5-21 v AUS, Colombo, 5 Oct
The series will be remembered for Australia's ruthless annihilation of Pakistan, but for about half-an-hour in the second session on the third day, Shoaib Akhtar threatened to rewrite the script with the most terrifying spell of fast bowling in recent memory. It started innocuously enough: Australia had extended their lead to 262 for the loss of one wicket when Ricky Ponting casually dragged a short ball outside off onto his stumps. What followed was mayhem: the next ball shattered Mark Waugh's stumps; Steve Waugh barely survived the hat-trick, before being trapped lbw a ball later; and in the next over, Adam Gilchrist, whose bat-speed is among the fastest in contemporary cricket found his leg stump splayed even before his bat could complete half its natural arc. When Shane Warne went lbw a few balls later, Shoaib had five wickets for five runs. It wasn't his fault that the Pakistani batsmen lost their nerve on the final day. Sambit Bal

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