England vs http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 at The Oval – day two report
There isn’t much separating England and Pakistan at the end of play on day two of the third Test at the Oval. The visitors, who probably just have the edge, will be disappointed that they haven’t built a bigger advantage over their opponents as at least four of their batsmen got in, but failed to post a game-changing score.
Mohammed Yousuf (56) and Azhar Ali (92 not out) top scored for the visitors, both hitting well-crafted innings as Pakistan established a 75-run first-innings lead. But it was Graeme Swann, who took four wickets, who will grab the headlines as he picked up his 100th Test wicket in the dismissal of Yousuf, becoming the third quickest player in history (23 matches) to reach 100 Test wickets, which came after he also received a belated nomination of ICC Cricketer of the Year having been accidentally omitted.
The day got off to the perfect start for the hosts as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yasir-Hameed-c2811, who looked in good touch yesterday, fell to the second ball of the day without adding to his overnight score of 36. Stephen Finn almost had his man with the opening ball, as Hameed edged one just short of Collingwood at third slip. But the next delivery was on the money once again, Finn found one to nip away from Hameed, who miss-timed his cut shot and Prior was left to take a simple catch.
Salman Butt came to the crease short of confidence and his average of just four runs from the last four innings looked justified as the bowling of Swann proved the difference. Butt, after hitting a confident boundary the previous ball, clumsily went after a short delivery that turned just enough to find the edge and Prior, despite his best juggling impression, done the rest which left Pakistan 76-3.
Wahab Riaz, the night-watchman, played a gutsy knock of 27 before being trapped lbw by Swann just before lunch, whose return to the attack once again worked like a charm for captain Andrew Strauss.
After the lunch break, Yousuf and Ali steadied the wobbling Pakistan ship with some sensible batting, until Swann broke the partnership with his landmark wicket. Ten minutes after celebrating his half-century which included some fabulous cover drives, Yousuf on 56, chipped a ball straight back at the in-form spinner, who took the catch smartly down to his right.
The introduction of the eccentric Umar Akmal at number seven seemed to quicken the tourists’ run-rate, both he and Ali started to find the boundary on a regular basis and the game seemed to be swaying back in Pakistan’s favour.
But in keeping with Pakistan’s crazy summer, Akmal stupidly gave his wicket away for 38 with only four deliveries to go until the new ball was due. Akmal - much like many of the Pakistani batsmen today - looked to be seeing the ball very well and well capable of producing a big score until he went for a quick single that simply wasn’t there. Wisely, his partner Ali sent him back, but Eion Morgan, who had dropped a sitter earlier in the day was alive to the situation with a direct hit, leaving Akmal a couple of feet short of his crease.
That wicket meant his severely out of form brother Kamran, came out to face a fired up England pace attack with the new ball and he lasted only 16 balls and made only 10 runs. Stuart Broad took his first wicket of the match as Akmal was caught at backward point by Morgan, who had a brilliant end to the day in the field. Broad kept up his demolition of the tail by getting rid of Mohammad Amir (6), who nicked one behind to present Prior with his third catch of the innings.
Jimmy Anderson finally got his reward for a day filled with consistent bowling to pick up the wicket of Saeed Ajmal (0), who had no answer to the paceman’s brilliant swinging delivery that pitched on leg and dispatched Ajmal’s off stump as Pakistan eventually reached 308 all out.
In reply England's second innings got off to a bad start with just six runs on the board at close of play but at the cost of the wicket of Strauss for four.
The spotlight will be on opener Alistair Cook tomorrow who needs a big score in order to sustain his Test-match place and it’s anybody’s guess how the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 man will cope with the pressure, but one thing that you can guarantee is that there is plenty of cricket yet to be played in this tight contest.
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