Date-stamped : 24 Feb95 - 18:35 Zimbabwe v Pakistan, Test 3 Harare, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 February 1995 ====> Day 1, more Despite a superb century by Inzamam Ul-Haq, Zimbabwe took the honours on the first day of the third and final cricket Test against Pakistan Wednesday at Harare. The big 24-year-old Pakis- tani middle order batsman hammered 101 in Pakistan`s disappoint- ing first innings score of 231. Ul Haq, who hit 12 fours and two sixes in a 168-ball innings dur- ing his 205 minutes at the crease, also became the first Pakistan batsman to score a century against Zimbabwe. At the close Zim- babwe were 4-0 after three fiery overs from Wasim Akram and Aqib Javed. But Pakistan, who were playing with the bribery allega- tions very much on their minds, will be kicking themselves for not making better use of a good batting strip after winning the toss and batting. Yet there was nothing in the early stages to suggest that the Pakistanis would struggle throughout the day against tight if not incisive Zimbabwe bowling. Openers Amir Sohail and Shakeel Ahmed put on an entertaining 42 run stand for the first wicket with the former lookinging in fine form. But in the space of 12 balls Pakistan lost both Sohail, who was caught at point for 21 and number three Saeed Anwar for 4. Both played injudicious strokes to give Heath Streak, the leading wicket taker in the series, another four for the match. Shakeel Ahmed went for 29 and when captain Salim Malik, who ad- mitted that he was shaking while he was batting because he had been implicated in the bribery scandal, holed out for 20 Pakistan were in deep trouble at 83-4. Contributed by vasa (vasanthan.dasan@central.sun.com) ====> Day 1, more Zimbabwe bounce back in Third Test - Geoffrey Dean ZIMBABWE bounced back from their drubbing in the second Test with a splendid performance in the field at the start of the third. Dismissing Pakistan on a blameless pitch for only 231 was further evidence of their development into a worthy Test-playing nation. Pakistan assisted - as they have done all series - with some careless batting from everyone except Inzamam-ul-Haq, who contin- ued his purple patch with 101 off 168balls. He was last out, caught at long off. Salim Malik was out to the sort of shot that suggested his thoughts were elsewhere. He was caught in the gully to become one of Heath Streak`s four victims. Several Pakistan batsmen were out to careless shots - Aamir Sohail cut to deep point, Saeed Anwar top-edged a pull and Ijaz Ahmed played across a straight one. Streak was forced off the field with a side strain at 159 for five, but Brian Strang carried the attack manfully and polished off the tail. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Anwar.Jalani (maj@fulcrum.co.uk) Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Anwar.Jalani (maj@fulcrum.co.uk) ====> Day 3, more Pakistan not yet out of woods in Harare Test - Qamar Ahmad HARARE, Feb. 18: Pakistan blew a golden opportunity of taking a big second innings lead, by once again batting carelessly. Their 235 for 6, at the close of the third day of the final Test at the Harare Sports Club against Zimbabwe, now leaves them with an overall lead of 223 on the second innings which may not be good enough considering that all the front-line batsmen have already been sent back and the four wickets remaining have only but little chance of making any impressive contribution to that lead. Wasim Akram and Rashid Latif were the batsmen at the crease when play ended. They are the only one's who could make things look a shade more respectable and perhaps safer than they are at the moment. Having lost three wickets for 88 runs, Pakistan were well in control of the whole situation when Inzamamul Haq and Ijaz Ahmed got hold of the innings to share a stand of 116 for the fourth wicket in 190 minutes of concentration to take Pakistan to 204. Once their partnership was terminated by a spectacular catch by Grand Flower in the gully off Guy Whittal which dismissed Inzamam on 83, Pakistan were once again in the dump, losing Aamir Sohail and Ijaz Ahmed in quick succession to shots which could easily be described as mindless. The Test is now precariously placed and the next two days' could be engaging. Source :: Dawn News Service Contributed by Syed (sma@dcs.ed.ac.uk) ====> Day 4, more Nazir ends Zimbabwe`s resistance in deciding Test Salim Malik`s extraordinary week culminated in a 99-run victory for Pakistan in the third Test which meant that he became the first captain to win a three-Test series away from home after losing the first game. It was a gripping day`s cricket, enacted in front of Zimbabwe`s biggest Test crowd -just over 3,000. Numbers were swelled by news of the fall of the last four Pakistani wickets in just nine balls in the first 25 minutes` play. Heath Streak took two of the wickets to finish with 22 in the series at the remarkable average of 13. Needing 239 in almost two days, Zimbabwe lost both openers in the first four overs.Both fell to Aamir Nazir, who went on to become the first Pakistani seam bowler, apart from the prolific Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, to take five wickets in an innings since Salim Jaffer in 1989 at Wellington. Nazir, who bowls at about Phillip DeFreitas`s pace and who tends to deliver from wide of the crease, induced Stuart Carlisle to play on, and then clean-bowled Grant Flower, who was working to leg. In his eighth over, Nazir found bounce and movement off the seam to have Alistair Campbell taken at the wicket. The good start that was the prerequisite for a Zimbabwe victory was therefore not to be. There was now a huge amount of pressure on Andy Flower, and it told when he unwisely tried to pull a short- ish delivery from the quickish medium pace of Manzoor Elahi and bal- looned a catch to Nazir. With the extra bounce in this "excellent Test pitch" - Flower`s description - the pull and hook were risky shots. Yet with Zim- babwe, 85 for five after Guy Whittal had edged an attempted drive off Wasim Akram to second slip, Dave Houghton rashly tried to hook a Nazir bouncer and gloved it to the keeper. With Houghton`s departure went Zimbabwe`s last, albeit slim, chance of victory. Nazir took a fine tumbling return catch to dismiss the debutant Iain Butchart. Paul Strang was then caught at short leg and Da- vid Brain at second slip. With Zimbabwe nine down, the heavens opened but the deluge was a short one. When play restarted 20 minutes later, Bryan Strang immediately edged to second slip. A total of 139 was Zimbabwe`s lowest of the series and the result of bad batting as much as good bowling. The not-out Streak, one of only three batsmen to reach double figures, was named as joint man-of-the-series with Inzamam-ul- Haq, whose imperious form brought him 367 runs at 73. Malik, who said he had not slept well for the previous five nights following the bribery allegations against him, said the win was "a relief. We were a bit worried after being bowled out so quickly this morning". Andy Flower, when asked about the rela- tions between the two sides, contradicted Malik`s verdict of "very good." Flower said: "It started off OK but deteriorated - there`s no doubt about that. But the Pakis can get on with it and play the way they like." There was the hint of more controversy yesterday when Akram claimed a catch off Andy Flower at long leg, though he did not, in the view of the umpires, have the ball under complete con- trol. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk ) Contributed by Anwar.Jalani (maj@fulcrum.co.uk) ====> Day 4, more DWS update: Late Sunday evening, Pakistan ran through the Zimbabwe batting line-up to win the test match in Harare, and also the series 2-1. In the process, Pakistan became the second team this century, after South Africa, to win a test series after being in the arrears. Pakistan had lost the first test of the current series but came back to win the next two tests. Pakistan owed its victory to Aamir Nazir, the young pace bowler who snapped up five wickets conceding just 46 runs, easily his best bowling performance. Pakistan was thus able to skittle Zimbabwe out for 139 after having set them a target of 239 to win. Pakistan was earlier bowled out for 250 in its second innings. Source :: Dawn News Service Contributed by Syed (sma@dcs.ed.ac.uk)