By Peter Deeley
First day of five: Pakistan 253-8
An Australian leg-spinner took four Pakistan wickets on the opening day of the Test series yesterday.
The surprise was that Stuart MacGill was the leg-spinner in question. At 27, he is a year younger than the housebound Shane Warne, and well-known to West Country folk for his bowling exploits down that way.
It may be almost an impertinence to suggest that 'King' Shane is about to upstaged by MacGill, but there is little doubt England will see a lot of the new boy during the coming Ashes contest.
He turns the ball sharply, probably has a better wrong 'un than Warne, though he still lacks the control and unerring length of the master.
News from the Australian dressing-room of Warne's fitness after his shoulder operation is that he wants to play in Victoria's first match of the season later this month - but a more sage view is that he will not be Test-match ready until the second half of the series.
A pitch already aiding the spinners - there are three in Pakistan's line-up and three of sorts in the Australian side - was a gift to MacGill in his second Test.
After claiming the important wicket of Azhar Mahmood - deceived in the air as he went to drive - in his first spell, MacGill produced an electrifying burst, taking three wickets in seven balls.
He then had four for 21, but inexperience and the intense heat told as Saeed Anwar - Pakistan's saviour, who could yet win them this game - cut, drove and swept fine in a near-exemplary innings to earn the initiative for the home side for the first time.
There was one flaw in Anwar's sixth century right at the outset, and Australia may pay dearly for failing to capitalise on it. In the third over he edged Glenn McGrath low to Mark Taylor at first slip, but the visiting captain was fractionally slow to respond.
After that, Anwar tightened his game while his partners showed considerable slackness and Pakistan collapsed to 147 for eight in mid-afternoon before Mushtaq Ahmed joined the opener in an unbroken stand of 106 before play was cut short by five overs because of bad light.
This was another noble fightback, but it could not erase the memory of some pitiful batting by men who should know better. Salim Malik and Wasim Akram threw their wickets away - though perhaps that had something to do with the fact that they are two players presently being investigated by the judicial commission looking into match-fixing and betting allegations.
Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the Australian Cricket Board, arrives here today to meet the judge heading the inquiry with a view to finding out more about the invitation to Australian players to give evidence in the Malik case.
Malik lasted 11 balls, during which time he wafted at almost everything before being squared up by Colin Miller's fifth ball in Test cricket, Taylor this time taking a fine one-handed catch.
Miller's first four overs were fast medium before turning to off-spin and he justified his surprise inclusion. England may see something of him, too, this winter.
Wasim swung the third ball he faced from MacGill high into the leg side where Damien Fleming took a well-judged catch.
Wicketkeeper Ian Healy equalled Rodney Marsh's world record tally of 355 victims when he caught Mohammad Wasim off Fleming.
Day 2: Slater and Waugh put Pakistan to the sword
By Peter Deeley in Rawalpindi
MICHAEL SLATER was the darling of Australian cricket before his fall from grace two years ago. So it was easy to understand his ecstatic behaviour yesterday - kissing the baggy green cap and doing almost a lap of honour - on reaching a century which could give the tourists victory in the first Test.
Slater watched as three top-order batsmen went for 27 but then shared in a stand of 198 with fellow century-maker Steve Waugh which left Australia in a strong position after the second day. At 237 for four they are now only 32 behind Pakistan's first-innings total.
The recent story of Australia's rise to Test supremacy is littered with examples of the elder Waugh's resilience in the face of adversity. This was his 15th hundred and he said: ``This was just as hard as playing West Indies with their four quicks.
``The scenario is different but in Pakistan you have Wasim Akram and three high-quality spinners - and that is just as demanding as anything you face in the Caribbean.''
Many would have questioned whether Slater's temperament could stand up to the pressure. He has always been an exciting dasher but too inclined to venture into rash attack.
This comeback was against the form book. Once a partner in prolific opening partnerships with Mark Taylor, Slater slid out of favour because of personal problems which accentuated his loss of form.
He toured England in 1997 but did not make the Test team, had a poor tour of India early this year and was only a marginal selection for the present trip.
So the early omens were not good for Australia as Wasim made breakthroughs with successive balls in his fourth over, Taylor on the back foot dabbing at a ball leaving him and Justin Langer flat-footed as the next one seamed back.
Then Mark Waugh also went for nought, offering no stroke to Mushtaq Ahmed, and in the next over Slater only prevented Wasim's hat-trick with a wild slash for four.
That was his one rash moment and as the fourth-wicket pair grew in stature almost the biggest threat was the sapping heat, well into the nineties. Both men suffered from cramp but the Pakistan attack looked the more exhausted.
The pair stayed for four hours until 20 minutes before the close when Slater drove the left-arm spin of Muhammad Hussain but failed to account for the turn and was picked up at short extra cover.
This was his eighth Test century - his first in nearly three years - and Slater afterwards paid tribute to his summer with Derbyshire. ``I think that has helped me a lot. I have learnt the virtue of patience. I don't think I have ever concentrated more than out in the middle today.''
Australia wrapped up the Pakistan innings after Stuart MacGill had Saeed Anwar caught at short leg for 145 to give him his first five-wicket Test haul. That made up for Taylor putting down the Pakistan opener at slip.
Day 3: Australia turn up the heat on Pakistan
By Joseph Cochrane
AUSTRALIA are well on their way in this first Test to breaking a hoodoo which has dogged them for almost 30 years on the subcontinent.
It is 39 years since they beat Pakistan in this country in either a single Test or a series - when Richie Benaud led them to a 2-0 win in December 1959 - and 28 years since they took a series on Indian soil.
Successive Australian sides have gained a reputation for being reluctant tourists to the area, inclined to whinge at conditions off-field and protest, particularly at umpiring decisions, on it.
But under Mark Taylor there is no longer any room for dressing-room moaners. As the captain himself says: ``The facilities are excellent and there's no excuse for coming second-best in the series.''
Yet, as always in Pakistan, there is a cloud that mars the overall sunny effect. This time it is the judicial hearings which are looking into allegations of bribery and match-rigging by some home players. The Australians first unwittingly opened this particular can of worms four years ago on their last trip here, alleging that Salim Malik had offered them money to throw the Karachi Test.
Now that they are back the commission wants them to come and give evidence at the Lahore High Court. Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed arrived here yesterday to decide what should be done.
The Australians are in a bind. They wonder what is the worth of repeating testimony that was given by affidavit three years ago and then rejected as unreliable by a previous judge who cleared Malik.
On the other hand, if they decline to give evidence they will be pilloried by Pakistan public opinion and accused of back-tracking on their allegations.
The Pakistan Cricket Board match-fixing inquiry has warned former Test bowler Ata ur-Rehman he could be jailed after he retracted a sworn statement accusing Wasim Akram.
High Court judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who is heading the probe, asked Ata ``to think it over'' and adjourned the hearing until Oct 8. Ata, in his earlier affidavit to the inquiry, had alleged Wasim offered him 300,000 rupees (about £4,300) to bowl badly in a one-dayer against New Zealand at Christchurch in the 1993-94 season, according to PCB legal adviser Sibtain Fazli.
These problems seemed far from Australian minds as they squeezed the life out of Pakistan to go into the fourth day this morning with an overall 244-run lead.
After Steve Waugh's hundred and a come-back century from Michael Slater it was Darren Lehmann's turn to make a bid for a Test place against England in the Ashes series this winter.
Fresh from a successful summer with Yorkshire, he was unexpectedly preferred here to Ricky Ponting and against a tiring Pakistan attack got within two runs of a hundred before fatigue laid him low. Lehmann and Waugh added 126 for the fifth wicket until Waugh's 15th Test century came to an end just after lunch when he was caught at fine leg.
Lehmann, suffering from both cramp and a back spasm, was clearly struggling when he was bowled round his legs by left- arm spinner Mohammad Hussain.
Ian Healy then piloted the tail to a close of play 513 before he was last out caught in the deep on the stroke of time for 82.
Day 4: Healy lifts golden gloves as Australians stand tall
By Peter Deeley in Rawalpindi
AUSTRALIA stand on the brink of a momentous victory, their first Test win in Pakistan in 39 years. That they failed to cross the threshold yesterday was due to the intervention of England umpire Peter Willey, who ruled the light was not fit to continue with the home side's last pair together.
