THE FIRST VB FINAL played at the MCG on Feb 4th, 2005

That the first final of the VB series got underway at all considering the drenching the MCG received over the last 72 hours was due to the grounds superlative structure and the untiring efforts of a thoroughly professional ground staff who worked miracles to provide what turned out to be perfect playing conditions. Sadly it seems as though a large section of the potential ticket buying public weren’t convinced as the ground bore an unusually bare look for what promised to be a stirring encounter between the all conquering Aussie juggernaut and the slowly but surely rejuvenating Pakistani outfit.

The Australians have had a breeze of a summer down under thrashing to a pulp any team that they have locked horns with: first New Zealand were thrashed to a pulp and subsequently the Pakistani team have been pulverised in similar fashion with the West Indies also tasting a few stinging defeats in the one day VB series even though rain did deny them on one occasion. Pakistan having lost their has-been ex fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar have been improving ever since his departure from the playing field.

Slowly but encouragingly the team has begun to display a spirit that it seemed quite incapable of until very recently. Captain Inzamam ul Haq, stung badly by the criticism dished out by Imran Khan has come out of his sulk with a new found determination to prove that he does indeed command the respect of his young brigade and to a large extent has let his bat do the talking with admirable results. He has been batting with a resolute authority that seems to have rubbed off on his wards and they have responded with enthusiasm and a willingness that seemed to have been shattered by the thrashing received during the Test series.

The less experienced members of the team have responded very encouragingly of late and no one has embodied this new spirit than the likes of Rana Naveed ul Hassan and Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi and a miraculously transformed Popeye Abdul Razzak. Yousuf Youhana has leant an important hand once in a while and Inzamam has been rock solid. Still, despite Inzamam’s new resolve it still remains a tragedy that his commitment to the cause still remains in question because for reasons best known to himself and his soothsayers back in Raiwind, he utterly refuses to take on the responsibility of leading from the front – in other words, his utterly refusal to take on the number 3 position in the batting order which would not only silence his critics but also give the batting a huge boost by stabilizing the batting as he does near the top of the order rather than always be propping up a collapsing pack. Only he knows why he absolutely refuses to take on the responsibility of the one down position even though his team is crying out for him to do so. It is as though he has sworn never to bat one down and this stubbornness to keep arriving at the crease when half the innings is over is beyond mystifying and frankly the questions of his commitment to his cause will keep nagging him as long as he continues to thrust lesser players into the position that should by all accounts be his.

Yousuf Youhana has better reasons not to bat at one down as his technique is nowhere near as solid as his captains and as today’s match showed he is rather vulnerable when faced with a rock hard new ball and the searing pace of a Brett Lee. None the less, the team has shown the admirable ability to pick itself up from rock bottom and to truly begin to challenge the awesome Aussies and even give them a shock or two along the way.

Today’s first final was more evidence that this team is growing in confidence and stature with every passing match and had it not been for some grotesque umpiring by Steve Davis, they might well have gone one up with two matches to play, but it wasn’t to be and though they strived hard they were unable to withstand a withering opening assault by Brett Lee and the wily Glenn McGrath who literally ripped the heart out of the batting in the very few opening overs dismissing Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal and Yousuf Youhana in quick succession followed by Hafeez who is totally out of his depth coming in the position that his captain ought to.

It would be churlish to blame the umpiring as being the sole reason for the defeat but it would also be ridiculously over diplomatic to pretend that it didn’t have a major impact on the outcome, as each ghastly error had a deeply morale sapping effect. First of all the third umpire refused to give the darling of the Aussie crowds Adam Gilchrist out when the entire ground could see clearly that he was short of his crease when Kamran Akmal disturbed the bails…..Gilchrist seemed almost embarrassed at the reprimand. A few minutes later the Aussie captain Ricky Ponting was to benefit when he was struck on his pads bang in front with TV replays confirming that the middle stump was being struck, but umpire Davis stunned neutrals with his judgement and was to do so time and again during the course of the match. Andrew Symonds who came out of a horror bad patch was also indebted to Davis who salvaged his innings when he was palpably caught in front of his stumps half way through his match winning innings with TV technology showing the umpire up rather badly, but that wasn’t to be the end of it by half.

Davis later proceeded to make a total ass of his judgement by awarding a wide to a delivery that the batsman actually gloved along with a rather audible sound. Once again technology showed that the umpire had made yet another glaring error and single-handedly slashed the visitor’s chances of making a match of it on this occasion. Not satisfied with the havoc he had caused, it didn’t take him a fraction of a second to send Pakistan’s Salman Butt on his way despite their being a large suspicion of an inside edge, but this one was acceptable as it was no where near as obvious as the previous stinkers had been.

The Australians are a quite brilliant outfit but their sheer brilliance was rather undermined by the help they received from their home umpire today and his inability to judge in a fair manner left a rather poor taste in the mouth. Surely the Aussies are too proud of their own capabilities to have them undermined in this manner by a man who was bent on sending the sparse crowd home happy and to ensure that the adoring publics perception of their invincibles was left unblemished, They are a superior team in every department which makes it rather embarrassing that they had Davis helping them along to the best of his ability. This was the most shocking umpiring seen on a centre stage (barring the ghastly errors of the Indian Jayaprakash) since neutral umpires came into existence but to be fair, even the normally efficient Billy Bowden, despite his eccentricities was also found wanting on the day on more than one occasion.

Maybe it was just one of those days and the dice seemed to roll against the Pakistani’s each and every time – whatever the reasons, it had a telling impact on the morale of the visitors who having raised themselves from the depths of despair and were desperately keen to at least compete on equal terms. Today they were denied, not only by a brilliantly honed champion Australian team but also by some highly dubious umpiring along the way. It will take some miracle for the visiting team to conjure the confidence to make the second final a contest and if the same two umpires officiate in the same form they were in today, it might just be a totally futile exercise.

None the less, it was a sterling effort by the Australian team who are worthy World Cup holders and Test cricket World Champions – a team so extraordinarily brilliant that they can work miracles without the kindly intervention of erring umpires. It was an exceptional cricket match by all accounts but sadly will be remembered for the hideous incompetence of the umpires Davis, Bowden and the third umpire whose reluctance to send Gilchrist back as run out was quite astonishing. Australia marched away with yet another victory, thoroughly deserved, but Pakistan left the field defeated but with the total sympathy of the neutral spectator.

On this evidence, surely home umpires must be dumped for One Day Internationals, especially if they happen to be Finals.