August 17, 2006	Thursday	Rajab 21, 1427

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KARACHI, Aug 16: Pakistan head into Thursday’s fourth and final Test at The Oval with their pride at stake after England took an unassailable 2-0 lead at Headingley nine days ago.

The tourists, however, are in with a great chance to redeem themselves on arguably their ‘luckiest’ ground on English soil. In seven previous Tests at The Oval, Pakistan have emerged winners thrice with two matches going England’s way and the remaining two producing high-scoring draws.

It was on the hallowed turf of The Oval that Pakistan made history on their maiden tour of England in 1954.

The babes of Test cricket announced their arrival on the big stage with a series-levelling 24-run victory when Fazal Mahmood skittled the hosts with his six-wicket spells in each innings of the match. To this day, Fazal’s haul of 12 for 99 remains Pakistan’s best match figures in England.

Pakistan’s current tour draws some parallel with the 1962 trip. On both occasions, the touring side arrived at The Oval with the series already in England’s bag.

England swamped Pakistan by 10 wickets in the final Test of the 1962 tour to wrap up the five-match series 4-0. That game also happened to be Imtiaz Ahmed’s last appearance in Pakistan colours. However, the wicket-keeper/batsman reached a personal high by top-scoring in both innings with scores of 49 and 98.

For the second successive time, Pakistan lost at The Oval inside fours days when Hanif Mohammad’s 1967 team were defeated by eight wickets. England won that three-match rubber 2-0.

However, Pakistan’s fortunes at The Oval began to improve in the subsequent years. They had the better of a drawn Test in 1974 when Intikhab Alam’s squad emulated Don Bradman’s 1948 ‘Invincible’ Australians by going through an entire England tour without losing a single game.

Zaheer Abbas, the stylish right-hander and now manager of the current squad, joined an elite band of batsmen by scoring a second double century in England. In the 1974 Oval Test Zaheer hit 240 after making 274 at Edgbaston on his first-ever Test appearance on English soil in 1971.

Pakistan’s next chance to play at the Oval came 13 years later in what proved to be a historic tour. Coming into the fifth Test with a 1-0 lead, Pakistan overwhelmingly dominated the match before England escaped home with a draw. The result was enough to enable Pakistan clinch their first series victory in England. But the 1987 Test saw a plethora of records tumble. Pakistan’s total of 708 is the highest in all England-Pakistan Tests.

Javed Miandad eclipsed Zaheer’s 1974 feat with a sublime 260. Skipper Imran Khan and Salim Malik also reached the three-figure mark while leg-spinner Abdul Qadir returned match bag of 10 for 211 in 97.4 overs.

Pakistan sealed the 1992 series 2-1 after the demonic ‘Ws’ — Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis —– combined to take 15 wickets in the fifth Test at The Oval as the tourists romped by 10 wickets.

Both Wasim and Waqar returned to torment England in 1996. Though less successful this time, the fast-bowling pair still accounted for 11 batsmen as Pakistan won the third Test by nine wickets to take series 2-0. Saeed Anwar, the left-handed opener, entertained the crowd with a robust innings of 176.

The Oval, in every sense, breathes history. It was here that the inaugural Test on English soil was played in September 1880. And it was here the legend of the Ashes was born two years later in August 1882 after England lost. Next morning ‘The Sporting Times’ published its famous mock obituary.

It was at The Oval in 1948 that the great Sir Don Bradman, the doyen of all batsmen, was denied the chance of retiring with a Test average of exactly 100 when he was bowled for a second-ball duck by leg-spinner Eric Hollies.

And only last year England drew the final Test at The Oval to regain the Ashes after a lapse of 16 years.

Overall, 53 of the 88 Tests at The Oval since 1880 have yielded a result with England winning 35. Since the start of the 21st century, England have won three of the six Tests at The Oval, defeating West Indies (2000 and 2004) and South Africa (2003). Their only loss in this period was against Steve Waugh’s Aussies in 2001.

Inzamam-ul-Haq is the only player in the current Pakistan team to have played in an Oval Test. He made 35 in 1996 after being overlooked for the 1992 series-ender.