Weather permitting - and predictions are good - it will not take long to separate Salim Malik and Saqlain Mushtaq, and since Pakistan need another 107 runs to save the innings defeat, the outcome is surely beyond doubt.
Then it will be a day for Australian celebrations, as it was yesterday when Ian Healy took the catch off Wasim Akram's glove which gave him the Test record for wicketkeeping dismissals.
How appropriate that he should be wearing golden gloves, a pair specially made for him. In 11 years and 104 Tests - he has missed only one match in that time - he passed the record held by fellow Australian Rodney Marsh, whose 355 dismissals took 96 games.
Healy, 34, now has 331 catches and 25 stumpings. He said: ``It was like being on 99 for 150 overs waiting for the extra one.''
After another abject batting performance from Pakistan, who set off needing 244 to make Australia bat again, the visitors were set to round off the first match of the series inside four days.
But at 111 for seven, the heatwave was broken by a rain storm and for two hours the Australians watched with increasing impatience the efforts of one mechanical 'squeegee' to mop up the water on the tarpaulin.
They eventually got back on and took two more tail-end wickets, but with the sun sinking low Willey took it upon himself to call an end to proceedings.
Leg-spinner Stuart MacGill claimed four more wickets to take his tally to nine in the match. He was getting considerably sharper turn than any of the Pakistan slow bowlers.
Glenn McGrath began the batting slide when he unsettled Aamir Sohail with a series of bouncers and then a slower ball which the Pakistan captain edged between his legs on to the stumps.
But Damien Fleming drove the stake in deep when he dismissed Wasim Mohammad and Inzamam-ul-Haq in three deliveries. Both were out leg-before playing spiritless shots as if they had already conceded defeat.
Shane Warne could be bowling again this weekend after playing in a trial match in Melbourne yesterday. Warne, 28, is recovering from shoulder surgery that forced him to miss Australia's tour to Pakistan.
Warne said he would increase his workload this week and would test his shoulder with some light bowling work. The leg spinner fielded at first slip in the trial match for Victorian state players. He did not bowl but took a diving catch with no ill effects.
Day 5: Triumphant Australians in riotous assembly
By Peter Deeley in Rawalpindi
THE scene in the rival dressing-rooms after an overwhelming win by Australia in the first Test told the whole story, one funereal, the other riotous.
On one side of the partition Pakistan coach Javed Miandad was giving his players a tongue-lashing after a supine performance which resulted in their second-biggest defeat on home soil, by an innings and 99 runs. They could hardly fail to hear the patriotic jingles and crude ditties from the Australian side after their first win in Pakistan for 39 years.
It was almost an hour before Miandad unlocked the door and faced the wrath of the local media. He said: ``There are no excuses for this. We just have to learn from our mistakes. We didn't bowl according to plan and the spinners under-achieved.''
If only it was that simple.There was little heart in the side and less unity. Aamir Sohail, the Pakistan captain, may have rubbished the notion that off-field problems affected the team but this one seems as riven by factionalism as its predecessors.
It took Australia 23 balls to seal the win when Glenn McGrath had last man Saqlain Mushtaq leg before. Salim Malik finished with an unbeaten fifty.
This game was won and lost before it began. Pakistan went in with an ill-balanced attack - certainly one spinner too many - where Australia gambled on an unknown in Colin Miller, and he gave them just the bowling variation they needed.
Miller is a journeyman cricketer complete with bleached hair and earring, well known on the English league circuit, who has sprung to Test level at 34. He has represented three states and was once a baseball player, where he inherited his unusual grip. For most of his career he was a medium-pacer but on joining Tasmania turned to off-spin and last season took a record 67 wickets in Shield games.
Stuart MacGill, coming off the back of a summer with Exmouth and Devon, was another new face for Australia and he finished with nine for 113 to give him 14 wickets in his first two Tests.
For Pakistan it is back to the drawing-board. Aamir said he hoped to retain the captaincy for next week's Peshawar Test while Miandad hinted that, at 41, he might be driven to pick up a bat again. ``You never know,'' he said. ``Maybe, maybe not.''