England vs. Pakistan at Lord’s – 4th Test, Day 3: Toothless Performance by Pakistan followed by Match-Fixing Allegations
These are the days when one feels utter shame and haplessness as a Pakistan cricket fan; no adjective can describe the shameless, toothless and incredibly brittle performance by the team on Day Three of the fourth and final Test against England at Lord’s.
The day has to go down as the darkest in the checkered history of Pakistani cricket; a day when the side was an embarrassment to the wonderful game of cricket, and made many wonder as to whether this team even deserves to have Test status.
The day started for them in doom and gloom after a record partnership had knocked the stuffing out of them, and their pedestrian bowling allowed Stuart Broad and Jonathan Trott to set a new world Test record partnership for the eight wicket, adding a staggering 332 runs.
The two batsmen rescued their team from 102 for the loss of 7 wickets on the second day of the match to a staggering total of 446 runs, and in reply, the visitors crashed to 74 all out and followed that up with a dismal performance of 41/4 (in 15.3 overs) when asked to follow-on.
For the third time in the series, the team crashed to a score lesser than 100, and the three scores are their worst ever in nearly 60 years of Test cricket against the masters of the game.
There is simply no excuse for the latest collapses, as the conditions were tailor-made for a big score, especially after England’s mammoth total.
At this juncture, Stuart Broad alone has more runs than the Pakistani batsmen have accumulated in two innings today; their total reads (74/10 and 41/4) 115 runs for 14 wickets, while Broad scored 169 runs in just the first innings. At this rate, international teams need to field only one batsman and yet be assured of a win against the embarrassingly poor and fragile Pakistani line-up.
There are no words that can describe the pain of the Pakistani fans, who were elated after the win in the third Test at Oval and were hoping for a continuation of the domination in the last Test that would have given them a drawn series.
It all started brilliantly for them and Mohammad Aamer had the hosts on the mat with a searing display of swing and seam bowling that left the England team reeling at 102/7.
However, that is where it all changed for them, and just a day and a half later, they are facing one of the most humiliating defeats in their Test history.
To be humiliated the way they have been is no mean achievement, since http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricket has seen some of the meekest surrenders in the history of Test cricket; however, even by their own dismal standards, the third day at Lord’s was an absolute shocker.
By the end of the day, they further embarrassed their fans when shocking reports of their involvement in match-fixing surfaced in the British media, with their lone success of the match, Mohammad Aamer, and Mohammad Asif accused of spot fixing in a sensational scam unearthed by ‘The News of the World’ tabloid.
Even captain Salman Butt, who only a week ago was touted as a great ambassador for Pakistan with his demeanor, is allegedly involved in the scandal.
It remains to be seen as to what the outcome is for him and the rest of the players, who were subjected to rigorous inquiry by the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yard police to cap off a truly miserable day in their careers.
In such circumstances, the players are expected to capitulate in the first session of play on the fourth day of the Test match, yet for the time being, their meek surrender might not gather headlines, as the world of cricket braces for another match-fixing scandal.
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