup 1981/82 - Benson & Hedges World Series Cup one-day international tournament of the 2nd ODI match played between Pakistan and Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne in 22nd November 1981.
Sikander Bakht's four-wicket haul before Opener Mudassar Nazar's valuable 44 and captain Javed Miandad's magnificent 72 sets up to Pakistan resounding four-wicket victory over Australia in the second match of a Benson and Hedges World Series Cup.
AUSTRALIA scored 209/9 (50 Overs) with top scorer by Kim Hughes 67 (83) and Rick Darling 41 (70)
Pakistan best bowler by Sikander Bakht 4/34 (10) and Imran Khan 1/42 (10)
PAKISTAN scored 210/6 (49.2 Overs) with top scorer by Javed Miandad 72 (82) and Mudassar Nazar 44 (106)
Australia best bowler by Greg Chappell 3/33 (9) and Terry Alderman 2/20 (10)
This match reported by Peter McFarline (Third Party Reference from The Age)
Pakistan, written off by many Australians after a dismal showing in the first Test, staged a remarkable form reversal at the MCG over the weekend. The Pakistanis went within 18 runs of defeating the world champion West Indies on Saturday and followed up with a resounding four-wicket victory over Australia.
The matches, first of the preliminary rounds of the $125.000 Benson and Hedges World Series Cup, showed Australia will be hard pressed to reach the final series, despite one-day victories over New Zealand, India and England in the past 12 months.
Today, the tourists reached a target of 210 to beat Australia with four balls to spare for the loss of six wickets, gaining some revenge for the 286-run defeat in the Perth Test. They did it with intelligent bowling and a magnificent innings of 72 by captain Javed Miandad, who set the pace when his side batted.
Australian captain Greg Chappell was not too perturbed by the defeat. "The first game is always the one that sorts out a few problems," he said. "The Pakistanis were able to do that on Saturday. We only bowled about 20 bad balls in 50 overs but they were enough to give them the run advantage they needed."
But Chappell knows that his team faces a major task against the West Indies in Sydney on Tuesday. If, as form suggests, the Australians lose that match, they will be well behind their target of reaching the best-of-five finals series in late January.
Australia's middle-order batsmen labored against an accurate attack today, after Miandad had sent them in on a slow wicket in front of 20,000 people. Pakistan bowled and batted well enough to escape the penalty for poor catching which has dogged its performances throughout the tour.
Four chances went down, from Rick Darling (2), who went on to make 41; Bruce Yardley (24) on his way to 28; Allan Border (2) before he was dismissed for 6; and Kim Hughes (59) before top-scoring with 67.
On Saturday, the Pakistanis missed three chances from West Indies openers Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes who made a match-winning opening stand of 182.
Today, the Australians scarcely recovered from a slow and unimpressive start when the first five players were dismissed for 102 in 27 overs. Only Darling, a late replacement for the injured Graham Yallop, made any impression in the top-order. But a sixth-wicket stand of 86 in 67 minutes by West Australian team-mates Hughes and Yardley helped the side to a total of 209-9 in 50 overs.
Hughes continued his great early-season form with 67 from only 80 deliveries, but even his innovations could produce. only four boundaries on the huge MCG arena, with the wicket set on the western side of the square. In perfect conditions and on a wicket which has not yet earned the ire of either Chappell or Miandad, the Australian tail did not wag sufficiently to set a formidable target.
There was a brief spell, early in the Pakistan innings, when 209 could have been sufficient. Opener Mansoor Akhtar (12) and Zaheer Abbas (2) fell to Terry Alderman for only 21 runs.
A third-wicket partnership of 105 in 97 minutes between Miandad (72) and Mudassar Nazar (44) then sealed Australians fate. Miandad's contribution, made from only 82 deliveries with seven boundaries, won him the $1000 man of the match award and he eventually gave his wicket away when cramps in both legs affected him.
It was then only a matter of the middle and late order batsmen picking up easy runs without extravagant gestures against an attack that included off-spinner Yardley, but surely won't again in this type of cricket.
On Saturday, the stand between Greenidge (a man-of-the-match winning 103 from 161 balls) and Haynes (84 in 94 balls) was enough for the West Indies to coast home. A reshuffled batting order managed a late collapse so that the final total was 245-8.
But with bowlers of the speed and expertise of Andy Robbert, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Colin Croft at his disposal, captain Clive Lloyd was always able to control the game. despite a start of 53 by Mudassar (51) and Rizwan-ur-zaman (14).
Miandad (74 in 81 balls) and Majid Khan (56 in 69 balls) tried desperately to keep the side in contention but the Pakistanis fin-shed 18 runs shy of what would have been an astonishing victory.
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