Cricket: Gilchrist and Langer mount record recovery

Pakistan 222 & 392 Australia 246 & 369-6 Australia won by four wickets

Maurice Parr
Tuesday 23 November 1999 01:02 GMT
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JUSTIN LANGER'S first words to Adam Gilchrist as he arrived at the crease here late on Sunday, with Australia struggling in their mammoth run chase to win the second Test, were: "You never know."

Australia were 126 for 5 and looking down the barrel in their bid to overturn Test history and score the 369 runs needed to vanquish Pakistan.

Almost four-and-a-half hours of playing time later the two West Australian left-handers and close mates had batted Australia to the verge of a monumental win - the third-best fourth-innings chase in Test history.

Gilchrist cracked an unblemished 149 not out and Langer was out on 127, just five runs short of victory, making his fourth Test hundred. The pair had amassed a 238-run partnership in 265 minutes, a record for the sixth wicket between the two countries.

"I promised Gilly during the whole innings that there was no way I was going to get out if he didn't get out. I threw it away a bit there, but I was pretty satisfied that Gilly had it all in hand," Langer said.

"We spoke just about every ball. What we tried to do was watch every ball and that's the way it continued, it's an amazing feeling," Gilchrist said.

"It means a great deal to see our win ranked up there, it seems all the [record] scores are from 1948 and 1930, so to have a recent score and contribute to it is fantastic."

Gilchrist said it had been an intense Test match over the five days. Of the sledging between the two teams, particularly on the final day, he said: "They were trying their best, they had the Test match just about in their hands and it slipped away from them and we all know what happens when we get frustrated. I just tried to survive initially but my natural instincts to survive are to play aggressively."

It was a sweet innings for Langer, who had gone in to the Test with his place in doubt after a run of low scores. He responded magnificently, earning the man-of-the-match award for his two knocks of 59 and 127.

"The only support I needed was from the captain, who said to me before the Test that it didn't matter what the press was writing, he wanted me in the side and so did the selectors," Langer said.

Only twice before have teams reached a higher total to win a Test match. India scored 406 for 4 when set 403 by the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1975-76 and Don Bradman's Australians hit 404 for 3 to beat England at Headingley in 1948.

Pakistan, however, will feel bitter over an incident when they believed they had dismissed Langer when he was on 76 and Australia at 237 for 5. The Australian prodded at a Wasim Akram seamer and the Pakistan wicketkeeper, Moin Khan, celebrated his apparent catch. All the fieldsmen went up in appeal and the tourists' captain raced down the pitch in celebration, but the Australian umpire, Peter Parker, was unmoved, much to the bowler's chagrin.

Television replays showed no deviation as the ball passed Langer's bat, but the Pakistan players were adamant that the Australian No 3 had made contact with his bat.

Langer's heart was racing when, on Wasim's next delivery, he edged past Mohammad Wasim in the slips for a single. Wasim was fuming after the over and left Ijaz Ahmed to retrieve his jumper from Parker.

Steve Waugh said yesterday's chase was the best he had seen in Test cricket. "To win it so convincingly against such a good bowling team in the fourth innings was really a credit to the players for the way they played," the captain said.

"This is the sort of win we've been looking for for quite a while," he added. "To come from behind and do the really hard work on the last day was a tremendous team effort."

Wasim, the Pakistan captain, was gracious in defeat. "We tried our best, every bowler just worked very hard, but it was definitely their day," he said.

Final day of five; Australia won toss

PAKISTAN - First Innings 222

AUSTRALIA - First Innings 246

PAKISTAN - Second Innings 392 (Inzamam 118, Ijaz 82, Saeed 78, Warne 5-110).

AUSTRALIA - Second Innings

(Overnight: 188 for 5)

J L Langer c Inzamam b Saqlain 127

A C Gilchrist not out 149

S K Warne not out 0

Extras (1b, 4lb, 4nb) 9

Total (for 6) 369

Fall: 1-39, 2-81, 3-81, 4-125, 5-126, 6-364.

Did not bat: D W Fleming, G D McGrath, S A Muller.

Bowling: Wasim Akram 18-1-68-1; Waqar Younis 11-2-38-0; Shoaib Akhtar 23-5-85-1; Saqlain Mushtaq 44.5-8-130-2; Azhar Mahmood 17-3-43-2.

Umpires: P D Parker (Aus) and P Willey (Eng).

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