During the tour of India to Pakistan last year we got Saby and karina to write daily summary of play from their point of view. It was a read only thread and became very popular, In fact guppies voted for Saby as the best contributor for that particular series. We are lucky enough that Lahori Munda have agreed to contribute daily summaries this time round. Below is his preview of the series.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series
By LahoriMunda:
Pakistan Vs England
Preview
The series is yet to get under way and many have already speculated England will be the winners of the test series. England is no doubt on a high after the historic Ashes victory and boosts a strong squad of young talented cricketers. The thing people are forgetting here is that, although Pakistan recent performances were not as emphatic and well publicized as England, we have made great strides.
Drawing a test series with India, in India is no mean feat. Ask the Australians. Indians are an extremely tough opposition at home; Pakistan went as under dogs in that series. No one thought they had a chance. Pakistan was not even full strength with the main strike bowler missing out due to injury. India drew first blood, yet the youngsters of Pakistan had the passion and strength to come back and what a come back. An emphatic victory in the 3rd test over arch rivals in their own back yard to draw the series.
Pakistan traveled to the Caribbean after that and despite some key players missing, and one test down yet again we drew the series with a big win in the last test match.
The Pakistan squad that will face England starting Nov. 11th is almost full strength with only Abdul Razzaq missing out due to injury. For the first time after a long time our bowling is full strength. Shoaib Akhtar will be spearheading the attack and my guess is would bowl with all the old venom he was once famous for. It’s a make or break series for Shoaib. His commitment to Pakistan cricket team has been questioned for a while now and this is his time to set the record straight. Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmad and Rana Naveed are probably going to fight out for two spots. My guess is Rana and Sami would be preferred over Shabbir. Danish Kaneria is going be the front line spinner for us, unless we opt for a spinning approach and drop one seamer for Mushtaq. Although my guess is Danish will be the only specialist spinner and perhaps Afridi will be included for the extra bit of variety.
As far as batting is concerned the middle order looks solid with Inzimam, Yousaf and Younis Khan. The only problem will be the openers. Pakistan have named only one specialist opening batsman in their squad for the first two tests. Salman Butt will be accompanied by Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik or Younis Khan. The hints that Pakistan Coach Bob Woolmer has been dropping seems to indicate Shoaib Malik will be opening along with Salman. Shoaib has proved his usefulness in the ODI’s as a one down batsman. If he can succeed at the test level is yet to be seen. He has had problems with the rising ball and England will definitely target that area. Steve Harmison is a tall man and can extract that extra bit of bounce to trouble Malik. He has a hard worker though and will give it his best to survive out there. He is also an excellent fielder and gives another variation in the bowling department.
Kamran Akmal has made the keeping position his own by now. Many people had doubts about his abilities and Rashid and Moin were never far away from spotlight. The turning point perhaps for Akmal was his match saving innings in the first test against India. Against all odds Kamran and Razzaq played out of their skin and saved their team from a humiliating defeat.
Overall Pakistan boosts a strong squad and if they play to their potential they will definitely produce that results that will make the people of Pakistan proud of their cricket team.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
Lahori Munda's review of the first day's play:
What a fascinating first day of test match cricket. Let’s first start off with team selection. I understand no one would have even been satisfied with the final XI. Personally I wasn’t either. I would have played Shahid Afridi instead of Hasan Raza and Rana Naved instead of Shabbir Ahmad. Afridi was in fine form in the West Indies and has played quite well in the last two test series. Although Hasan Raza deserved a chance after fine performances at the domestic level but I don’t think it should have been at the expense of a player who was performing well at the international level.
Bob Woolmer and Inzimam must have been relieved with the opening partnership. The first wicket stand of 80 runs was nothing exceptional but at least the two openers saw off the new ball bowlers. Although I wasn’t satisfied with either one of the two openers performance but in the end I guess they did have a few runs next to their name. Malik looked uncomfortable throughout his stay. His footwork was minimal and before he eventually got LBW he survived a very close LBW shout. Although the ball he got out on probably was a little higher then the stumps but it did look plumb from live feed. Only slow motion replayed showed the ball might have hit him higher.
Salman Butt made a well deserved 50 but he had his fair share of luck as well. One edge sailing on top of the slips, on falling short of the slips and a pull falling between two fielders. I would also like to give credit to England think tank on the field placing they had against Butt. The off side was packed. Salman looked to drive through the covers and they had packed that area with a couple of fielders plus they had a sweeper on the boundry as well. So Salman’s scoring rate was much lower then usual with his favorite area of scoring runs plugged with fielders.
Pakistan, riding on some luck went well until after the lunch session. At 160-2 they must be thinking of a total around 400 runs. Then England bowlers finally woke up and stuck back to back blows. Mohammad Yousaf, Younis Khan and Hasan Raza all went in quick succession. Although Kamran Akmal stuck around for a while but he perished as well leaving Inzimam to fight it out along with the tailenders.
Inzimam has to once again stamp his class and prove his importance to Pakistan batting line up. Mohammad Sami is with him on the crease. Sami might not be a big shot maker like other tailenders but he has proved in the past that he has the ability to stay at the wicket to provide support. Inzimam will have to steady the ship and make sure Pakistan total goes beyond 300 if we are to give our selves a chance to take this test match. We have plenty of bowling but they’ll need some runs to bowl with and I think a score of 320-350 would be the minimum on this pitch. The only good thing about yesterday’s play was Pakistan winning the toss and batting first which means out premier spinner Danish Kaneria would have the last use of this match. Something tells me this might prove to be the “turning” point of the game. Danish has the capacity to bowl long spells. Udal spun a couple of deliveries sharply yesterday which must give Kaneria some idea what to look forward to when it’s his turn to bowl. At the end of day 1, I gotta say Advantage England.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the second days play
If England had the slight advantage yesterday they made sure they take full honors today. The day completely belonged to England as they executed their plan to perfection. Absolutely nothing went Pakistan’s way. Pakistan started the day with 6 wickets down and was hoping to score around 320 runs and beyond. It wasn’t to be as English bowlers bowl with discipline and kept putting the ball in the right areas. One by one Pakistani batsmen perished. Pakistan’s only hope, captain Inzamam only added a few runs to his over night total and departed taking the only hope Pakistan had of going beyond 320, along with him. At 160-1 Pakistan was well on course for a big total and the team must be disappointed to get all out around 270.
