Cricket Update: England Rocked Early in Third Test by Pakistan Bowlers
The third test between England and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 has started at the Oval in London with the hosts starting off the session steadily, after an early loss of opener Alastair Cook, who continued his wretched run in the series falling for another single figures score.
Cook edged a perfectly pitched delivery from pacer Mohammad Asif behind the stumps to Karman Akmal, who made no mistake with a straight forward chance.
After Cook’s demise the experienced duo of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott, who steered the team to a comfortable win in the second innings of the second test at Edgbaston, Birmingham negotiated the seam and swing on offer by the Pakistani pacers under cloudy conditions with relative ease.
Strauss survived a confident lbw appeal against pacer Asif, yet the left-handed did not survive for long. He fell after striking two fours in the first over by debutant Wahab Riaz the England captain edged the left-armer behind the stumps to Kamran Akmal, who once again claimed the chance with ease.
The hosts were in for more shocks before the interval as Wahab Riaz bowled with sustained hostility in his debut test match, making the English batsmen hop all over. The Lahore pacer reaped the rewards for his effort, when he removed Jonathan Trott who fell for 12 runs off 34 balls.
Trott was brilliantly taken in the second slip by a diving http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yasir-Hameed-c2811; Trott scored two boundaries in his innings.
The next jolt for the hosts was the dismissal of Paul Collingwood, who dragged a ball from Mohammad Aamer onto his stumps after scoring 5 runs off 7 balls; his short innings included one rasping straight drive of Aamer.
The hosts were tottering at 47/4 at this stage with Strauss wondering if it was a wise decision to bat first in tricky bowling conditions.
The fifth wicket partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan than steadied the English ship, as conditions stayed tricky for the batsmen especially under the thick cloud cover.
Pietersen was than snapped by Wahab Riaz with a brilliant ball that left him at the last fraction of a second and England’s mainstay could only feather an edge to a beaming Kamran Akmal.
This was the third wicket for Wahab in his first test match, as the left armer kept probing away to register a dream test debut.
The hosts were placed at 70/5 at lunch, as Pakistan made the most of helpful conditions.
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