All Stars forced to eat humble pie
The All Stars ended up as also-rans as Pakistan denied them the consolation of winning the Plate.
All week, England Ashes hero Matthew Hoggard had taken great pains to stress that if ever he walked out to bat, then his side would be in trouble. And that was the case when the swing bowler walked out to join Chaminda Vaas with the All Stars on 79 for four and needing 11 runs for victory off the last four balls.
During his test and one-day career, Hoggard had earned the reputation of being a dour batsman. His forward defensive shot might be textbook, but what was needed at the stamp-sized Kowloon Cricket Club was bludgeoning strokeplay, not stonewall defence.
The first delivery he faced resulted in a four - the first all-run four in the history of the Hong Kong Sixes. Hoggard pushed for a leg-bye, desperate to get to the other end and in a comedy of errors, the Pakistani fielders gave away over-throws - three of them - with the batsmen scampering through each time.
With Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the pavilion, having retired on 33, Hoggard knew it made sense for him to sacrifice his wicket so that the West Indian great could come back to wrap up the victory.
'I tried to get run out as soon as I could, but I couldn't,' said Hoggard. But he finally achieved his goal, fooling the Pakistanis into thinking that he was in search of a run and deliberately walking out of his crease at the bowler's end for Mohammad Talha to pick the bails. That could have proved costly.
But with Chanderpaul on strike and needing to hit a six off the last delivery, Talha bowled a quickish delivery right in the block hole which Chanderpaul could only turn to square leg to spark off joyous scenes of celebrations among the Pakistani fans.
Despite failing to reach the Cup competition and then failing to lift the Plate - which saw them miss out on an extra US$9,000 - All Stars captain-on-the-day Justin Langer gave the thumbs up for the Sixes.
'It's been a great week and this is a fantastic tournament,' Langer said. 'We didn't play well all weekend. But I'm waiting for the invite to come back and hopefully win it next time.'
Although the All Stars were short of a bowler, Hoggard put the onus squarely on the batsmen for failing to come up trumps.
'Our batting was the problem. It took three games for us to figure out that there was no need to nudge it around, but to bash it out of the park,' smiled Hoggard.
Unfortunately he wasn't equipped for it.