England started off in a confident manner. Shoaib and Sami bowled with a lot of pace but mostly ill directed. Sami first good ball got him a wicket. It was a great ball, pitched on off, came in and had Strauss plumb in front. That was as good as it got for Pakistan. The horribly out of form Ian Bell came in, and played patiently to get himself back on track. He scored a fine 71 and deserves a lot of credit for the innings. He must have been under a lot pressure but he proved he is a gutsy player and fought it out well. Trescothic was a rock yet again, scoring an unbeaten century.
Everything that could go wrong for Pakistan went wrong. Shoaib clean bowled Ian Bell with a no-ball. Trescothic given not out when the replays showed he was plumb even before he had scored 50. Pakistani bowlers toiled hard throughout the day without much to show for it. While I can understand Inzamam wants to use Shoaib for different reasons like to gauge his fitness, and to get a wicket from his main strike bowler but he must not over bowl him. Shoaib bowled just one less over then Kaneria. While Sami and Shabbir both bowled less overs the Shoaib. Even fully fit a fast bowler still can’t bowl all day.
England is within reach of the Pakistani total and they still have 7 wickets in hands. Trescothic is still there with an unbeaten century. Kevin Pieterson and Andrew Flintoff are still waiting in the dressing room for their turn. England would probably like to bat all day tomorrow and get a lead of around 300 + runs to put Pakistani batsmen under tremendous pressure. Pakistan will have to fight very hard to make sure we restrict England’s lead to as little as possible. It won’t be easy but then again no one said test cricket was easy. If this Pakistan team wants to considered as one of the premier teams in world cricket then they will have to show the ability to come back when they are down and out. After day two England are in the drivers’ seat and would like to take a big first innings lead and firm their grip even more on this test match.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the third days play
You have to give full marks to the Pakistan cricket team today. The bowlers fought back and fought back hard. Luck deserted us many a times during the course of the day but the bowlers stayed focused at the job on hand. Trescothic’s marathon innings finally came to an end after lunch today but it should have and could have ended a few times long before lunch of day three. Apart from the leg before shout the previous day he was also let go by Rana Naved who spilled a simple catch off the bowling of Kaneria. A few close leg before shouts were tuned down mostly by Billy Bowden. Although I am not suggesting he is biased in anyway but the wide he gave down the leg side, the way he rudely says no to the leg before shouts and incidentally all the close calls seem to go England’s way when Bowden is officiating is a little bit frustrating and personally I think it should be brought to the attention of the match refree.
The day started well for Pakistan when Shoaib quickly got rid of Hoggard and Kevin Pietereson departed soon after misreading a googly from Kaneria. At that time it seemed like Pakistani bowlers were right on top and a couple of more wickets would have exposed the English tailenders. It was not to be as Flintoff took his time settling in and played some fine shots on either side of the wicket after he got his eye set. Just as everything looked fine for England Flintoff tried to dispatch the very first ball he faced from Shoaib Akhtar to the midwicket region but ended up spooning an easy catch to Shoaib Malik. Soon after lunch English resistance ended although not before their tailenders added some useful runs with a flurry of boundries.
A lead just short of 150 is probably not something England was looking for when they started this morning. Trescothic said afterwards England were looking for around 200-250 lead but I think he is being modest. England was definatley looking to bat Pakistan out of this match. A lead of 300-350 would have put a lot pf pressure on Pakistan and at that time we would just have batted for a draw.
Pakistan batted with aggression yesterday which was good to see for a change. Although the tame dismissal of Younis Khan a few overs before close of play was not something Pakistan really wanted but 19 runs behind with 8 wickets in hand things are looking much better then the day before. Salman Butt has secured his place for the series with a patient and very mature half century, his second of the match. With Inzamam & Yousaf still to come if Pakistan can bat out tomorrow’s day we would be in a position to put pressure on England batsman on the last day.
Overall great comeback by Pakistani bowlers led by Shabbir Ahmad and Shoaib Akhtar. I just hope the batsmen don’t undo all the hard work put in by the bowlers and actually show some responsibility and maturity and try to occupy the crease longer then what they did in the first innings. England might still have a little advantage but Pakistan has slowly but surely crawled it’s way back into the game. It would be an interesting and intriguing fourth day of the test match. Best of luck Team Pakistan.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the fourth days play
Today was yet another day of fascinating test match cricket. Pakistan took the honors in the morning session when they only lost one wicket, that of the night watchman Sami. Inzamam and Butt played with a lot of responsibility to take Pakistan to a commanding position with Butt scoring his 2nd test century in the process. As long as they were on the crease Pakistan was in full control of the match. As soon as Butt got out we witnessed yet another batting collapse for Pakistan.
Hasan Raza failed yet again. He followed his duck in the first innings with a solitary run in the 2nd. Mohammad Yousaf took some “Shahid Afridi” pills and looked like playing the death overs of a test match and got out on a poor ball. I understand the need of accelerating the run rate but there was no need for slogging the way he did. Kamran Akmal proved yet again what a gutsy player he is with a lot of fighting spirit. His stay at the crease might prove very crucial at the end. Pakistan got all out with a lead of just under 200 runs.
