Cricket at its most unpredictable

By Justin Langer Australian Test batsman

One of the great attractions of Test match cricket lies in its unpredictability.

Going into the second Test of this series against Pakistan my gut feeling was that the five days ahead were likely to be very hard work.

The Sharjah pitch resembled the motorway linking Sharjah and Dubai.

Warney and I celebrating afterwards

And with gruelling temperatures like we have never experienced before, the prospect of five days of Test cricket seemed a less than attractive proposition.

Now, unbelievably, we have three days to enjoy reflecting on the shortest Test match that any of us have ever played in.

From our perspective the two days of cricket have simply been an extraordinary sequence of events.

Losing the toss, we were sent into the field at 10:30am on day one.

Walking onto the field after what was potentially a disastrous fall of the coin we were greeted by temperatures well over 40 degrees, with the humidity gauge hitting the 70% mark.

Within minutes our clothing was literally drenched through and our bowlers were able to bowl a maximum of four overs each.

Brett Lee swears he was seeing stars and black dots after only three overs.

And Andy Bichel, whose body is built like a high performance machine, was panting and gasping as though he had just completed the London marathon.

Read all about Pakistan's defeat

Never have I experienced such oppressive climactic conditions on a cricket field.

With no shade or even a hint of a breeze there was nowhere to hide in the centre of Sharjah's impressive stadium.

Thankfully between sweat breaks, our bowlers were bowling absolutely brilliantly as the young and inexperienced Pakistani batting line-up succumbed to the pressure.

Matthew Hayden was pure class

Within 33 overs Pakistan were all out for their lowest ever Test score and our bowlers were back in the changing room soaking in baths full of ice and cold water.

When it came to our turn to bat, the morning's drama became even more incredible as the pitch seemed to be playing very few tricks.

For the first time in my career I was out in the worst possible way.

I was run out at the non-striker's end when the ball clipped the fingers of the bowler and struck the stumps. What a nightmare!

As our innings progressed, my opening partner Matt Hayden scored what must be rated as one of his best Test hundreds.

Fighting the appalling conditions he showed supreme endurance and valiancy in batting right through the innings.

His effort was truly inspiring considering the circumstances.

Remarkable victory

With a lead of over 250, Steve Waugh's 150th dream Test match continued when we ran through the Pakistani batting line-up in two-and-a-half-hours.

If I am honest I still can't believe what transpired.

But we knew we had to lift our performance from the first Test match and having done that were rewarded with a remarkable victory.

Happy as I am to have won so convincingly, I am equally as happy that we now have seven days before facing these debilitating conditions again here in Sharjah.