Mates put Pakistan to the sword in record stand
Article from AFP newspaper 22/11/99
From the CricInfo site
HOBART, Australia, Nov 22 (AFP) - Justin Langer's first words to greet Adam Gilchrist as he arrived at the crease late Sunday with Australia struggling in their mammoth run chase to win the second Test was ''you never know.''
Australia were 126 for five and looking down the barrel in their bid to overturn Test match history and score 369 runs to vanquish Pakistan.
Almost four and a half playing hours later the two West Australian left-handers and close mates had batted Australia to the verge of a monumental win -- the third best fourth innings chase in Test history.
Gilchrist, 28, cracked an unblemished 149 not out and Langer was out with 127 just five runs short of consummating victory, making his fourth Test hundred.
The pair had amassed a 238-run partnership in 265 minutes -- a record for the sixth wicket between the two countries.
''I promised Gilly during the whole innings that there was no way I was going to get out, if he didn't get out, I threw it away a bit there, but I was pretty satisfied that Gilly had it all in hand,'' said Langer.
''We spoke just about every ball. What we tried to do was watch every ball and that's the way it continued, no doubt it's an amazing feeling,'' said Gilchrist.
''It means a great deal to see our win ranked up there, it seems all the (record) scores are from 1948 and 1930, so to have a recent score and contribute to it is fantastic.''
Gilchrist said it had been an intense Test match over the five days.
Of the sledging between the two teams, particularly on the final day, he said: ''They were trying their best, they had the Test match just about in their hands and it slipped away from them and we all know what happens when we get frustrated.''
It was a sweet innings for Langer, who turned 29 on Saturday and was playing in his 26th Test.
Langer went into the Test with his head on the block after a run of low scores, and responded magnificently, earning the man-of-the-match award for his two knocks of 59 and 127.
''The only support I needed was from the captain, who said to me before the Test that it didn't matter what the press was writing he wanted me in the side and so did the selectors,'' he said.
''It was almost like being on death row for the week leading up to it.''
(Justin relaxing)
Please email me if you find any articles or interviews that I could include on this site
. Images . Audio . Video . Bio . Stats . Rating . News . Schedule . Archive . Articles . Writing . Screensaver . Wallpaper . Fanclub . Tribute . Guestbook . Polls . 1Day campaign . Autograph . Results . JL camp . Buy JL . Links .
