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Cool Inzy steers
Pak to a draw at Lord's |
July 17, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
 Inzamam-ul-Haq
scored his 9th consecutive half century against
England to secure a draw in the first Test at
Lord's. England failed in their mission of
bowling out Pakistan with the bowlers struggling
to produce the magic deliveries. Monty Panesar
and Matthew Hoggard picked up a couple of
wickets each but England fell short of enough
time in hand to take the 10 wickets as they had
wasted much time in batting in their second
innings which was only declared today morning.
Pakistan were left to bat out for 80 overs and
with 7 overs left in the play, England gave up
hope with Pakistan still having six wickets in
hand.
The Tale of the Morning Session
As expected, England prolonged its second
innings much to the happiness of the Pakistani
camp. England finally declared its second
innings after Plunkett's dismissal. The
overnight pair of Plunkett and Hoggard had added
up 38 more runs, but they had wasted almost 8
overs to end up at a lead of 379.
The target for Pakistan was out of reach at 380
to get from 80 overs and the only option left
was to bat out the day for the draw. England's
hopes of winning this Test Match increased when
Matthew Hoggard produced a perfect inswinger to
trap Salman Butt right in front of the stumps
with the very first ball of the innings. That
wicket pumped up the English players and they
had to now break the pair of the inexperienced
Imran Farhat and Faisal Iqbal. It was only
matter of time before the flashy Imran Farhat
threw his wicket away after playing a couple of
glorious strokes. And the left hander fell after
making 18 in the 13th over playing a flamboyant
shot outside off stump to give Hoggard his 2nd
wicket. Mohammad Yousuf, the double centurion in
the first innings paired up with Faisal Iqbal to
see Pakistan to Lunch at 43 for 2 after 16 overs.
The Tale of the Afternoon Session
After lunch, the English bowlers found
absolutely no joy with Faisal Iqbal determined
to score some runs after his first innings duck
and Mohammad Yousuf was showing his experience
at the other end in sticking to the wicket. The
result was a valuable partnership of 83 runs
which lasted for over 20 runs with the end
coming through an lbw decision that of Mohammad
Yousuf's. It was Monty Panesar, who could
provide the breakthrough as Yousuf padded up to
his flatter delivery infront of middle stump and
that ball didn't have any turn and was heading
towards the stumps. Yousuf was out for a well
made 48, which had 8 fours and he was followed
back to the pavilion after a while by Faisal
Iqbal, who was also out for the same score of
48. Monty Panesar had got the ball to turn and
take the outside edge in Faisal Iqbal's defence
and it was a nice low catch taken by Alastair
Cook at gully. The responsibility was now on the
two experienced cricketers Inzamam-ul-Haq and
Abdul Razzaq in keeping the English bowlers at
bay. The ball was turning and Monty Panesar
managed to put the pressure on even Inzamam but
Pakistan did not lose any wicket and went to Tea
at 151 for 4.
The Tale of the Final Session
It was a tough task for England as they had to
take six wickets in the 32 overs left in the
match. They had to bring back Steve Harmison for
one final burst and he bowled along with Monty
Panesar. After tea, Inzamam's approach was
different and he was moving his feet in a
positive fashion and the bowlers did not look
anyway threatening. Inzy was getting the right
support from Abdul Razzaq who was playing
according to the merit of the bowling and after
trying everything, England decided to give up
with still 7 overs left. Inzamam remained
unbeaten on 56 having survived 112 balls and
Razzaq did a tremendous job in facing 91 balls
and he had made 25 not out. Mohammad Yousuf for
his double century in the first innings was
rightly awarded as the Man of the Match and now
the two sides meet again on the 27th at Old
Trafford, Manchester for the 2nd Test Match.
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