Tour Tales rewinds to 1996 when Wasim Akram's mercurial Pakistan team arrived in England...
Wasim and Mushtaq lead mercurial Pakistan to victory...
Although Michael Atherton's England side had often struggled abroad, their home performances had been encouraging over several seasons, culminating in beating India during the early part of the 1996 summer.
With David Lloyd enjoying success in his first season as coach, the home side appeared in good shape as they prepared to face Wasim Akram's mercurial Pakistan team.
For the First Test at Lord's, England would be without Nasser Hussain and Chris Lewis, two of their key players from the Indian series, through injury. It meant a debut for Durham's left arm paceman Simon Brown and he was quickly into the game, trapping Aamir Sohail LBW with his 10th ball in Test cricket after Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat.
They were soon 12-2 with a bizarre dismissal of Ijaz Ahmed, stepping across too far and being bowled middle stump by Dominic Cork. However, these were good batting conditions and the limitations of England's bowling was shown up as opener Saeed Anwar, together with Inzamam-Ul-Haq added 130 untroubled runs in a fine display of attacking batting.
Once Anwar (74) had been caught behind off Hick, there was some hope for England as Inzamam's penchant for run outs saw the end of Salim Malik (7), both batsmen finishing at the same end, to leave the innings in the balance at 153-4. Inzamam was undaunted, however, as he lofted Graeme Hick over long-on to bring up his fifth Test century. Despite the flat pitch, the bowlers plugged away and were ultimately rewarded, claiming Shadab Kabir (17), Mushtaq (11) and Waqar (4) cheaply. With Inzamam (148) eventually playing on to Alan Mullally, the visitors finished the first day on 290- 9, the match seemingly evenly poised.
As soon often in this era, England's inability to polish off the tail came back to haunt them on the second morning, as Rashid Latif (45*) and Ata-ur-Rehman (10) added 50 for the last wicket, changing the momentum of the match.
Atherton (12) was unluckily adjudged lbw to Wasim but Nick Knight (51) and Alec Stewart (39) carried the score past 100 before both were dismissed. When Hick (4) was yorked by Waqar, evoking memories of his 1992 struggles against the Pakistan paceman, England were suddenly 116-4. Graham Thorpe looked England's best batsman, his innings keeping England in with a chance of reaching Pakistan's total, as he posted a fine half-century.
Once Thorpe (77) fell to Rehman, the ball began to reverse swing and, as had happened so often on their 1992 tour of England, Pakistan mopped up the tail, dismissing Cork (3), Salisbury (5), Mullally (0) and Brown (1) to leave the hosts all out for 285, 55 in arrears, with Waqar (4-69) in ominously good form.
With Sohail injured, Anwar smashed a quick-fire 88, opening with 18-year-old debutant Shadab Kabir (33), and they quickly extended Pakistan's lead, adding 136 for the first wicket. With Ijaz (76) atoning for his first innings failure and Inzamam (70) once more in imperious form, Pakistan were able to declare on the fourth afternoon at 352-5, setting England a notional target of 408 runs on a pitch that still seemed excellent for batting.
Knight (1) was quickly lbw to Waqar but Atherton and Stewart determinedly saw out the day without further loss, as England reached 74-1 at stumps. The pair continued to prosper on the final morning and were still together at lunch, as hopes of a draw began to increase. The ball was starting to scuff on the dry surface, however, and once Mushtaq had Atherton (64) caught at slip, another collapse was on. The leg-spinner's bounce accounted for Stewart (89) and he also bowled Mark Ealham (5) behind his legs.
Waqar yet again clean bowled Hick (4) and, once more finding reverse swing, he quickly accounted for Russell (1) and Cork (3) with balls of full length. With Graham Thorpe (3) this time unable to counter the turn of Mushtaq (5-57), the innings subsided and, despite resistance from Salisbury (40), England were bowled out for 243, the visitors winning by 164 runs. Waqar's match figures of 8-154 gave him the Man-of-the-Match award in an emphatic win for his side.
Finest
For the Second Test at Headingley, England hoped for typically seamer-friendly conditions to aid their limited bowling resources but instead were confronted by a bare, flat looking surface. Andy Caddick replaced Brown in a four-man seam attack and Hick and Ealham were dropped in favour of Hussain and John Crawley. Moin Khan replaced the injured Latif for the visitors.
England chose to field and initially enjoyed some success as the visitors were reduced to 103-3, Mullally taking the key wickets of Anwar (1) and Inzamam (2) cheaply. Thereafter, the bowling was too short with Ijaz (141) particularly strong on the pull shot, ably supported by Saleem Malik (55) as Pakistan seemed set for a huge score, before late strikes from Cork left the game more evenly poised with the visitors on 281-6 at stumps.
In a crucial miss, the recalled Moin Khan was dropped by Mullally at long-leg in the first over of the second day. With patient support from Asif Mujtaba (51), Moin (105) would make England pay dearly by scoring his third Test hundred, and Pakistan's first Test century at Headingley. The fielding continued to be ragged, with Moin offering another chance on 84, as his side eventually reached 448.