It was a disappointing performance by Pakistani batsmen after Butt and Inzamam had taken them into a very strong position. Pakistan has surely missed the services of veteran all around Razzaq. Not only is Razzaq a very useful late middle order batsman but also a useful medium pacer. If he is fit, he would surely replace Hasan Raza in the team. The middle order just didn’t put any fight and the lead might not prove enough unless the bowlers can produce a miracle tomorrow.
England started off their 2nd innings cautiously. Shabbir was able to take the wicket of Trescothic which perhaps was the most important wicket for Pakistan. Trescothic has been the only batsmen from the England side that has looked in good nick on this tour. England’s first innings total revolved around his marathon innings, just short of a double century. England requires another 180 odd runs with 8 wickets in hands. They are favorites to get that target unless Danish Kaneria can spin them out tomorrow on a 5th day track. Shabbir and Shoaib are bowling well but there just isn’t anything in the pitch for the fast bowlers. If Pakistan still fancies their chances of taking this game they will need to strike early tomorrow morning. A couple of quick wickets and a lot of pressure on the batsmen might prove too much to handle for talented but young English side. Right now though, England are favorites to draw first blood in this series.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the final day's play
Pakistan 274 & 341 beat England 418 & 175 by 22 runs.
Pakistan completes an emphatic win against all odds on day 5 of this fascinating test match. Need just around 180 runs to win with 9 wickets in hand, England were the favorites to win easily. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell played the Pakistani opening pair of Shabbir and Shoaib with ease and took their partnership beyond 50 runs. At that time it seemed England will run away with that match. And then, magic happened. Kaneria struck two back to back blows in one over to dismiss both inset batsmen Strauss and Bell and in the very next over Sami dismissed Collingwood and suddenly the Pakistani unit was charged up, sniffing blood
A lot was expected from Kaneria today and he lived up to the expectations. The nice surprise was Sami’s bowling. Sami bowled a charged up and hostile spell and getting the wicket of Collingwood just spurred him even more. It paid off as he also went to take the big wicket of Kevin Pieterson. He bowled a long spell with great speed and apart from a couple of wayward deliveries he bowled with laser accuracy.
Pakistani bowlers exerted pressure over after over and it finally paid off. After Sami’s hostile spell, Shoaib took the ball and took no time in up rooting Giles middle and leg stump. The great thing about that ball was it wasn’t just a classic fast bowler delivery; it was a classic Pakistani fast bowler’s delivery. A yorker bowled at a blazing speed that swung in late and sent Giles stumps out of the ground.
England needed 60 odd runs with 3 wickets still in hand at lunch time. But Pakistani bowlers were up to the task after lunch just as they were before lunch and recorded an emphatic victory by 22 runs. It was a great turn around of fortunes for Pakistan after being outplayed on the first two days. Despite the win we should take a look at the mistakes we made and improve in some areas before the next match begins. It won’t be easy to make a comeback in every test. It has been fun writing these articles. Have fun, enjoy the victory and I’ll be back with more of this during the next test. Till then Allah Hafiz.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's view of the first day of second test:
Pakistan** won the toss and decided to bat**
300 for 4 (81.0 overs) (Inzamam 80*, Afridi 67*, Yousuf 78)
What started off as a fine morning for England quickly turned from bad to worse. On an absolutely flat batting pitch England bowlers bowled with discipline and took three early wickets, courtesy of some irresponsible batting and some fine fielding. First to go was Salman Butt who looked solid up to the point of his dismissal before attempting a drive away from his body and edging the ball to Jones for a regulation catch. That’s Salman’s 3rd dismissal in as many innings with the same shot. He gets a lot of runs from that shot too but he needs to just start playing a little closer to his body. Younis Khan came in and looked untroubled until an irresponsible and lazy shot by the vice captain ended his innings. He looped a leg side ball straight to Kevin Pieterson for a simple catch. Shoaib Malik was the third wicket to fell in that session, courtesy of a brilliant catch by Freddie Flintoff. Shoaib played an uppish off drive, looke to be in the gap and heading for a 4 until Flintoff came in from nowhere and took an absolute blinder. He dived full stretch to his right and took the catch one handed. Shoaib had the look of sheer disbelief as he slowly made his way back to the pavilion.
What started off as a promising morning for Pakistan had quickly gone disastrous. After Shoaib’s wicket the Pakistan captain joined hands with his former deputy Mohammad Yousaf on the crease and after irresponsible batting in the first test Mohammad Yousaf tried to make up for it in this match. He played elegantly, sweetly timing the ball against all bowlers, yet again reminding what he is capable of when in flow. The two most experienced batsmen of the team took the team for a worrying position to a position of satisfaction until Mohammad Yousaf was unlucky to be adjudged caught by Bell off his own bowling. The replays suggested that ball had touched the ground before Bell took that catch but umpire had already given the decision.
Shahid Afridi came in to bat at the fall of Yousaf and straight away proved that the decision to not play him in the first game was not justified. To much appreciation of the crowd Afridi belted the English bowlers all over the park and hit 4 monstrous sixes in his entertaining innings of 67 of just 62 balls. At close Pakistan had moved onto exactly 300 runs for the loss of 4 wickets and Inzamam and Afridi were on the crease. If Afridi stays in the same mood tomorrow and survives till lunch Pakistan will be in a very commanding position. We need to post a big first innings total, something definitely around 450. At this time we are in a position to accomplish that but we are all well aware of the not so uncommon collapse of our batting line up so until tomorrow let’s keep our fingers crossed. Day 1: Advantage **Pakistan**.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the second day of the second test
I really don’t know where to begin. It was a drama filled day to say the least. It really didn’t feel like test match cricket, more like a scenes from a feature film. Afridi started where he left yesterday. A couple of sixes and a four off of Hoggards bowling and he had from his overnight 67 not out to 92. Then he edged a ball from Hoggard and Trescothic picked up what seemed like a low catch in the slips. Umpire ruled out but Afridi looked far from convinced that the catch was taken cleanly. After Yousaf’s decision yesterday Pakistan probably felt they were hard done once again.
