England vs Pakistan – hosts collapse on day two at Trent Bridge
Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif completed a five-wicket haul in the morning session on day two of the Test match at Trent Bridge as England lost six wickets for the addition of just 23-runs to their overnight total as they were dismissed for 354.
Asif, who finished with figures of 5-77 bowled straight as an arrow before lunch, claiming all four of his wickets for the day (in addition to that of Kevin Pietersen on day one) lbw, as England’s usually deep batting line-up failed to fire after the early dismissals of Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan.
First-time Test centurion Morgan was given a life early in proceedings when Imran Farhat dropped what should have been a straightforward catch in the slips, as not for the first time in the match Pakistan’s fielders weren’t equal to Mohammad Aamer’s bowling.
But while Aamer was left to rue another missed chance, Asif bypassed the need to involve the fielders, securing his second wicket of the match as he sent the ball crashing into Paul Collingwood’s knee roll, and when the umpire Decision Review System agreed with Tony Hill, the gritty batsman was on his way for 82 and his 219-run partnership with Morgan had come to an end.
Morgan departed in a similar manner soon after, having added just one run to his total since Farhat’s dropped catch, Asif again trapping the batsman plumb in front for 130 – a decision that had England had any challenges remaining would have been supported by the DRS.
The 23-year-old left the ground to the applause of the sell-out crowd, and deservedly so after guiding his side to a commanding position in the match, as the job of adding to the 344-run total was left to Matt Prior and Graeme Swann.
Prior only managed to contribute six to the team score before a mix-up between the batsmen left him stranded while attempting a third run and Pakistan made no mistake in claiming his wicket; while Swann became Asif’s third lbw victim of the day and was out for three.
James Anderson then arrived at the crease and promptly padded up to Asif’s next delivery, and was sent straight back to the pavilion for a duck as the bowler was left on a hat-trick ball against England’s No. 11 batsman, Steven Finn, whose edge landed just short of the slip cordon to deny the 27-year-old the achievement.
When Umar Gul rattled Stuart Broad’s stumps for three the England innings was over, and Pakistan found themselves off the field and beginning the chase much sooner than perhaps even the most fervent Pakistan supporter would have expected.
After a dismal morning with the bat, England secured the important wicket of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 skipper Salman Butt (one) before lunch, with birthday boy Anderson doing the damage as an outswinging ball grazed the edge of Butt’s bat and Prior made no mistake with the catch.
At lunch Pakistan were 16-1 in reply.
Find out what happened in the afternoon session http://www.senore.com/England-vs-Pakistan-at-Trent-Bridge-day-two-stumps-report-a19464.
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