Can Pakistan Cricket Make History?
Despite an encouraging start to their world record chase in the Lords test, the odds are heavily stacked against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482’s men considering the brittle nature of the batting line-up.
Pakistan ended day three at 114 for 1 still 306 runs away from the target, opening batsmen Salman Butt and Imran Farhat got the team off to an encouraging start before Farhat smashed a long-hop from debutant spinner Steven Smith into the hands of Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 at mid-wicket.
Butt then found an able ally in Azhar Ali who is also making his test debut; the right-hander was a model of patience as he negotiated a tough spell from the Australian bowlers and was lucky to survive a vociferous LBW appeal on the last ball of the day bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus.
However the day belonged to the Australians who extended their 205 runs lead overnight to an imposing target of 440 courtesy a determined performance by the last three Australian wickets that added 146 runs taking the game away from Pakistan.
Ben Hilfenhaus was the star with the bat too, scoring his maiden half century and propelling the Aussies to a position of immense strength and making them firm favourites for a 13th consecutive test win against Pakistan.
The bowling by the hosts left much to be desired as they toiled hard for the final three wickets, clearly tired and jaded from their heavy workload in the first three days of the match.
The bowlers had to get the Aussies out twice inside the first three days, as the batsmen let them down with only a 41 over stint on the batting crease accumulating a pathetic 148 runs.
The star in the first innings was Salman Butt and once again he led from the front scoring an unbeaten 58 off 118 balls.
The left-hander is the key to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s chances on the last two days of the match.
If the batsmen think about the game properly then the task is by no way insurmountable as the track looks to have eased out and is becoming more and more in the favour of batsman having a sub-continent like whitish look to it.
They have to score 306 runs in a minimum of 180 overs if the weather stays clear, but on the other hand their fragile nature and history is both against them.
Yet one positive is that the highest run chase was against the Aussies, by the West Indians who overhauled a 415 run target in the final match of a test series that they had lost already.
Incidentally the highest chase in One-Day cricket is also against the Australians a feat accomplished by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 chasing down 438 runs for a win in an unbelievable one-day match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
Unfortunately though the Pakistani batsmen have struggled beyond belief against the Australians in recent history, and in the 12 match defeat run not even once have they crossed the 400 run mark.
The fourth day of the match is set to be enthralling none the less, as the beleaguered Pakistani batsmen give the target a shot.
At the minute their chances of pulling of an improbable win are less than 10 percent, and most of the cricket experts are betting for a result on the fourth day itself.
Let us see how long can the batsmen last, since given their inexperience and fragility an inevitable collapse in always round the corner, my guess is that they are set to be folded by the tea session today!
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