Inzamam played cautiously when approaching his century and finally got his century and equaled the Pakistan record of Javed Miandad of most centures. Then the most controversial and bizarre decision was made that ruled Inzi out. He played a full toss from Harmison back to the bowler and Harmison throw it right back at Inzi. The batsman jumped to a side to avoid getting hit by the ball and the ball hit the stumps. The field umpires referred the decision to the 3rd umpire. Now that was the first mistake. The rules clearly state that if the batsman was in his crease and left it just to avoid injury then he is not out. Inzamam was always in his crease, he jumped to avoid being hit by the ball and at the same time the ball hit the stumps. The 3rd umpire took his time andthen ruled that Inzamam was out. Inzi walked back slowly and didn’t show much emotion but in the dressing room Pakistan coach Woolmer looked very upset and rest assured a statement would come out from the Pakistan camp about the bizarre dismissal.
Pakistan tail wagged after the dismissal of regular batsmen and Kamran Akmal, Rana naved, Sami and Shoaib all pitched in with little cameos. Pakistan’s resistance finally ended after lunch with a first innings total of 462. In the end I think Pakistan should be satisfied with the eventual score.
England’s reply got off slowly and they lost wickets of Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan before they had 40 runs on the board. Trescothic and Bell played steadily to take England out of trouble. There was a 10 minute interruption as a gas container exploded by the boundry line. Mohammad Sami accounted for Trecothic just before the close of pay with another low catch going past stumps. This time taken beautifully by Kamran Akmal.
After the fun filled 2nd day, Pakistan is tightening their grip on this test. The first innings total was good and with only 113 on board England’s top 4 are already back in the dressing room. If Pakistan can make some early inroads tomorrow they will definitely be in a position to dictate terms for the rest of the game. Day 2: Advantage **Pakistan***.*
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the third day of the second test
The 3rd day belonged completely to England. They came into the day under a lot of pressure to avoid follow on and get as close as possible to Pakistan’s first innings mammoth total. The two overnight batsmen, Kevin Pieterson & Ian Bell both scored centuries to steer their team from a worrisome position to that of satisfaction. Pakistan can not complain about the way the day went for them. The bowlers give it their best, the fielders let them down. Ian Bell was comprehensively beaten by a sharp turning leg spin by Danish Kaneria as he came down the track to play the ball. Kamran Akmal missed what seemed like a regulation stumping chance. He fumbled the ball and by the time he recovered, Bell was safely back in his crease. Bell was in his 30’s at that time and his wicket would have put enormous pressure on the English side. Pakistan’s fielding let them down again when Danish Kaneria put down a straight forward chance at mid off to get rid of Ian Bell. The choice of fielders at different positions was horrible to say the least. A fielder as bad as Danish Kaneria should never be on mid off. He should be placed at 3rd man or fine leg where the chances of getting a catch are a lot less then other fielding positions. Same goes for having Mohammad Yousuf in the slips. He is not a good slip fielder; in fact he is not the best of fielder at any position. Inzamam himself would have been a better choice then Yousuf. I recall at least one chance that could have bee caught by a sharp slip fieldsman but by the time Yousuf reacted, the ball was long gone. Having someone like Shoaib Malik on the rope servers no purpose. Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi should field at the point or cover region where other teams normally put their best fielders.
Pakistan hit back after the dismissal of the two set batsman and picked up 7 England wickets but by that England had reduced Pakistan’s lead to 70 odd runs. They will definitely play out tomorrow till they get all out and they would hope to get as close to the Pakistan total as possible. Pakistan will have to play briskly if they are to set up a target for England and leave enough time for our bowlers to get them out again.
It might not be a bad idea to open with Shahid Afridi and Slaman Butt to try and speerd up things tomorrow. If the plan backfires we always have others who can come and take us to safety but I think the first approach should be to try and win out this match and seal the series. I reckon tomorrow would be a very important day, while England would try to reduce Pakistan’s lead and if possible build a little lead of their own, Pakistan will go out all guns firing to get the England tailenders as cheaply and quickly as possible.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the fourth day of the second test
Another good day by England has left this match wide open with all three results possible. Flintoff more then made up for his batting failure with an inspired spell of fast bowling, he was ably supported by Steve Harmison who also bowled with a lot of venom.
Pakistan team has themselves to blame for England off the hook. They missed a lot of chances in the field and the way they batted it didn’t really look like there was a solid plan behind their approach. They played some fine shots to give hints that they were ready to take the charge and play quickly to give England a target to chase and then they slowed down and it seemed they were planning on batting England out of the game. I really think we should have approached the innings a lot more aggressively, opened with Afridi and Salman and try to put England bowlers under pressure. Instead we opted for the same opening combination. Shoaib Malik has played 4 innings in the series so far, got starts in all of them and failed to make it count. Butt once again looked solid in making his 3 score of 50 plus in 4 innings. At one point even with the slower run rate Pakistan looked to be in a comfortable position but Freddie Flintoff had other ideas.
In an inspired spell he struck back to back blows to take the wickets of Yousuf and the dangerous Shahid Afridi in successive balls. Pakistan also lost Kamran Akmal later that left them struggling at 183-6.
