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Pietersen's
blazing hundred puts England in a position of
strength – Day 1, 3rd Test at Headingley
Report |
August 04, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
 Kevin
Pietersen's blazing hundred put England in a
supreme position at Stumps on Day 1 of the 3rd
Test Match against Pakistan at Headingley.
Pietersen wasn't in the middle for England as
they closed the day's play at 347 for 6 as the
dominating batsman had retired hurt during the
course of his innings and in his absence, the
Ian Bell has kept the innings going for the
homeside. The good news for England is that
Kevin Pietersen, who has recovered from cramps
in his fore arm will join Ian Bell (66 not out)
tomorrow morning. Pakistan looked good in
patches and were hard done by some of the
umpiring decisions that should have gone their
way. In the end, it was a mixture of luck and
good batting that had got England into this
position.
Tale of the Morning Session : Pakistani
Seamers put up an impressive show
Pakistan made an impressive start by reducing
England to 110 for 3 at Lunch. Andrew Strauss
had won the toss and had decided to bat first
under overcast conditions. The only change in
the English Side was known few days back with
Chris Read snatching the gloves away from
Geraint Jones. The tourists made three changes
leaving out the injured Imran Farhat and all
rounders Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq. Taufeeq
Umar and Salman Butt, the two opening batsmen
have been included along with pace bowler Shahid
Nazir who is playing a Test Match after seven
long years. And it was Shahid Nazir, who was the
pick of the bowlers in the morning session,
bowling at a probing line around off stump.
Nazir took the wicket of Andrew Strauss in his 8
overs spell forcing the English Captain to nick
his delivery that landed perfectly on the seam.
It was Mohammad Sami who had produced the first
breakthrough for Pakistan removing Trescothick
through a soft dismissal. Trescothick looking to
drive Sami on the up didn't get into a good
position and it was a pat back to the bowler who
took it in the second attempt. Just at the
stroke of the lunch break, Umar Gul had
dismissed Alastair Cook after the batsman was
early in his drive on the up. Pakistan would
have been in a much better position but for the
two umpiring decisions. Kevin Pietersen was the
not out batsman, who is fighting hard to survive
some good seam bowling and he has taken his
score to 17. Andrew Strauss was the top scorer
with a strokeful 36 and Trescothick gave
glimpses of getting back his form in his 28.
Tale of the Afternoon Session : Pietersen,
Collingwood consolidate for England
Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood settled
down after lunch and their partnership got along
well with Pakistanis making some tactical errors
in not getting their best bowler of the day -
Shahid Nazir straightaway into the attack. The
bowlers were either too full or too short and
that had got the partnership rolling and it
looked as if Pietersen and Collingwood would
take England safely to Tea without losing a
single wicket in the session. But it was Paul
Collingwood, who had perished playing a hook
shot straight to the man at deep square leg off
Umar Gul, whom he had pulled in the previous
delivery for a boundary. Paul Collingwood's
innings came at an end with England at 192 for
4, ending the 82 runs partnership and at a
personal score of 31. England went to Tea losing
just the wicket of Collingwood and they had
collected 114 runs at an impressive run rate of
over 4.00. Pietersen was on 82 and was in no
mood to throw it away and his eyes were on for a
big hundred. Ian Bell looked solid on 9 and he
is in tremendous form with two hundreds in this
series. England at Tea were 224 for 4 in 54
overs and Pakistan still had a chance of coming
back strongly after the break with a couple of
wickets, but they needed Pietersen's wicket very
badly.
Tale of the Final Session : Ian Bell, Chris
Read make Pak suffer
Kevin Pietersen got to his 5th Test Match
hundred but had to soon leave to the dressing
room after suffering from cramps in the 62nd
over. He was on 104 and England were at 259 for
4 and Chris Read had to come and show his
batting potential to a packed house at
Headingley. The start was a shaky one with Read
getting off the mark in a streaky fashion
through an inside edge for a boundary, but he
got over his nerves to play some attacking
shots. Ian Bell was rock solid at the other end
and both batsmen continued the good work done by
Kevin Pietersen. Pakistan had to even bring in
Taufeeq Umar and Salman Butt to bowl their
lollipop off breaks as they had no option but to
wait for the second new ball. It was the second
new ball that did the trick for Pakistan with
Umar Gul getting one to nip back and keep low to
catch Chris Read in the crease. Billy Doctrove
gave a straight forward lbw decision and England
were 345 for 5 with Read gone for a good looking
34. Read's innings also contained a six which
had come through a pull shot to Danish Kaneria's
top spinner that was on the shorter side.
England decided to save Kevin Pietersen for the
second day's play and in came night watchman
Matthew Hoggard. The nightwatchman did his job
to perfection until the last over of the day's
play when his stumps were knocked down by Umar
Gul's away going delivery that was pitched up on
the stumps. England wouldn't be that bothered
though about Hoggard's wicket and would be
hoping that Pietersen and Bell continue from
where they had left today.
Kevin Pietersen's 104 had come through three
lives with the first one being given not out by
umpire Hair after the batsman had got an inside
edge onto the thigh pad off the bowling of
Shahid Nazir. The second life was also through
an inside edge onto the body and then into the
slips but this time the bowler, Shahid Nazir had
over stepped the crease. The third life was
through a dolly of a catch dropped at short mid
wicket by Salman Butt with Pietersen pulling
Shahid Nazir's short delivery straight into
Butt's hands. All in all, Pietersen's 104 took
just 131 balls with the help of 15 fours and two
sixes. For Pakistan, Umar Gul was the pick of
the bowlers taking four wickets in just over 18
overs and Shahid Nazir looked clever in seaming
the ball in both the directions but not at a
great pace, which was just around the 80mph
mark. There was hardly anything in the wicket
for Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Sami continued
to be expensive although he looked to be running
in well to the crease today.
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