England take 2-0 series lead over Pakistan
After a frustrating day in the field on day three of the Edgbaston Test, England have claimed victory and a 2-0 series lead over Pakistan on day four.
The visitors resumed at 291-9 this morning but the tail-end resistance that had been led by Test debutant Zulqarnain Haider (88) yesterday was snuffed out after just 11 balls and five runs today when Stuart Broad – fined half of his match fee for petulantly throwing the ball at batsman Zulqarnain Haider at the end of the 63rd over of Pakistan’s second innings on Sunday – claimed the wicket of Mohammad Asif with England 117 runs in arrears of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s total.
What followed was largely a formality for Andrew Strauss’ side, who had the best part of two days to reach the target should they so desire; although the dismissal of out-of-form opener Alastair Cook for four when he was bowled by Mohammad Amir in the third over of the innings caused for some concern moving forward in this series, and looking ahead to the Ashes later this year.
Without an experienced opening replacement in the wings – Michael Carberry only played one Test in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 to find form in the County Championship.
While Cook flopped again, Strauss can thank Pakistan for failing to hold onto a couple of catches of varying difficulty as notched his half-century and together with Jonathan Trott (53 not out) guided England to victory.
And while Pakistan can take some positives from another fighting performance from their lower order, including the successful debut of Haider (wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal should struggle to find his way back into the Test side this series) and the five-wicket haul taken by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danish-Kaneria-c1314’s spin replacement Saeed Ajmal in the first innings, this is another match that has exposed weaknesses in both their fielding and their top-order.
In the circumstances, it’s hard to imagine Mohammad Yousuf (flown in to bolster the batting order following Pakistan’s 354-run loss in the series opener but missing from the playing XI this Test) won’t be included when the third Test of the four match series begins on August 18th.
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