The game is still far from over. Inzamam is still there with a defiant 411 to his name. If Inzi can play along with the tail tomorrow and give Pakistan a lead of around 240 I think we will have a game on. I would personally hope that Pakistan don’t go all the way to lunch so they can leave the bowlers a little time to have a bowl at England. It was a fascinating day of test cricket and Flintoff’s burst has ensured that we are set for a fantastic 5th day of test cricket. Best of luck to both teams. With the momentum England have gathered I have to say Advantage England.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the last day of the second test
A splendid batting performance from Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has put him on top of the list of century makers from Pakistan overtaking Javed Miandad. Inzi started the day with Rana Naved and after Rana was dismissed very early on it seemed like England would fiish off the tail quickly. All marks to Shoaib Akhtar though who played with a lot of determination to provide support to his captain. Although Shoaib scored only 14 runs but more importantly he hung out with Inzamam for more then an hour to take away any hopes England might have had to run through the tail and chase the target. Sami also stuck around for a little under half hour to give Inzi support but when he got out the skipper was still a little under 20 runs away from his 2nd ton of the match. Danish Kaneria the number 11 batsman stayed with Inzi for exactly half hour but skipper made sure he shielded Danish from playing a lot of balls. In his half hour stay Danish only faced 6 deliveries. The crowd cheered every run Inzamam got and as son as he took a single off of Flintoff to score a historic century he declared right away leaving England an impossible target to chase
The declaration meant England had to face 1 over before lunch and that’s all Pakistan spearhead Shoaib Akhtar needed to go through the defenses of the inform Trescothic. After the lunch break Shoaib again bowled with a lot of pace and aggression and was ably supported by Rana Naved. At one stage England had 4 wicket down with less then 50 runs on board and Pakistan was sniffing victory again hoping for another 5th day second innings collapse but Flintoff and Pieterson steadied the ship both added 60 runs together to take their team out of trouble. Jones and Giles stuck around after Pieterson and Flintoff departed to ensure that Pakistan goes into the next game still 1-0 up and not 2-0, taking away England’s chance of leveling the series.
It was a great day of cricket. Inzamam played out of his skin in this game and stood out amongst all batsmen. Flintoff proved yet again he is the the best all rounder in the game right now. Shoaib Akhtar must have also proved his critics wrong as well. He has bowled with lot of fire in this series and has shown 100% commitment. I think the last test match at Lahore would be another fascinating one. England will go all out to try to level the series and Pakistan is looking for a victory in a home series against worthy opponents after a long time.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the first day of the third test
The final test match in the 3 match series started in Lahore yesterday. Both teams made a few changes. England replaced Strauss and Giles with Collingwood and Plunkett. Pakistan replaced banned all rounder Shahid Afridi and vice captain Younis Khan who lost his brother, with Asim Kamal and Hasan Raza.
For the first time in the series Inzamam lost the toss and England had no hesitation in batting first. The early morning dew did assit the seamers and Shoaib and Rana Naved in particular bowled a probing spell. Naved was unlucky not to get a wicket his first spell as he beat Vaughan’s bat several times. After the first time half hour or so the English batsmen started gaining confidence and Trescothick who took around 25 balls to get off the mark started to open up. It was still Vaughan who showed more aggression as he knows if England is to level this series they will have to do it quickly. The weather is unpredictable in Lahore at this time of the year, play time will definmatley be lost due to foggy conditions. Some of it could be made up by turning the flood lights on but that would only help in bad light conditions. Once the fog comes in the lights would be useless.
England registered their first opening century partnership of the series and we looking well on course to a big total to put Pakistan under pressure until some carelessness started costing them wickets one after the other. Shoaib Malik picked up the top three English batsmen. Kamran Akmal played his part with two stunning catches. Rana Naveed also came back for another spell and picked up 2 wickets and Danish Kaneria got through the defenses of Jones. After going wicketless in Faisalabad it must have been a relieve for Danish to finally get a scalp.
Paul Collingwood who was lucky to be in the side made most of this opportunity and was still not out at the end of the day. He has a well deserved half century to his name and he has shown the more illustrious members of the side how easy it is to bat on this surface only if you put your head down and play sensible cricket. He will have to play with the tail tomorrow so I am sure he will try to score as many runs as possible before he runs out of partners.
Shoaib bowled well today without much luck. He bowled fast and looked like getting a wicket a few times but it never happened. He can reverse the trend tomorrow as Pakistan would be looking to finish off the tail as quickly as possible
At 101-1 things were looking good for England; at 248-6 they are struggling to put up a decent total. Pakistan would be looking to bowl England out under 300 runs and take a big first innings lead. The pitch seems like it will offer some assistance to the bowler specially on the last day so Pakistan need to get England out as cheaply as possible and try to take a big first innings lead. If we can get England under 300 we have realistic chance of gathering a lead of around 150, which would put England batting under tremendous pressure. I am looking forward to another fascinating day of cricket tomorrow in Lahore.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the second day of the third test
The match is set for a very interesting 3rd day. I believe that team that takes the upper hand tomorrow will have a good chance of winning this test. Pakistan would like to take a good first innings lead to put England under pressure and England would want to finish off this Pakistan innings as quickly as possible tomorrow.
The eventual total of 288 was far less then England would have wanted, especially when at one time they were sitting at 100-0. They must be eying around 450 + total but after the first wicket stand they just didn’t get any partnerships going. Paul Collingwood came into bat today with Shaun Udal hoping to get his maiden test century. He lost Udal early on to Kaneria but Plunkett provided him the support he needed. Collingwood made an impressive 96 before perishing in the deep to Shoaib Akhtar. The tail didn’t add much after that as Sami struck two blows in successive balls to get rid of Plunkett and Harmison to wrap up the innings.
The Pakistani bowlers bowled well to restrict England below 300. Although looking at the bowling figures don’t do justice to the effort put in by Shoaib Akhtar. Shoaib was definitely the pick of Pakistan bowlers and although he only got the wicket of Collingwood to show for his efforts, on another day he might have ended up with a bag full of wickets. He troubled all the batsmen and generated some serious pace. He showed a lot of commitment and no one can question his fitness after his 8 over burst in the morning session.
