OTD: Australia clinched their first series victory in Pakistan in 39 years in 1998

Mark Taylor’s Australian test team was known to play good cricket. It hadn’t developed the aggression that was to be seen during the tenures of Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting. Having lost the test series in India in 1998 with a 2-1 margin, many had written of Australia’s chances during the Pakistan tour. 

The 1998 Pakistan team was different, it had some real heavyweight players with the bat and ball. The likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Anwar, and Inzamam –Ul –Haq were part of the team. 

Australia had lost the 1994 Pakistan tour by the barest of margins after an heartbreaking 1 wicket loss in Karachi. Mark Taylor was making his captaincy debut in that tour stepping into the huge shoes of Allan Border. But this 1998 tour was supposed to be different as Australia scripted on this day 25-years-ago to end a wait of 39-long years. 

The first test triumph – 

Rawalpindi was the host for the first test of the three-match –series. Pakistan batted first and scored 269 with Saeed Anwar top scoring with 145. Stuart MacGill picked 5/66 from his 22 overs to act as the perfect replacement for Shane Warne. Australia in their 1st innings scored 513 to take a lead of 244 runs. 

Steve Waugh top scored with 157 while opening batter Michael Slater scored 108 runs. Darren Lehmann was unlucky to miss his ODI century by two runs as Ian Healy scored 82 runs. Stuart MacGill picked 4/47 in the 2nd innings to bowl out the Pakistanis for 145, Saleem Malik was the top scorer with 52 not out as Australia won by an innings and 99 runs. 

Mark Taylor goes level with the Don – 

Australia batted first and scored a mammoth 599/4 in a batting effort which lasted two days. Mark Taylor batted exactly 12-hours to end day two on 334 not out from 564 balls with 32 fours and a six. 

Just 42 adrift of the 375 run mark scored by Brian Lara, the Australian skipper declared the innings. The biggest reason was that Mark Taylor did not want to surpass the highest score by an Aussie he had tied with the great Sir Donald Bradman.     

Ijaz Ahmed led the charge with 155 as Saeed Anwar got his 2nd century of the series. Inzamam missed his century by 3 runs as Pakistan declared still trailing by 19 runs. The Aussies just played out the last day with Mark Taylor being dismissed for 92 as the match ended in a draw. 

History made after 39 long years – 

The final test of the series was played in Karachi, the same venue which had broken the Australian hearts in 1994. Shahid Afridi picked 5/52 to bowl out Australia for 280 with Michael Slater top scoring with 96. 

Skipper Aamer Sohail led the charge with the bat scoring 133 runs as he withstood Glenn McGrath’s magical spell of 5/66. Armed with a lead of 28 runs, Australia slowed down the game. Mark Waugh got his first century of the tour scoring 117 runs while Mark Taylor scored 68. 

The Australians were all out for 390 runs from 142 overs setting Pakistan 419 to win. Ijaz Ahmed got his second century in two games to be not out on 120 runs while Moin Khan scored 75. 

Pakistan could only muster 262 runs from 86 overs as the game ended in a draw. Mark Taylor and his team had scripted history on 26th of October 1998 as they won a series in Pakistan for the first time in 39 years and ending a long wait.  

Also read: Pakistan’s 3 biggest upsets in ODI World Cup history