Aussies manage a miracle

The Sydney Cricket Ground is fast becoming the ground for cricket miracles, as once again Australia managed an against the odds triumph to take a 2-0 series lead.

Australia managed memorable wins at the venue against India and South Africa in consecutive years, but captain Ricky Ponting rated this as the best.

And when you look at the stats, it's hard to argue. It was only the third time in Australia's Test history that the side had won after being 200 runs or more behind on the first innings.

The hosts had been routed for just 127 on the opening day, having perhaps foolishly chosen to bat on a green deck, but still emerged with a 36-run win within four days.

Even at the start of the fourth day, Australia's chance of winning had all but gone (though bookies, perhaps anticipating a Pakistan choke, offered stingy odds). With just two wickets in hand, Australia's lead was an uncomfortable 80.

Yet field placings and tactics that beggared belief from Pakistan skip Mo Yousuf helped Australia set the visitors are far more challenging 176 to win.

Too challenging, it proved, as Nathan Hauritz again showed just how much he'd improved by picking up a five wicket haul.

The remarkable result made Ponting's decision to bat, ridiculed in the press, look like a stroke of genius. "Can everyone (who said Australia should have bowled first) put their hands up please? I feel better now," he said to the media.

As well as Hauritz, Australia's charge for victory was helped largely by Mike Hussey (and buttergloves Kamran Akmal), who scored his first century since The Oval. This time the knock wasn't in vain.

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