Pakistan had the golden chance to seal the series after England’s batting collapse and I believe we let it slip a little. The game might still be tilted slightly in Pakistan’s favor as we still have 6 wickets in hand and England’s lead is slightly more then 100 but I think with top 4 gone Pakistan wont be able to take as big as lead as they would have liked. Shoaib Malik got starts in both the previous tests but here he didn’t even bother the scorers as he departed for nought after spooning a catch to Plunkett off of Hoggard. The bowler struck again when he had Asim Kamal leg before with only 5 to the batsmen’s name. At 12-2 Pakistan were in a bit of bother but Butt and Yousuf steadied the ship and put on 56 for the 3rd wicket before Butt nicked one back to Jones to give Plunkett his first test wicket. The fall of Butt’s wicket bought the Pakistan captain Inzamam at the crease and along with Yousuf he continued rebuilding the innings until he was struck on his arm by a nasty short pitch delivery from Hoggard and had to retire hurt. Hasan Raza came in to replace him and looked well set when he three away his wicket just before the close of play with his personal score at 21. He flashed to a wide delivery from Harmison and Flintoff who had earlier spilled a difficult chance in the slips took the catch this time.
Mohammad Yousuf looked in his element at his home ground. He was given a life at the score of 16, Flintoff failed to grasp a difficult chance in the slips. He made them pay for it and is still at the crease with 84 runs to his name. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer is optimistic that skipper Inzamam would be able to bat on day three and if he can put a partnership along with Yousuf and get Pakistan a lead of around 100 runs I am sure it would put a lot of pressure on England’s batsmen. This pitch is a little more sporting then the ones in Multan and Faisalabad and even with the early close both days I think we would get a result in this match. The pitch is going to assist bowler more as the game progresses, the odd ball has stayed low at time so it wont be easy batting here on day 4 and 5 which means Pakistan have to ensure that they try to take as big a lead as possible as it wont be easy chasing target in the 4th innings on this pitch. Pakistan have a slight advantage right now but tomorrow is going to be a very important day in this test match. Best of luck to both teams.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the third day of the third test
What a day for Pakistan. The day belonged to Pakistani batsmen. Mohammad Yousuf who looked horrible in the first test 1, average in the 2nd one looks absolutely brilliant in this one. Kamran Akmal who scored a match saving century in India a couple of series ago notched up the second ton of his short career. The most important aspect about his centuries is that he produces when the team is under pressure. It would be unfair not to give credit to Shoaib Akhtar whose contribution of 38 looks small compared to the two century makers but nonetheless very important.
England started the day with hopes of removing the night watchman quickly and either expose Inzamam early in the day, or have a go at the tail. It was not to be as Shoaib defended well early on and then opened his shoulders smacking two sixes off of a very ineffective Udal, in process making 38 runs, his highest test score. The most remarkable thing about his batting was his commitment. He was never comfortable against the short stuff thrown at him by Flintoff and Harmison. He got hit on his left shoulders by Harmison when he was trying to leave a ball that didn’t bounce as much as he anticipated. During the drinks break it was evident he was a little hurt as there was obvious swelling on his left shoulder and he was seen icing it. But he did not give up, he played Harmison and Flintoff with a lot of courage and finally fell to young Plunkett when he tried one too many adventurous shots.
After a good partnership between Shoaib and Yousuf ended Pakistan were still not completely out of the woods, although in a much better position to take the lead but still not in total command. Not many people would have guessed that it was all about to change with a record 6th wicket partnership between Akmal and Yousuf
Kamran started off tentatively but grew in confidence after lunch. He had a couple of balls go past the outside edge and was lucky not to nick them. But after lunch he started milking the England bowlers and by the end of the day he had a well deserved century to his name
Mohammad Yousuf was absolutely brilliant today. He showed the maturity and responsibility that we once associated with him but then somehow, somewhere he lost but today it was the same old ma we trusted. In the absence of Inzi he made sure that Pakistan gets a respectable lead. He scored his century in grand style, carting Udal over long off for a six. But more importantly he reazlied his job was only half done. He did not throw it all up after scoring the century and thanks to that attitude he is now nearing the 3rd double ton of his career.
Although the news from Pakistan camp was that Inzi was able to bat but he wasn’t needed as the blend of youth and experience worked wonders for Pakistan in the middle. England bowlers tried hard and apart from Udal they were able to put batsmen in trouble from time to time but in the end all they have to show for their effort is the wicket of Shoaib Akhtar.
Now, with this spirited performance from the batsmen Pakistan team have almost sealed a memorable series victory. With over 150 runs lead and still 5 more wickets in hand Pakistan would be eying a lead of around 250 or more. I personally think they can just bat England out of the game from here. We should bat as long as we can and give England no chance to have a realistic chance of winning it from here. With Inzi and Rana still to come I am sure a lead of 250 + is not impossible. In all I think it was a tremendous display of spirited batting by Pakistan that have put them in commanding position in this test match. The most likely result now seems to be a Pakistan win or a draw, both good enough for Pakistan to pocket the series and leap into the test rankings to a reasonable 4th position instead of a horrible 7th position that we are at right now.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the fourth day of the third test
It was a day of milestones for Pakistan. Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved scored their highest scores at test match level. Inzamam became the second Pakistani player to cross 8,000 runs and in the process the big man also scored 1000 runs in the calendar year. Amazingly this is 8th test match in the year. He is enjoying a purple patch in his career and for Pakistan sake let’s hope it stays that way till he decides to hang up his boots.
