Slow Akhtar puzzles Ponting

December 30, 2004
Ricky Ponting has Pakistan fieldsman Yasir Hameed reeling for cover during his match-clinching innings of  62 not out at the MCG yesterday.

Photo: AFP

Ricky Ponting is surprised by Shoaib Akhtar's lack of venom, reports Chloe Saltau.

A mystified Ricky Ponting has questioned the commitment of Shoaib Akhtar, expressing surprise that Pakistan's only fit fast bowler did not come harder at Australia as the world's best team cruised to a record fifth series victory in a year at the MCG yesterday.

A glance inside Pakistan's medical room would have given some sense of the disarray in which the touring team finds itself ahead of the third Test in Sydney, which starts on Sunday.

Sick all-rounder Abdul Razzaq collapsed again after batting for an hour and a half and was in hospital for a second time yesterday afternoon. Shoaib Malik had to retire hurt but returned to complete a fighting 41 with a badly injured hand.

And to compound Pakistan's injury misery, fast bowler Mohammad Sami was ruled out of the SCG Test after bowling 28 overs for the match with a bruised and bleeding heel.

But the talk after Australia's nine-wicket win on the fourth day, set up by Damien Martyn's exquisite century and made all the more satisfying for Ponting and his men by the fight Pakistan had provided on the first and second days, was dominated by the lack of venom summoned by Akhtar.

This was a time when, at full pace, he might have put Australia under pressure as it chased a moderate 127 to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Akhtar's searing spells, ultimately yielding 5-109 in the first innings, were largely responsible for the strong position Pakistan took into the third day. Yesterday, though, after the wounded Pakistanis battled admirably from 5-85 and were bowled out for 163, Akhtar rarely bowled at more than 140 km/h and, after the lunch break, sliced in half the legendary long run-up he has clung to so dearly until now.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer later conceded his fascinating, sometimes frustrating, fast bowler might have been conserving his energy for the Sydney Test. And Yousuf Youhana, standing in as captain for the injured Inzamam-ul-Haq, said he had advised Akhtar to shorten his run because his star bowler was feeling tired.

Ponting conceded that the less-fearsome approach from Pakistan's destructive fast bowlers had taken the pressure off Australia, which lost only Justin Langer in the pursuit.

"We had a bit of a feeling for those couple of overs before lunch that he might have really charged in and let some fly there, but he didn't then, so I wasn't that surprised when he didn't do it after that," said Ponting, who was nevertheless struck on the helmet by a rising delivery from Akhtar.

"For the life of me, I don't know why he didn't. I don't know whether he was carrying some sort of injury or not but I would have thought that little spell before lunch and the spell after lunch was the perfect time for someone like him, of his pace, to run in and bowl as quick as he could.

"I was surprised that he did come off that short run and didn't really extend himself as much as he did in the first innings.

"Both of their fast bowlers probably weren't bowling as quickly as we know they can. Maybe they were resigned to the fact that, only having the three bowlers in their side today, they weren't much of a chance of winning so they might have been saving some petrol for Sydney; I don't know.

"But I would have been very disappointed if I was the captain and that was my bowlers running in and bowling like that, and I knew what they could do."

It subsequently emerged that Sami had been playing in extreme pain because of internal bleeding in his heel, and has now been instructed by medicos to rest for a fortnight.

Of Akhtar, whose seven overs yesterday produced 0-35, Woolmer said: "I think he was saving his energy for the next Test match.

"I've been around in cricket for a long time and I've seen some funny things happen, so I don't come to the ground thinking anything."

Woolmer said Pakistan might have stood a chance with a lead of more than 200.

"But when you're five wickets down against Australia, it's not really going to happen."

Woolmer could not say whether Inzamam, who withdrew with inflammation in his lower back that was also causing stomach problems, would play in Sydney, and the cause of Razzaq's ailment still has not been diagnosed.

Razzaq's nausea and dizziness is thought to be related to low blood pressure, from which he has suffered in the past. Malik, who played with two painkilling injections and three stitches in his right hand, has been ruled out.

In the circumstances, Woolmer felt his team performed "fantastically well". "I think they fought very hard. I actually feel they did really well," he said. "There were one or two decisions that could have gone either way that might have made a difference, specifically when we were batting, and those are the kind of things that sometimes turn a game. For two-and-a-half days I thought we were really competitive."

Pakistan suffered from the loss of Yousuf, a century-maker in the first innings, for 12 in the second when replays of Ponting's close-in catch suggested the ball might have come off the pad.

And Ponting, who guided Australia to victory with an unbeaten 62, was twice given not out after confident leg-before appeals from Danish Kaneria and Imran Farhat.

Hayden was dropped early in his innings by Yasir Hameed, but gained some valuable time in the middle, after being dismissed three times in the series by Akhtar, and finished with 56 not out.