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Northants dominate Pakistan with both bat and
the ball |
July 21, 2006
Northamptonshire played superb cricket on the
first day of their three-day warm up game
against Pakistan at the County Ground. The
homeside after winning the toss had declared its
innings at 269 for 3 and then had Pakistan in a
shaky position at 97 for 3 after getting to bat
for 25 overs. Pakistan’s Skipper for this game
was Younis Khan who was returning from a knee
injury that had kept him out of the 1st Test at
Lord’s. Younis Khan’s innings of 50 not out was
the positive to come out of the day’s play for
Pakistan.
The County Side had won the toss and elected to
bat first and their openers gave them a solid
start of 71. Opening batsman Stephen Peters
scored a magnificent 142 which took just 195
balls with the help of 26 fours. Supporting
Peters was Usman Afzaal who came good with an
impressive 71 and Northants declared its innings
at 269 for 3 playing just over 62 overs which
was immediately after Peters had got out. Former
Indian Skipper, Sourav Ganguly lost out the
opportunity to have a crack with the bat in the
middle due to his side’s early declaration!
Pakistan included all its fringe players in the
line up giving break to as many important
players as possible. Shahid Nazir, Samiullah
Niazi, Iftikhar Anjum, Jannisar Khan and Arshad
Khan were the fresh players used by Pak in the
bowling and in the batting, it was Taufeeq Umar
and Younis Khan being the fresh players. The two
Pakistani regular openers, Salman Butt and Imran
Farhat flopped yet again leaving Pakistan to a
bad start. With two more days to go, Northants
would be hoping to pull off a victory somehow
and Pakistan does have an inexperienced set of
players in this match.
Brief Scores :
Northamptonshire 1st
Innings 269/3 declared (Stephen
Peters 142 Usman Afzaal 71* Bilal Shafayat 30,
Samiullah Niazi 2/35, Jannisar Khan 1/28) Vs
Pakistanis 1st Innings
97/3 (Younis Khan 50* Taufeeq Umar
29, Ben Phillips 1/22 David Wigley 1/27 Charl
Pietersen 1/39) - Stumps on Day 1
(20-07-2006)
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