One of the good contributors on this forum “the game” yesterday said Pakistan should take a lead of 300 before lunch and declare and to which I responded that it was possible but highly unlikely to maintain that kind of scoring rate. How wrong was I? The way Pakistani batsmen played they might have been playing a tape ball match. All the batsmen played the “feared” England bowling attack as if they are playing “muhallah” cricket. No one was given any respect. Kamran Akmal started off with an audacious attack on the English bowlers; he is fast becoming a man of crisis for Pakistan. If he can sustain this kind of form he would soon be looked upon as Adam Gilchrist successor in world cricket. His keeping in this match specially was a notch above excellence and the same can now be said about his batting
Mohammad Yousuf came out of his shell for the first time in a long time at test level and played an absolute gem of an innings when it was needed the most. After the dismissal of Akmal, Pakistan captain came in to bat and it didn’t for a minute that he was struggling with a wrist injury. He played some powerful shots all across the ground and very nearly scored his 3rd consecutive century before being run out. In the past three innings he has been not out once and run out twice. It seems that’s the only way England could get them out since English bowlers don’t seem to be making any impact on the skipper.
Pakistan declared after the run out and left England to face a solitary over from Akhtar before the extended lunch. That was enough for Shoaib to give Pakistan the first breakthrough in England second innings, a straight and fast bowler that hit Trescothic on the pads and was heading no where but the middle stump. Shoaib also picked up the wicket of England captain with a beautifully disguised slower bowl and Vaughan scooped a simple catch back to the bowler. Ian Bell and England’s first innings hero Collingwood stabilized the innings and took them to somewhat respectability. They were both still at the crease at the close of play.
Pakistan needs another 8 England wickets to register and emphatic and well deserved 2-0 series victory. The series in Pakistan pocket in any case but a 2-0 result will raise the confidence of Pakistani players and demoralize England even more then they are at this time. English team looked dejected yesterday in the field. Their celebrated attack has not had such a treatment in a long time, if ever. Pakistan are in the drivers eat now and would be looking for early inroads tomorrow morning. It is still a good batting track and England does have the players to bat out a draw for their team but with Pakistan team pumped up and looking to attack at all times it would take a lot of heart from English players to sustain that kind of pressure through the day.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review for day 5 of third and final test:
What an emphatic victory for Pakistan to wrap up the series 2 nil and announce their arrival on the test cricket scene as a serious threat. England came to Pakistan with high hopes and a dream to become the #1 test team in the world. They were justified in feeling that as they played admirably in beating world champions Australia in the Ashes. Let’s forget about Bangladesh for a second, Pakistan unlike the other two Asian cricket giant, India and Sri Lanka, don’t really have a proud record at home. While India and Sri Lanka are very though to beat at home, Pakistan has proved somewhat easier opponents while playing at home. So England was definitely fancying their chances of a 7th consecutive series win.
Today the day started with England trying to bat out the day so as to secure a face saving draw. They had already lost the series and today was all about playing for honor to make the result look a little less humiliating. As Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell negotiated the first session without any worries England must be thinking a draw was a big possibility. But the post lunch session saw a batting collapse from England that we normally associate with unpredictable teams like our own.
Danish Kaneria snapped up Collingwood with a leg spinner and he edged it to Hasan Raza in slips who took an easy catch. In the very next Kaneria over he also made Kevin Pieterson nick a leg spinner and Raza took another catch, this one a little more quicker but he hung on to it. Hasan with all his shortcomings as a batsman is actually a very decent slip fielder. The very next ball Kaneria bowled the googly he is so famous for and it went through the defenses of Flintoff crashing into his stumps. With three wickets in quick succession Pakistani bowlers were fired up and Shoaib came in to pick three more wickets to finish of with a 5-fer, which he deserved. Sami also chipped in with one wicket and fittingly a Kaneria googly ended the game as he went through the defenses of Mathew Hoggard to give Pakistan a comprehensive victory.
The play lasted on about an hour after lunch as Pakistan wrapped up the last 8 England wickets in no time. It was the kind of batting collapse that Wasim and Waqar used to inflict on teams and it brought back cherished memories. In the end Manjerakar asked Waqar what he thought of the bowling performance and Waqar responded that he doesn’t have words to praise the efforts of the boys. I dont think anyone does. On a dead track Pakistani bowler skittled out England twice with less then 300 runs on board. It was a team effort and a victory that would be remembered for many years to come.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the first ODI
In the end Pakistan just didn’t have the same hunger as England did to win this game. After a disappointing test series England were under a lot of pressure. They have to win this series to make their place secure for next years Champions trophy in India.
England’s mammoth total of 327 revolved around Strauss, Kevin Pieterson and Andrew Flintoff. While Flintoff and Pieterson powered their way to 72* and 56 respectively, Strauss made a composed 94 and rotated the strike beautifully to give the strike back to the big hitters.
A total in excess of 300 is always difficult to chase but I for one had my hopes up after the Kiwi’s downed the Aussies in the last ODI’s of their series chasing a world record total of over 300. Pakistan themselves chased 300 + against India in their last series as well.
Pakistan started out brightly. The first ball of their innings was ferociously dispatched to the boundry by Salman Butt who was dropped off the very next ball by Paul Collingwood. Although Kamran Akmal didn’t stay too long, dragging a ball from outside the off stump into his stumps but Younis Khan and Salman Butt build a solid partnership of 115. When Salman Butt left in the 20th over Pakistan were cruising along at a 132 and keeping the required rate in check.
Although Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf also scored half centuries but a lot more was needed from them or someone else to chase down a total in excess of 320. Inzi, for once wasn’t able to take Pakistan home as he departed for 13, Collingwood foxing him with a slower one. Razzaq’s return was very rusty. He fielded badly, bowled horribly and batted without any fireworks we usually associate with him.
Pakistan definitely missed the services of Shahid Afridi who is serving the remainder of his ban and would miss one more match before making a comeback in the side. He would have opened with Butt instead of Akmal; he provides a good variation in bowling and is an excellent fielder as well.
