Third test abandoned
Zimbabwe clinches Pakistan series
Posted: Monday December 21, 1998 01:06 PM
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Andy Flower and Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the first test at Peshawar AP |
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Zimbabwe clinched its first ever series outside home turf Monday after its third and final cricket Test against Pakistan was abandoned without a ball being bowled at Faisalabad.
Dense fog and bad light prevented play on all the five days that gave the Zimbabweans a 1-0 series victory. It beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the first Test at Peshawar while fog and poor visibility stopped play for 13 hours in the drawn second test at Lahore.
Umpires Dough Cowie and Salim Badar abandoned the match on the fifth morning Monday under dense fog and poor visibility at the Iqbal Stadium.
"The team spirit was very good throughout the tour and the moment we saw grass on the wicket in the first Test at Peshawar we thought we had more chance than Pakistan to win," said Zimbabwean captain Alistair Campbell.
"People must be busy in celebrating Christmas back at home and this is an ideal gift from us to them," Campbell said.
Coach David Houghton called for more recognition from the world's ruling body, the International Cricket Council, and said: "With series victory against Pakistan I hope we will now get more test matches against teams like South Africa, Australia and West Indies," he said.
It was for the third time when a test match involving Pakistan was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Pakistan's 1993-94 test against Sri Lanka was abandoned because of curfew in Colombo, while in 1988-89 a Test against New Zealand at Dunedin was washed out due to rain.
Paceman Henry Olonga, who took six wickets in his team's first Test victory, was adjudged Man of the Series for visitors. He finished the series with nine wickets at a cost of 152 runs at an average of 16.88 wicket apiece.
"Before the series I was struggling for fitness but I am quite happy that I struck form as early as in the first Test here," Olonga said.
For Pakistan, 24-year-old middle-order batsman Yousaf Youhanna got the Man of the Series prize after scoring 209 runs in three innings with an impressive average of 104.5 runs. This included his maiden Test century (120 not out) at Lahore and a fine 75 in the first innings at Peshawar.
Pakistani captain Moin Khan blamed unfavorable weather for his team's loss in the series.
"We could have won the second test at Lahore and squared the series. But poor weather destroyed our plans and we lost the series," he said.
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