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Windies
stuttering after conceding a massive lead |
November 13, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
Brian Lara’s West Indies are stuttering in their
second innings after they had conceded a massive
first innings lead of 289. But the Skipper Brian
Lara is there in the middle and as long as he is
there Pakistan will be on their toes. At stumps
on Day 3, West Indies closed at 74 for 3 having
faced 21 overs spread before Tea and after the
Tea Break. A shocking umpiring decision and a
run out have put the visitors under tremendous
pressure.
The tourists couldn’t have asked for a better
start this morning as they had the homeside
restricted to 285 for 6 from the overnight score
of 265 for 4. Shoaib Malik added just 8 more to
his previous night score of 61 before he had
chipped a down the legs delivery to square leg
off Jerome Taylor. Abdul Razzaq who got ahead of
Kamran Akmal in the batting showed his
vulnerability to the moving ball as he poked at
an away going delivery from Taylor to the
Keeper. West Indies’ pacers, Jerome Taylor and
Corey Collymore looked threatening as they got
the ball to move around in the overcast
conditions. The luck of West Indies soon faded
with the sun coming out blazing and with that
the movement off the pitch and in the air was
nullified.
With Mohammad Yousuf carrying on from where he
had left in yesterday’s play and with Kamran
Akmal playing like a pocket size dynamite, the
fielders were kept busy chasing the ball. Pak
safely went to lunch at 396 for 6 with Yousuf
moving onto 163 while Kamran Akmal had fetched
himself a fourth Test match fifty. The first
session which is a two and hours one saw the
homeside add up 131 runs in the 35 overs bowled.
The run rate had picked up considerably thanks
to Akmal’s blazing drives.
In the post lunch session, it was Chris Gayle
who had stopped what was going to be some
carnage as he removed Kamran Akmal in his first
over of the day. Akmal had flicked an off break
that had stopped onto the bat to Lara at short
mid wicket. By then enough damage was done with
Kamran Akmal smashing 78 with 13 fours from 121
balls to add up a 148 run stand for the 7th
wicket! Chris Gayle soon produced a magic
delivery to prevent Yousuf from registering yet
another double century. It was a straighter one
that had drifted away to beat Yousuf’s
intentions of driving that through the covers.
Denesh Ramdin took the bails off in time seeing
Yousuf’s backleg dragged out of the crease and
Asoka de Silva at square leg didn’t have to go
upstairs to refer that decision! Mohammad Yousuf
finally departed making 192 that had come in 330
balls with 24 boundaries and a six he hit today
off Dave Mohammed.
Dave Mohammed captured the wickets of the tail
enders Shahid Nazir and Danish Kaneria to end
the innings at 485 in 146 overs. The wicket was
flattening out so much that even the last pair
of Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria was playing their
fancy shots to put on 39 runs. West Indies had
to bat for about 30 minutes or so before the Tea
Break and were off to a dismal start with Ganga
sent back by Gayle after an attempt to steal a
leg bye. It was Imran Farhat contributing to the
dismissal as he quickly moved to his right at
square leg to pick up and score a direct hit to
find Ganga short of his crease. The icing on the
cake for Pak was given by Umar Gul who had got
Chris Gayle to edge him to Kamran Akmal. Gayle
didn’t move his feet at all to an awkward length
that had him in two minds whether to get onto
the frontfoot or get back in the crease. In the
5 overs that were possible in the second innings
before the Tea Break, Windies were down at 28
for 2.
The last session required Brian Lara and
Ramnaresh Sarwan to show some character in their
batting which they had started to do so in their
style. But Asoka de Silva spoilt the impressive
fight back by raising his crooked finger when
Umar Gul had got one to nip back and strike
Sarwan above his knee roll. Sarwan was looking
good with 23 which had 5 fours and he was indeed
hard done by that ridiculous decision that will
have an impact on the match result. Fidel
Edwards was sent in to shield Chanderpaul and
others and the fast bowler had done his night
watchman duty to perfection as he survived 19
deliveries. As soon as light was offered by the
two officials, there was no looking back with
the players getting to safety. It was another
shortened day of cricket with just 76 overs
bowled, so effectively this math is like a
four-day game!
All is not over for the tourists who need to
believe in their ability to stick around. The
wicket is a flat one, so a couple of batsmen
need to get hundreds to rescue their side.
Pakistan will try to field well to support their
bowlers. Danish Kaneria will certainly be the
danger man tomorrow!
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