Pakistan bowling lacked the fire power to dent the England line up. Our two aces from the test series Akhtar and Kaneria proved ineffective in the first ODI. Shoaib went wicket less in his ten overs, in process conceding 60 runs, while Kaneria went for 62 in his 9 overs taking 1 wicket. I personally was a little surprised that Inzi didn’t give Sami any more over. His 7 overs went for 35 runs and he might not have looked like to get a wicket but he wasn’t thrashed all over the ground either.
In the end the better team won and Pakistan’s chances of climbing to 2nd place in the ODI ranking dimmed a little. We need to win the next four matches to remove South Africa from that spot. For now though, the immediate concern would be to win the next match and get back into the series. We have been in situations much worse then this and have been able to pull back, InshAllah we’ll do it again starting from next match and come back hard at England.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the second ODI
Although Pakistan leveled the series with a thumping 7 wicket victory but for me the team planning and Inzamam’s captaincy left a lot to be desired.
Why are we appointing Arshad Kahn as super-sub anyway? Why not give a youngster like Arafat a chance in the home series instead of thrusting him in the side on some foreign tour, if he fails there, not only will it dent his own confidence but also reduce a talented youngsters chances to appear again in national colors for a while.
Enough about the spinners and super-subs but what really left me bamboozled was why Inzamam did not bring the quicks in when England were in tatters at 130-8? He put on the spinners which allowed Plunkett and Solanki to settle down and produce a fine 9th wicket partnership. Some people suggested that since our over rate was slow so Inzamam was trying to bring that in order but if we would have gotten them all out then the over rate wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Instead we put on spinner to allow the batsmen to settle down, get their eye set and add valuable runs to the score board to bring some respectability to the their total. Someone tell the skipper that is not the way we play our cricket. We have been an attacking team all along and aggression has produced wonders for us in the past. Shoaib’s fiery bowling broke down the back of the English line up and they could have been all out for under or around 150 if we had put on our quicks when they were 8 wickets down.
Enough criticism now let’s take a look at the positives. Shoaib bowled brilliantly after a disappointing first game he came back strongly. He was ably supported by the rest of the bowlers. Naved took two wickets but he took the two of the England big ones in one over. Pieterrson and Flintoff were removed by Naved in a brilliant over. Sami didn’t take a wicket but bowled very economically giving just over 3 runs per over. Razzaq seems be getting the rust off as well and bowled well along with Kaneria and Malik.
A target of 230 was not a big one especially after England had already used their super-sub Sloanki for James Anderson leaving them one bowler short. They started off with Flintoff and Harmison hoping to get some early in roads but Butt and Akmal provided a solid start adding 86 for the first wicket in 15 overs before Butt was bowled by Flintoff and Younis Khan followed soon foxed by a slower one by Paul Collingwood.
It did not stop Akmal to keep playing his shots from the other end as he notched up a well deserved century, his second in ODI’s. He is having a prolific year both with the gloves and the bat and many pundits had praised the young keeper declaring a bright future for this youngster.
England was comprehensively beaten by Pakistan in this game leaving the series wide open after two games and three more games still to come. The good news for Pakistan is that Shahid Afridi will be making a come back in the next match at sort of his home ground in Karachi. That will be a big boost to the Pakistani line up as Afridi has been in prolific form this year. Pakistan will definitely look to win the rest of the games to seize the 2nd place in the ranking but I am sure we’ll settle on a series win as well.
Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the third ODI
The first win for Pakistan in this series in Lahore was quite convincing but today we really stamped our authority on the English team. Although their last loss was comprehensive but there was some respectability looking at the scoreboard. Today though, England was humiliated by an opposition that was just too hot for them to handle
For the third time in as many matches the English captain won the toss but for the first time he decided to bowl first to gain some seam movement early on for his bowlers. From that point on it was all downhill for England. Akmal and Butt shared another good and solid opening stand but after Butt’s dismissal for 29, in walk Younis Khan and left again without making any impact. I am really wondering why Shoaib Malik is not playing at that position. He played so well at the one down position and was making runs all over the world. Why move him for no reason and give the spot to Younis Khan?
After Younis left Akmal was joined by Yousuf and together they put on a 100 run partnership. Kamran Akmal played another fantastic innings to notch his second successive century in ODI’s. He played beautifully all around the wicket and looked untroubled throughout his stay. He must now concentrate on taking these centuries to bigger scores. At the rate he scores he can easily notch up a big score but he seems to loose his concentration after he gets to three figures
Pakistan was scoring at a healthy rate when Akmal left but his departure bought a chaos as far as the scoring rate was concerned. Afridi came in and in his trademark style just clobbered the bowler all over the place before being unluckily run out for 31 off 14 balls. Yousuf followed soon after, another bad call and this time he got himself out. But that brought Razzaq to the crease who seems to be back in the groove now with a magnificent 51 not out off of 21 balls. Inzamam on the other hand also chipped in with 45 and Pakistan ended up scoring a gigantic 353 in their allotted overs, leaving England to chase under lights a world record total
England never really gained any momentum in their innings as they bundled out for 188 runs, in process equaling the record for their biggest ever defeat. All the Pakistani bowler bowled well, but then again they were defending such a huge total it must have been a little relaxing to know that they could go for a few without having too much to worry. For the first time Pakistan named Arafat as their super sub and the young man was impressive. He went for a few runs compared to the other senior pros but he showed his talent. He bowls at a very lively pace and seems to have just the right attitude.
It was a thumping victory for Pakistan and they will go in the next two games full of confidence. Plus they have added incentive now to win the next two games; if Pakistan wins the next two matches they will replace the South Africans in the ODI table at the #2 position.