Tour of Pakistan 1994-95                 Captain: Mark Taylor

Sixtieth Australian Test tour

Seventh Test-playing tour of Pakistan by Australia

(September -

            October 1994)

This was the first tour to be made after Allan Border's retirement from the captaincy. Mark Taylor took over, expressing determination to avoid the siege mentality that had beset Australian cricketers on their previous tours to Pakistan.  Ian Chappell expressed his concern in cricket magazine Inside Edge about the choice of Egar as manager calling it “tantamount to sending Taylor on his first Himalayan expedition with an adviser who had failed on his only previous attempt”.

Yet the manger did well to juggle a diplomatic dilemma, attending a late dinner invitation from President Leghari at his Rawalpindi residence when they had a simultaneous function at the Australian High Commission. He also had to deal with an earthquake at Peshawar and a crowd bombarding the players at Peshawar and then a last-ball defeat in the Karachi Test match.

Pakistan won the first Test by one wicket and, with two draws ensuing, took the series.

Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May alleged that Pakistan skipper Salim Malik approached them with bribes to lose matches. Salim denied it but the Pakistan Cricket Board sacked him and suspended him as a player five months later, referring the matter to Justice Qayyum’s inquiry.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

South Africa 1993-94

Next tour

West Indies 1994-95

Next tour of Pakistan

1998-99

Members of the Test tour party  (15  +  1)

Opening batsmen:  Mark Taylor,  Michael Slater.

Middle-order batsmen:David Boon, Michael Bevan, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh

Wicket-keeper:  Ian Healy (+ Phil Emery replacement)

Spin bowlers: Shane Warne, Tim May, Gavin Robertson

Fast bowlers:  Jo Angel, Damien Fleming, Craig McDermott, Glenn McGrath

State representation

   Sheffield Shield teams

NSW   New South Wales (7)

Qld   Queensland (2)

SA    South Australia (1)

Tas   Tasmania (1)

Vic    Victoria (2)

WA  Western Australia (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(28 September 1994)

  26 yrs   6 months

ODI  -  Member of Singer World Series squad in Sri Lanka  and Wills Triangular Tournament squad in Pakistan.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Boon 89,  S Waugh 65,  Healy 62,  McDermott 58,  Taylor 54,  M Waugh 36,  Warne 26,  May 19,  Slater 15,  Langer 5,  McGrath 5,  Angel 1,  Bevan 0,  Emery 0,  Fleming 0,  Robertson 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Lawrie Sawle (chairman),   Steve Bernard,   Jim Higgs,  Trevor Hohns,   Bob Simpson (coach).

Simpson stood down as a selector at the end of August as he would not be able to see any domestic cricket prior to the Ashes while in Pakistan - however, Simpson would have been the only one to see players on the Pakistan tour as it was not televised, so he would have had a part to play.

Selection

Unavailable:  Allan Border and Dean Jones retired. 

Announcement of the tour party was delayed while Allan Border considered  his international future. He would have liked to play in the Ashes but did not wish to tour Pakistan again. However, Board policy would not let players pick and choose their tours. He announced his retirement on 11 May but expressed annoyance as being described as prevaricating.

Tour Party Announced :  19 May 1994  (delayed from 10 May)

Ian Healy won the vice-captaincy ahead of Steve Waugh or David Boon.

Not selected :  Merv Hughes and Paul Reiffel, who were named among stand-by players;  Damian Martyn.

Time between selection and departure from Australia  

       104 days

(19 May  - 1 September)

Travel

Sydney   Q  Hong Kong  Q Colombo

ColomboQ Karachi

The team had a training camp in Adelaide a fortnight before departure. They left Sydney on 1 September 1994  for Hong Kong and had a one night stopover before flying in to Colombo on 3 September.

In Sri Lanka they had a few days of intense preparation but no practice match before participating in the Singer World series which was spoiled by rain.

However, the Australians could not extend their tour to find an extra day for play as they had to leave on 18 September for their commitments in Pakistan.  They arrived in Karachi on 19 September.

Time spent in Pakistan

    49 days

(19 September - 7 November)

On-tour selection

Mark Taylor (captain),  Ian Healy (vice-captain),  Bob Simpson (coach).

Reinforcements

There was no second wicket-keeper in the original selection and Phil Emery had to be called over when Ian Healy returned home (on 23 October) with a broken thumb.  Emery arrived on Tuesday 25 October and Justin Langer temporarily took over behind the stumps till he arrived.

Steve Waugh also returned home injured after hurting his right shoulder playing tennis and then dislocating it in the one-day final at Lahore. Fleming also strained his right shoulder soon after his Rawalpindi Test debut.

Fixtures/Results

(1)  Sinhalese Sports Club    (2) R Premadasa Stadium at Khetterama     (2)  P Saravanamuttu Stadium

† not first-class

§  one-day international (Singer World Series and Wills Triangular)

Time spent in Pakistan before First Test: 

  9 days

(19 September - 28 September)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Bevan,  Boon,  Slater,  Taylor,  Warne,  ME Waugh.

2 -   Angel,  Healy,  McDermott,  McGrath,  May,  SR Waugh

1 -   Emery, Fleming,  Langer.

0 -   Robertson.

Highlights

•   David Boon, at number 3, batted through the Australians’ second innings at Karachi, scoring 114 not out.

•   Shane Warne returned figures of 5-89, as Pakistan just reached their target of 315 to win the first Test.

•   Damien Fleming took a hat-trick on his Test debut at Rawalpindi, the sixth Australian to achieve the feat.

•   Mark Taylor (69) and Michael Slater (110) shared an opening partnership of 176 at Rawalpindi.

•   Shane Warne took nine wickets at Lahore (6-136 and 3-104) but Pakistan held out to achieve a draw

•   Michael Bevan and Mark Waugh each scored three fifties in the series.

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Lahore   Q    Sydney

Ian Healy and Steve Waugh returned home early, Healy on Sunday 23 October, Steve Waugh on 1 November

After losing the series 1-0, the Australians left from Lahore on Monday morning 7 November

They arrived home in Sydney on 8 November

Time away from Australia

   68 days  

(1 September to  8 November)

Finances

…..

Written accounts of the tour

……..

Postscript

In December 1998 Shane Warne and Mark Waugh admitted that they accepted about $5000 each in cash from an illegal Indian bookmaker for giving him inside information on weather and pitch conditions during matches in Sri Lanka before the 1994 tour. They were fined by the Australian Cricket Board in 1995 who did not disclose the incident.