Pakistan Cricket News
Finally Pakistan, breaking a streak of 13 consecutive defeats, has won a test against Australia after a gap of 15 years at Leeds today. Salman Butt turned out to be a lucky charm for Pakistan leading the side to a 3-wicket win in his first Test match as a captain.
A brilliant bowling performance from the pace stars of Pakistan bagged Pakistan a triumph over the ashes favourites after they bundle Ponting’s men out for a less than three-digit total (88) in their first innings at Leeds. Pakistan’s opening duo, Salman Butt and Imran Farhat once again sparked to give an opening stand of 80 runs to their side. The opening partnership of 80 runs was well supported by small partnerships of the middle order taking Pakistan to a 170 runs lead over the strong opposition. The bowling attack, respecting the 170 runs lead, remarkably defended it as they did not let Australian batsmen charge themselves with their disciplined bowling.
Australia was all out at 349, setting a winning target of 179 runs for Pakistan. The opening batsman, Imran Farhat’s half century the second innings levelled the path for Pakistan to a 3-wicket victory with a day to spare.
Shoaib Malik and the Akmal brothers were under the management’s microscope in the Leeds Test. The three leading players raised the eyebrows of the PCB officials after losing their wickets poorly during the Headingley Test. A PCB official, while talking to the media, said that the three senior players were expected to show some responsible attitude in the inexperienced batting line-up of Pakistan, but the way they lost their wickets in the first innings was quite disappointing. All the three batsmen lost their wickets spooning easy catches to the fielders. The three senior batsmen were also among the players who were banned after the winless tour of Australia earlier this year.
Looking at the poor performance of the inexperienced batting line against Australia at Lord’s and subsequent retirement of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 - as PCB has cleared his name and he is allowed to rejoin his international career with the national team.
Younis Khan, however, is still facing PCB’s opposition. The legal advisor of PCB, Tafazzul Rizvi has asked him to approach PCB and clear his position about the charges imposed upon him if he wants to be considered for the national side. Ijaz Butt has also hinted that Younis might not return into the side against England as he said, "Though we are considering him, we have not finalised anything about his inclusion in the team."
Boom Boom Afridi has been ruled out by the Hampshire from the quarterfinal of the Friends Provident T20 Championship that would be played on 26th July. Afridi, who resigned from the Test cricket last week after Pakistan lost 13th consecutive Test to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 team will be playing Test series against England. However, the Hampshire management has ruled out any such possibility.
The Hampshire manager Giles White said that the swashbuckling batsman is not joining his side for the ongoing Friends Provident tournament. He said that the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789 team is already packed and there is no place for Afridi.
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