After Lord’s rout, Marcus North relishing Headingley challenge
Marcus North, the hero of Australia’s victory at Lord’s is looking forwards to Headingley as the Kangaroos gear up for the second Test match against Pakistan on Wednesday. Marcus North would be heading to Headingley after producing one of most stunning performances with the bowl in the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s.
North, who is primarily a batsman, was used as a bowler by skipper Ricky Ponting as a part time spinner in the fourth day of the opening Test match. North took a career-best of 6 wickets for 55 as his off-spin routed Pakistan on the penultimate day at Lord’s. His extraordinary bowling led Australia to a record victory margin of 150 runs. However, Marcus North would be looking to perform with the bat in the second Test after failing to score runs in the first test. The second and final Test starts at Headingley on Wednesday.
North has fond memories of Headingley as the 30-year-old scored a century in last year’s Ashes Series to steer Australia to a win. Despite North’s heroics, Australia lost the subsequent Test at Oval to lose the series against England. Talking about Headingley, North said, “I have got good memories of batting up at Headingley and hopefully I can contribute there with the bat instead of the ball.” Talking about his hundred in ashes, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Western-Australia-c865 left-handed middle-order batsman said, “I played at Leeds once and had that one hit. I have some nice memories up at Leeds and I am hoping to build on that this week.”
North is still struggling hard to realize the fact that he changed the course of the match at Lord’s. North was instrumental in Australia’s success at Lord’s as he removed Pakistan’s new captain and in-form opener Salman Butt for 92 on his first delivery of the match. Salman Butt was stumped by Tim Paine as he came out of crease to face North’s maiden delivery. What is most surprising is that North’s bowling figures are the best amongst Australian spinners at Lord’s. He surpassed performances of legends such as Clarrie Grimmett, Arthur Mailey, Shane Warne and Bill O’Reilly. Commenting on achieving this feat, modest North said, “I probably do not feel like I deserve that. There have been some amazing bowlers over the years to have had some great bowling performances at Lord’s. I certainly would like to have that six-for against England but it was a great occasion and to play at the home of cricket was fantastic.”
His six-wicket haul also included the scalp of Afridi as Pakistan’s former Test captain went for a horrendous shot just after making two runs. Afridi announced his retirement from Test cricket after the loss. Afridi has been replaced by Butt as captain for the rest of the Test matches against Australian and England. North was delighted to take Afridi’s wicket. Talking to reporters about Afridi, he said, “He has that X-factor about him. I suppose I thought I was always in with a chance because he was going to counter-attack. Fortunately enough for me, it went straight to a fielder.”
Pakistan is playing Australia on a neutral venue due to the poor security situation back in Pakistan. Security concerns regarding http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s potential and capacity to host international cricket peaked when the Sri Lankan team was attacked last year in Lahore. As a result, this series was scheduled in England, which has a large population of Pakistani expatriates. And this was clearly visible in the two T20 matches where a large number turned out to support Pakistan’s cricket team. The team did not disappoint its fans as they defeated Australia in both the matches. When asked from North if England could be the temporary home for Pakistan, he said, “It could well be. We saw a lot of support for them in the T20’s and there was some support for them at Lord’s. No doubt some of the English wanted to see us lose as well. Wherever we can play Pakistan, it is great for cricket.”
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