Pakistan's teenagers put to the Test and come through with flying colours

Sports

By Peter Roebuck

Umer Akmal

TWO exhilarating pieces of cricket illuminated a taut day played on a slowly breaking surface.

Both interventions came from members of the side likely to lose the contest. Both came from teenagers.

Umar Akmal's batting in the opening hour was as dazzling as any seen from anyone in yonks. Sometimes you know something special has happened, someone special has arrived on the scene. It was that sort of moment. In terms of excitement, Mohammad Aamer's post-tea burst was not far behind. A lot more will be heard from these fellows. Admittedly their contributions were too short-lived to overturn Australia's methodical domination but they will linger long in the mind.

Already Umar's brilliance had impressed astute judges. A few weeks ago he introduced himself to Test cricket in New Zealand with a stunning hundred followed by a more measured 75 in the second dig. Martin Crowe hailed him as Pakistan's next great batsmen. In three Tests Umar scored a ton and three 50s. Not bad for starters.

He strode out to resume his innings yesterday with the perkiness and audacity that is youth's preserve. The previous night he had accumulated 10 runs in 27 balls and was aghast to lose his captain. Things looked grim.

Not that the 19-year-old showed any sign of concern. Apart from anything else he was the senior partner. His companion, the night watchman, was by official decree a stripling of 17. All the more reason to puff out the chest, roll up the sleeves and have a crack at the Aussies.

From the outset Umar caught the eye as a compact young batsman with a sound technique and plenty of pluck. Apparently he developed his game in a six-metre hollow where he practiced with as many of his six brothers as were available. Not that he bypassed the official route. Indeed he was sent to the national academy only to be ditched for not taking things seriously enough. It took an appeal from Kaman, his older brother and Pakistan's forthright wicketkeeper, to get him reinstated.

Umar looked comfortable from the first moment. Certainly he did not seem to consider himself out of place. It is a point of significance. His bat looked broad, his feet moved easily into position and his head was kept down.

He soon proved himself tough enough to take a blow on the skull from a fast bowler, shake his head and then coolly look at the replays on the screen. The next ball was a yorker he pushed away. He could be shaken but not stirred.

Nothing, though, prepared spectators for the startling attack he launched on Peter Siddle towards the end of his knock. As ever, the Victorian charged full pelt to the crease. First ball he almost claimed his man as a hurried back defence left the ball an inch from the sticks. Then something clicked inside the batsman's brain. Siddle's next offering was a demanding delivery that landed on a length around off-pole. Umar stepped back, opened his chest and dispatched it over mid-on. Viv Richards used to play that shot. Not many others attempt it.

Nonplussed, Siddle roared in again only to be pulled powerfully through mid-wicket. Undeterred he tried again only to be hoisted over the mid-wicket boundary.

Nor was Umar finished. Siddle tried a yorker and the youngster deftly glided a boundary to third man. Finally he tapped the last ball and scampered a single to keep the strike - 19 in five presentable deliveries.

Comparisons were made with J.P. Duminy. Yet the pair have little in common. Duminy was more mature and complete. Indeed his composure was astonishing. Contrastingly, Umar is impudent and periodically imprudent. He has more in common with a youthful Sachin Tendulkar, whose first innings on antipodean soil were unforgettable.

Even then, though, Tendulkar did not throw his wicket away. Umar is more hot-blooded and his innings ended unworthily as he lashed out and was held in the cordon. Unsurprisingly, he is incomplete.
Aamer was likewise a breath of fresh air. His spirit could not be missed as he resisted the hosts for 142 minutes and again as he hurled himself at the home batsmen to try to bowl his team back into the match.
Nothing was held back as he tried to shake up the batsmen with his thunderbolts. Shane Watson in particular incurred his wrath. Something about the all-rounder, a splendid cricketer, provokes bowlers. Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey fell to his fury.

It was cracking cricket and exactly what the series needed. If nothing else, the Australians know they have been in a contest. - TheAge

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