Half a century of whitewashes

Pakistan have been at the receiving end of threeTest whitewashes more often than they have inflicted humiliation of this kind on the oppositionThe recent 30 result in favour of the English tourists was Pakistanrsquos 9th whitewash humiliation in a 70year Test match history The other side of the ledger shows only five occasions when Pakistan secured 30 sweepsmdashagainst Australia 198283 New Zealand 199091 West Indies 199798 Bangladesh 200304 and England 201112The 202223 season will mark 50 years for Pakistanrsquos first whitewash suffered at the hands of Ian Chappellrsquos team in Australia in 197273The Melbourne game of that series after a mighty Australian win in first Test at Adelaide started on this day in 1972 The third Test at Sydney also went Australiarsquos way a result that completed the 30 romp for the hostsThe Australian team for Melbourne had two Test debutants in Jeff Thomson and Max Walker who joined Dennis Lillee in a pace pack that would be a big reason for Australia regaining the Ashes in 197475December 29 1972 was a satisfying day for Australia as they took 349 first innings runs off Intikhab Alamrsquos side which could only cheaply dismiss local boy Paul Sheahan run out for 23 and John Benaud 13Also read A penny for my thoughtsIan Redpath carved 135 before he was dismissed by the Pakistani captain Ian Chappell nicked one to rsquokeeper Wasim Bari off Sarfraz Nawaz for 66 Greg Chappell was not out on 71 with Rodney Marsh keeping him company on 27 at the end of the first dayGreg notched up his third Test ton for the year the following day before his brother declared at 441 for five Pakistan proved up to the task on a batsmanfriendly Melbourne Cricket Ground strip ending Day Two at 2921 Lefthanded Sadiq Mohammad helped himself to a maiden Test century while Majid Khan was unbeaten on 92 amidst a heat waveNew Yearrsquos Eve was the rest day and 1973 began with Pakistan piling on more runs Saeed Ahmed who had retired hurt on the second day returned to score 50 and Zaheer Abbas was gutted over getting run out for 51 Mushtaq Mohammad and Intikhab smashed halfcenturies as well for Pakistan to declare at 5748 This was the innings in which Thomson returned figures of 0100 bowling with a broken foot Fellow debutant Walker claimed 2112 while spinner Ashley Mallett was the most impressive bowler with 3124Ian Chappell made the decision of letting Benaud take his onedrop position and the New South Welshman responded with a splendid hundred Benaud was already dropped for the third and final Test at Sydney but Chappell wanted him in his West Indiesbound squad later in the year In the book Matters of Choice Benaud a future Australia selector wrote ldquoWho knows why Chappelli changed the batting order Did he do it for me or was he out of sorts This captain certainly didnrsquot send me in as a nightwatchman for himselfrdquoOn the next page Benaud added ldquoWhatever the reason the captain showed confidence in me when I was struggling He gave me a chance to score a century That got me into the Australian team to the West Indies in 1973 It was one of Australian cricketrsquos finest toursrdquoThe other Australian to get a hundred was Sheahan who attracted the captainrsquos admiration in the book Passing Tests ldquoPaul Sheahan also went on to complete a very fine century then unwound a series of superb hits before he was finally caught on the boundary from a hook shot I could not help nodding my approvalmdashit was so pleasant to see someone else caught on the boundary from a hookrdquo wrote Chappell a compulsive hookerThere was no declaration by Australia this time They were bowled out for 425 giving Pakistan to get 293 for victory in five and a half hours on the morning of the last day A draw looked more of a possibility but Pakistanrsquos fragility showed upLillee and Walker sent back openers Saeed and Sadiq for single digit scores Zaheer was run out again while Mushtaq 13 perished similarly in a mix up with Asif Iqbal who scored 37 before being sent back by Walker caught at point by Ian Redpath Walker struck another blow without a run added to the Pakistan total of 138 by cleaning up wicketkeeper Wasim Bari Mallett had Intikhab caught by his rival skipper for 48Majid fell three short of his halfcentury when he was caught behind by Marsh off LilleeWatched by 11798 spectators Pakistan were bowled out for 200 to hand the Australians a 92run win and a 20 lead in the seriesThe late Walker who strangely came in as a replacement for opener Keith Stackpole was delighted the way things panned out in his debut Test He got his first taste of Chappellrsquos leadership at Test level and wrote in Tangles ldquoIt wasnrsquot so much that he Chappell inspired the players by rhetoric but it was the aura of confidence that he carried about him He never seemed to have any doubt that his players could come up to any challenge and this in turn gave his men the added confidence they needed to succeedrdquoWalker should know In the final Test at Sydney he claimed 615 in Pakistanrsquos second innings for Australia to complete their 30 whitewash of PakistanIn the next 50 years only once did Australia get beaten 30 by Pakistanmdash while on tour in 198283 And Pakistan will be hoping it wonrsquot take that long to get a sweeping revenge over their latest conquerors Watch out Englandmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper