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SLAM! Sports 1999 World Cup SLAM! Cricket 1999 WORLD CUP INTERACTIVE ALSO ON SLAM!  |
Friday, June 18, 1999Pakistan seeks revenge from AustraliaLONDON (AP) -- Seeking to avenge humiliations and accusations on and off the field at the hands of the Australians, Pakistan goes into Sunday's World Cup final at Lord's determined to right some wrongs.Australia not only won a rare Test and limited-overs series in Pakistan last year -- it's first since 1960 -- but leading Australian players also gave evidence in bribery and match-fixing inquiries against Pakistani players. Although the two teams met in the first round and Pakistan won by 10 runs, Australia had the better of the exchanges last year by winning the Test series 1-0 and the one-dayers 3-0. Pakistan qualified atop the Group B standings after the first round but went through a mini-form slump with three successive losses before pounding Zimbabwe in the last Super Six game. Playing its characteristic volatile brand of cricket, Pakistan thrashed New Zealand by nine wickets in Wednesday's semifinal to advance to the final. On the other hand, Australia just scraped into the tournament finale with a narrow win and a tie in successive games against South Africa. In Thursday's semifinal at Edgbaston, Australia and South Africa played to the only tie in World Cup history when South Africa, chasing Australia's 213 all out, finished all out following a last-over run out with two balls to spare. Australia advanced to the final by virtue of its superior position in the Super Six standings -- which it only secured with the five-wicket win over South Africa at Headingley on Sunday. Wasim Akram, a key member of Pakistan's winning campaign in 1992, said Australia had to be "mentally and physically tired" after two close calls. "When you're winning games so that you just have to stay in the competition then you get a lot of stress," said Wasim referring to Australia's string of seven must-win encounters. "If they're confident, then we're even more confident." "We are mentally tougher than they are after what we've been through in the last two years ... (and) we've prepared properly for the big game." Australia reached the 1996 final, which it lost to Sri Lanka by seven wickets, after a similar high-pressure buildup. Defending a small total in the semifinal of that campaign, Australia exhausted too much energy as it edged the West Indies by five runs at Chandigarh. Australian skipper Steve Waugh, mindful of the 1996 loss, said his players could peak once more Sunday after two heart-stopping games within five days. "We've got a lot of experience in our side and we've got (team motivator) Sandy Gordon whose been helping in that regard," he said. "I think we learnt a lesson in the last World Cup when we placed too much emphasis on the quarter-final and the semifinal and we didn't pay enough attention to the final. "From here on in, we're going to focus on the final. While it was a great escape (against South Africa), it doesn't count for anything if we don't walk away with the trophy," he said. Having spent the past two years moulding and perfecting Australia's one-day game plan with the aim of winning the quadrennial trophy, Waugh values the Cup as one of cricket's most prestigious prizes. "You say to yourself 'what are we here for, we're here to win the World Cup' and it's a big event that only happens once every four years so you just have to give it your best shot," Waugh said. "(Australia) is the No. 1 Test team in the World . . . on Sunday we can prove we're the best in the one-day game." Against Pakistan, Waugh said Australia planned to use attacking tactics similar to those used by South Africa in its 13-game unbeaten run in head-to-heads with the Asian champions. There is more than cricket prestige at stake for Pakistan in winning the World Cup. Skipper Wasim Akram, together with fellow Pakistan stars Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed, were accused of match fixing and bribery in an interim report which recommends that the three players should be banned from playing until further investigations are concluded. It added that betting on matches was widespread and called for an intensive new inquiry. The finding of a new inquiry is expected soon. But according to a source close to the Pakistan Cricket Board, the players will be exonerated and Justice Malik Qayyum's report will never be released. Wasim was stripped of the national side's captaincy in January 1998 and turned down a series of offers to lead Pakistan again, before taking the job back and leading them to wins in the Asian Test championship and one-day series in India and Sharjah before the World Cup. |