Mohammad Amir tears England apart, races to 50 Test wickets
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 paceman Mohammad Amir has become the youngest bowler to take 50 career Test wickets and in the process added his name to the honours board at Lord’s as he ripped through England’s batting line-up on day two of the current Test.
After taking four wickets before lunch, the 18-year-old’s left-arm swing bowler again proved deadly against England’s batsmen after lunch, as Matt Prior (22) became his fifth victim of the match as in the third over of the afternoon session he edged the ball through to Kamran Akmal who duly took the catch.
Prior’s departure broke a 55-run stand between the England wicketkeeper and Jonathan Trott, who had together guided the home side from a dismal 47-5 early in the morning session to a more comfortable 97-5 at the break.
Amir had barely had time to recover from his turf-kissing celebrations after taking his five-fer when two balls later Graeme Swann (duck) supplied him with his sixth wicket of the match, attempting a drive but instead sending the ball into the gully where Azhar Ali snared a fine catch.
Yesterday’s rain soaked conditions, where only 12.3 overs were played for the day, may have seemed like good weather for ducks, but today’s proved even better with Swann’s exit without troubling the scorer seeing him become the fourth England batsman to depart for a duck – Amir having previously inflicted the same fate on Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan earlier in the day.
Too few of Trott’s teammates had offered any resistance to Amir’s superb bowling – while Mohammad Asif went unrewarded for some more than decent bowling of his own down the other end – but as batting partners came and went, the 29-year-old brought up his third half-century of a series where he has been among the more consistent of England’s batsmen.
Stuart Broad’s arrival at the crease alongside Trott, however, marked the beginning of another half-century partnership, and England headed to tea with their score on 188-7, with Trott unbeaten on 77 and Broad on 46 not out.
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