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Pakistan's batting flops to allow
England seal the Series 2-0
– Day 5, 3rd Test
at Headingley Report |
August 08, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
The show is over at Headingley and it wasn't an
exciting finish as thought of before the start
of play on the final day's play but a premature
finish with Pakistan getting bundled out inside
48 overs. The tourists could put up just 155
giving England a 167-run win and also a series
win at 2-0 with still one more Test Match to go
in the series. Andrew Strauss the stand-in for a
stand-in captain got his side the first Series
victory since the Ashes. The openers failed once
again and it was a shaky platform for Pakistan
to chase the target of 323. The turning points
in this innings were two with the first one
being the suicidal run out of Mohammad Yousuf
and then Younis Khan clean bowled by a dream
delivery from Monty Panesar. Inzamam was left
with no batsmen at the other end and it was a
mere formality for England as they got to the
inevitable victory without sweating much. Monty
Panesar with three and Sajid Mahmood with four
wickets were the wreckers in chief.
Andrew Strauss gave everyone a big surprise by
getting Monty Panesar to bowl the first over of
the day's play, which was just the second over
in the Pakistani innings. Monty looked
penetrative in his first over and one thought he
would continue along with Steve Harmison with
the brand new ball. However that over from Monty
was just to change ends for Matthew Hoggard and
the swing bowler who realized that there wasn't
much assistance for his style of bowling decided
to bank on his experience of having taken 200
plus Test Wickets. Hoggard, the local boy bowled
a few intentional juicy half volleys to which
Salman Butt collected boundaries through his
customary wristy drives. Little did the young
Salman Butt anticipate that he was falling in a
trap with Hoggard setting him up for the
flamboyant drives played away from his body. The
inexperienced Salman got out caught in the slips
as planned and the breakthrough came in the 9th
over of the morning. After drinks, Monty Panesar
and Sajid Mahmood were brought into the attack
and Monty struck for England much to the delight
of his huge number of fans. Taufeeq Umar
attempting a sweep shot out of the rough got an
inside edge that took his pads and then into the
soft hands of Alastair Cook at silly point.
The two openers were back in the hut for
Pakistan but the biggest obstacle for England
was to see the back of the prolific scoring
batsmen in this series - Younis Khan and
Mohammad Yousuf. England were very fortunate to
get the wicket of Mohammad Yousuf as his partner
and he decided to go for a silly run after
Younis had played a little steer behind square
on the off side. Paul Collingwood, the gully
fielder ran in quickly on his toes to pick that
up and dive towards the stumps to affect the run
out of Yousuf (8). Faisal Iqbal was the new man
in who got off to his King pair and then a pair,
but he couldn't last long as his leg glance off
Sajid Mahmood couldn't get past the diving Chris
Read. Sajid Mahmood in that same over got Kamran
Akmal to poke at a back of length delivery that
held its line around the off stump to reduce
Pakistan at a miserable 80 for 5. The Pakistan
Skipper, Inzamam who was forced to bat after the
fall of five wickets due to his absence in the
field yesterday for four hours and twenty
minutes would have loved to have batted after
the Tea Break. But it wasn't a day for Pakistan
as the Captain joined his Deputy with half of
his side perished and with just the tail to
follow. The two batsmen carried Pakistan to
lunch without any further damage at 84 for 5.
Younis Khan and Inzamam produced Pakistan's
fightback after lunch and they took their side
past the hundred run mark with some dazzling
shots. Monty Panesar ensured that the fightback
was just a miniature one by bowling Younis Khan
with a flighted delivery that drifted in and
turned enough to beat Younis' forward prod and
clip the off bail. That was a knock out punch
from the slow bowler, a blow that thrashed away
any hopes of a Pakistani victory. Inzamam was
hardly getting any support from his lower order
and the inevitable English victory came with
Inzamam jumping down the track with a shaky head
position to miss the line of a Monty Panesar
delivery completely to be stumped by Chris Read.
Inzamam did not bother to look back and his
innings came to an end at a personal score of 38
and Pakistan all out for 155 with their second
innings not even lasting two full sessions.
Sajid Mahmood got the most number of wickets
today as he was rewarded due to his extra effort
of bowling at almost 90mph and getting the ball
to kiss the surface and climb onto the batsmen.
Monty Panesar was amazing as he continued to get
the wickets of some of the best players of spin
in this Test Series.
So Headingley is now done and dusted and the
action now shifts to The Oval on the 17th for
the fourth and final test match. Pakistan's
bowling attack will be bolstered by the return
of the upcoming bowling superstar Mohammad Asif.
England would be happy at the way Chris Read and
Sajid Mahmood have performed in this match and
the hunger for winning Test Matches is quite
evident in this team.
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