After the early loss of Atherton (12) to Wasim, England's top order flourished with Stewart and Hussain playing aggressively up to the close as they reached 104-1. Stewart was in sublime form and a plethora of attacking back foot shots took him past 50. On the third morning, they lost Hussain (52) caught and bowled by a Waqar slower ball, and, with Thorpe (16) falling cheaply to Mushtaq, it was left to Stewart to play the key innings.
The opener brought up his eighth Test century and first for over two years with a three straight down the ground off Wasim. Crawley (53) looked convincing on his recall before edging an attempted drive to the keeper off Ata-ur-Rehman. This sparked another sizeable stand between Stewart and Knight, in unfamiliar territory down at number six.
Stewart went on and on, particularly severe whenever Mushtaq pitched short, as he passed the 150 mark. With stumps in sight, the Pakistan leg-spinner finally had his revenge, taking a return catch from Stewart (170) to end one of his finest Test hundreds.
On a rain interrupted fourth day, Knight (113) took centre stage with his first Test century, as he carried England past the visitors' score with an aggressive innings, full of cuts against the pacemen and slog-sweeps against Mushtaq. With useful runs from Cork (26), England were finally dismissed at the end of Day four for 501, a first innings lead of 53.
With time running out to push for a win, England quickly took the wickets of Shadab Kabir (2) and Anwar (22), to leave the score on a shaky 34-2. Thereafter, half-centuries from Ijaz (52) and Inzamam (65) easily batted Pakistan to safety as they reached 242-7 by stumps. Caddick (3-52) was the hosts' best bowler but the main talking point was Atherton taking his second Test wicket, trapping his Lancashire colleague Wasim LBW.
Must-win
For the must-win Third Test at the Oval, England's selectors went for broke, once again asking Stewart to keep wicket as well as open, to make room for five bowlers. Mysteriously, they dropped their best performer from Headingley, Caddick, in favour of the out of form Chris Lewis, and gave a first Test cap to Robert Croft, as part of a two-spin attack with Ian Salisbury.
Having won what looked an important toss, Atherton and Stewart started well, with the latter particularly strong on the pull shot. Perhaps overconfidence undid him as he was bowled for 44 trying to work Mushtaq through the leg-side. With Hussain (12) and Atherton (31) both falling to Waqar, the score was suddenly a worrying 116-3.
Despite runs from Thorpe (54), it was left to Crawley (106) to hold together a disappointing lower middle order batting performance as he recorded his first Test century, driving particularly effectively against Mushtaq. Once he was dismissed, only some merry slogging from Mullally (24) took the hosts to a below-par total of 326, with Waqar (4-95) and Wasim (3-83) taking seven wickets between them.
Anwar was soon dazzling the crowd with his wristy off-side play as he tore into a wayward attack. His was the dominant innings in a century partnership with Sohail (46), who became Croft's first Test wicket when he was caught at short cover. This only served to bring Ijaz to the crease, fresh from his Headingley success. On a day that coach David Lloyd would later admit was England's poorest of the series, another 100 stand ensued as Anwar brought up his third Test hundred and Pakistan closed the second day only 97 runs in arrears with nine wickets in hand.
On a rain-affected third day, Mullally took the early wicket of Ijaz (61) but wayward bowling from Salisbury and Lewis in particular allowed Pakistan to continue to prosper. By the time Anwar (176) was caught at mid-on from a mis-hook, his side had gone into the lead and were 339-4 at stumps.
The fourth morning began with Lewis arriving at the ground just 35 minutes before the start of play thanks to a puncture, an action which led to his being dropped from the one-day side. The enigmatic Lewis soon made partial amends, producing an athletic piece of fielding and direct hit to run out Mujtaba (13). As partners came and went, Salim Malik (102*) brought up his 14th Test century on the fourth afternoon, before Wasim declared on 521-8, a lead of almost 200 runs.
In the 23 overs remaining on the fourth evening, Atherton and Stewart bravely defied a thrilling onslaught of short bowling from Wasim and Waqar as they took the score to 74 without loss at stumps.
By lunch on the last day, a draw looked likely, despite Mushtaq having claimed both Stewart (54) and Atherton (43). Hussain and Thorpe looked to have taken England to safety but, once Thorpe (17) had edged Mushtaq to slip, yet another collapse was on. In a repeat of the Lord's Test, the leg-spinner took advantage of a wearing last day pitch to dismiss Hussain (51), Knight (8) and Cork (26), as he recorded figures of 6-78.
An aggressive spell from Wasim (3-67) provided good support, with short balls proving too much for Crawley (19) and Croft (6). Mullally (0) became Akram's 300th Test wicket, missing an ungainly mow, as England succumbed to 242 all out, a lead of just 47 runs, with their last eight wickets having fallen for just 76 runs.
Pakistan reached their target in just 40 balls, winning by nine wickets and taking the series emphatically 2-0. Mushtaq was Man of the Match and, with 17 wickets in the three Tests, also Pakistan's Man of the Series, whilst Alec Stewart (396 runs @ 79.20) took the accolade for England. It had been an emphatic victory for the tourists, their batsmen dominant and their varied bowling as incisive as had been the case on their 1992 tour to England.
In the three Texaco ODI's that followed, England fared much better, winning the first two matches with relative ease. The series was notable for Knight scoring hundreds on successive days in the second and third matches, as he began what would be an illustrious one-day international England career.
