Dramatic last-wicket stand
PAKISTAN
v WEST INDIES • EDGBASTON,
BIRMINGHAM, 11 JUNE 1975
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| Deryck Murray.....the resilient gloveman played a stellar role with the willow. |
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| The great paceman Andy Roberts could wield the long handle but this was an amazing effort. |
This was the quintessential One-day match, the kind its founding fathers would have envisaged. Fortunes fluctuated wildly, and with just three deliveries remaining the outcome hung in the balance. The favourites were on the ropes, with the challengers poised for a long time, trying to deliver the knockout punch. This match has gone into the annals as one of the most exciting.
Pakistan elected to bat and steadily built
up a formidable score. The innate lazy elegance of Majid Khan, deputising for
skipper Asif Iqbal, was in full evidence as he played a strokeful knock of 60.
Mushtaq Mohammed drew on all his experience, and later Wasim Raja played some
belligerent shots, both hitting up half-centuries.
The talented Pakistanis set a challenging
target of 267 in 60 overs for the fancied West Indies. This was just the spur
for the temperamental giant Safraz Nawaz to put pressure on the West Indies. In
a devastating burst he demolished the top order. Gordon Greenidge and Alvin
Kallicharran were caught behind and Roy Fredericks was trapped in front of the
stumps. Sarfraz had taken three for 8 in 3.4 overs. Veteran Rohan Kanhai helped
his captain Clive Lloyd stage a minor recovery.
Then began a regular procession. At 166
for eight, with only wicketkeeper Deryck Murray and two tail-end pacemen left,
an upset win for Pakistan seemed a certainty. The West Indies had long been
rated as a team of brilliant players but often incapable of applying themselves
under pressure. On this occasion Deryck Murray dug in his heels. He found an
able ally in Vanburn Holder. They put on 37 runs for the ninth wicket. But just
when the partnership was assuming ominous proportions, the wily Sarfraz returned
to have Holder snapped up. At 203 for nine, surely it was all over bar the
shouting. The sight of the phlegmatic Andy Roberts emerging from the pavilion
could not have inspired much confidence among the Caribbean supporters.
Amazingly, the West Indies were not ready
to call it a day. Run-by-run they inched towards their target. As they survived
over-after-agonising-over, a tiny ray of hope began to emerge. For the
Pakistanis it became increasingly frustrating, and as the crucial final overs
approached, the alarm bells were ringing loudly. Murray and Roberts displayed
admirable composure as they steadily chipped away. Leg-spinner Wasim Raja came
on to bowl the final over in a desperate bid to coerce last man Roberts to
miscue. The fast bowler was in no mood to fall into the trap with the goal so
close at hand. He pushed the fourth ball to mid-wicket to pull off a
sensational win for the West Indies.
A one-wicket victory with two balls to
spare, and that as a result of an unbroken last-wicket stand of 64; it was not
a match for the faint-hearted. Former England captain Tony Lewis wrote:
"It was a superb triumph for the game of cricket which manages many things
which politicians envy." As for the heroes, take your pick : Murray,
Sarfraz or Roberts.
Pakistan : 266 for 7 wickets (60 overs)
West Indies : 267 for 9 wickets
(59.4 overs)The Big Book of World Cup Cricket is available at an attractive price on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166840
The Big Book of World Cup Cricket
Published in India by Sporting Links
Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com
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