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Harmison too hot
to handle for Pak – Day 1, 2nd Test at Old
Trafford Report |
July 27, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
Steve Harmison has put England
on top at Old Trafford with his destructive
spell of fast bowling. The tall fast bowler took
six wickets to destroy Pakistan's first innings
for a paltry 119 and his efforts were
complemented by the England batsmen who put on
168 on board at the loss of 2 wickets at Stumps
on the first day. England are leading by 49 runs
and in a good position to consolidate their
position on Day 2 with Kevin Pietersen going
great guns with his innings of 38 not out along
with the cool and collective Alastair Cook, who
is unbeaten on 65. The visitors have tried
whatever they could to come back in the game
after getting dismissed for a cheap total, but
their bowlers couldn't get much assistance from
the track which flattened out as the day
progressed.
Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss this morning and
elected to bat first on what looked like a
wicket that was good for the batting. There was
one change in both the sides with Pakistan
getting back Younis Khan in place of Salman Butt
and England replacing the injured Liam Plunkett
with Lancashire fast bowler Sajid Mahmood.
Pakistan were off to a disastrous start losing
its openers Imran Farhat and Kamran Akmal
quickly with just 9 on the board in about 6
overs. Harmison accounted for both the
dismissals with the first one coming through a
flashing drive from Imran Farhat into the man at
point and Kamran Akmal getting out after poking
an away going delivery to the slips. Marcus
Trescothick had taken the slip catch off Akmal
despite the wicket keeper Geraint Jones diving
in front of him to grab that catch. After those
two wickets, Pakistan started to repair the
innings through the partnership between Younis
Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Both batsmen were well
in control of the game and England soon lost the
sting in its bowling once Harmison and Hoggard
bowled their initial spells. One change, Sajid
Mahmood did trouble the batsmen with his
occasional short and rising deliveries but once
the ball got old, it was easy going for the two
right handers. With just over few minutes to go
for the Lunch Break, Monty Panesar was
introduced into the attack and he struck almost
immediately dismissing Mohammad Yousuf (38).
Panesar had bowled a flatter delivery to which
Yousuf tried to run it down to third man and he
managed to get a faint tickle to Geraint Jones.
That ended the 81 run stand for the 3rd wicket
and Pakistan soon lost Younis Khan as well and
once again it was a bowling change that did the
trick. Steve Harmison who was brought in for a
small burst before the lunch break got Younis
Khan carelessly driving at him on the backfoot
to the point fielder. Younis did not get on top
of the bounce of that delivery and he perished
after making a promising 44. Pakistan lost the
plot after such a good partnership and ended the
1st session's play at a scratchy 93 for 4.
After Lunch, Monty Panesar produced a gem of a
delivery that bounced a bit extra and turned
enough to defeat Faisal Iqbal's square cut and
it was once again a sharp catch for the wicket
keeper. Next to go was Skipper Inzamam, who
could do little to a nasty short delivery that
climbed up onto his throat from Harmison. All
Inzy could do was to fend it to Pietersen at
gully. The Pakistan Skipper who has the record
of scoring nine consecutive fifties against
England walked off without opening his account
and Pakistan slipped down to 93 for 6. Shahid
Afridi joined Razzaq and both the all rounders
got a peppering from Harmison who bowled plenty
of wicked short ones that forced the batsmen to
stay away from the line of the deliveries.
Afridi tried to be a hero by jumping down the
track to Monty Panesar and lofting him over long
on for a six but he tried the same thing again
and this time was outsmarted by Panesar who gave
extra revolutions to the ball and got it to grip
the surface. Afridi got a big miscue that went
high up in the air and then down to Pietersen
for his third catch of the day. Afridi could
last just the 16 deliveries as he did not show
any signs of playing out Harmison and Panesar.
Sami came in and disappeared in the pavilion
after driving Harmison's seaming delivery to the
slips to give the fast bowler 7th 5-wicket haul
in Tests. Soon Razzaq gave away his wicket as
well and Pakistan were almost finished at 118
for 9. Razzaq who was worried about Harmison's
short ones into his rib cage stayed on the
backfoot only to miss a pitched up inswinger
onto his stumps from Harmison. Pakistan were
bowled out in the 39th over itself with the last
man to be out being Danish Kaneria who couldn't
make his ground in time at the striker's end
after responding to a quick single to point from
Umar Gul. Steve Harmison produced his magic
after quiet sometime and his figures were 6 for
19 in just 13 overs and Monty Panesar bowled
like a champion in his own rights taking 3
wickets for 21 in just under 8 overs.
The Pakistani fast bowlers had to do something
special to bowl out England for less than 200
and from the first ball itself, the bowling
looked pedestrian. Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul
couldn't put the same kind of pressure that
their English counterparts had done with the
brand new cherry. England were off to a solid
start with Strauss in particular looking to
thrash anything that was off in line and length.
Trescothick was however out for just 5 with Sami
forcing the left hander to poke at his slanting
delivery to the wicket keeper. Cook, the no.3
batsman took England to Tea at 49 for 1 along
with his skipper. The final session saw the pair
of Strauss and Cook pushing the game forward
with their partnership and it was only a break
in play caused by some reflection caused behind
the bowler's arm that distracted Andrew Strauss
from getting along with his game. Strauss (42)
lost his focus and edged Razzaq's delivery to
the wicket keeper and the new batsman Kevin
Pietersen complained to the Umpires about the
reflection and that stopped play for a
significant amount of time. Once play resumed,
Kevin Pietersen was on the look out for runs
which he got by playing the sweep shots off
Danish Kaneria and by the flicks he played to
the fast bowlers. There was no stopping to
Pietersen who was scoring in his free flowing
fashion except for a snorter of a delivery from
Mohammad Sami that took off from short of length
and then climbed up to hit the right hander on
his neck. Pietersen after some treatment got
back to his business and along with Cook saw
England safely to 168 for 2 in the 49 overs
bowled. Pietersen slowed down towards the end to
bat out for time, but his strike rate was still
impressive with his 38 coming in 49 balls with
the help of 5 fours. Cook was slow in his game
but was keeping one end safe and his 65 took him
136 balls with 9 hits to the fence.
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