Pakistan Tour of England: Pakistan vs Kent - 1st day of the 3-day match
Pakistan’s preparation for the marathon summer in England that will feature 6 tests matches is not going ideal; after a narrow 6 run win against MCC in a T-20 match, Pakistan started their 1st three-day match against county side Kent. Pakistan’s fragile batting line-up once again could not find the answers on a seamer friendly track. It was young Umar Akmal who was the lone shining star with 153 in an otherwise patchy batting performance. An interesting fact about this match is that former Pakistan test all rounder Azhar Mehmood is captaining the Kent side.
Shahid Afridi won the toss and decided to test his batsmen on a Canterbury pitch which was expected to offer assistance to the seamers. The 2 left-handers Salman Butt and Umar Amin opened the innings for Pakistan. The ball started moving from the first over and both openers found it hard to even find the middle of the bat for the first few overs. After scratching around for 3 overs, Umar Amin was finally put out of his misery when he was trapped in front by Matt Coles after scoring just 2 runs from 7 balls.
Another left hander, all rounder Fawad Alam, came in to join Butt and batting started to look slightly easier. The pair, though, continued to have a cautious approach but pounced on anything remotely wide, putting on 43 for the 2nd wicket in 12 overs, before Fawad was the 2nd one to go lbw for 20 runs from 31 balls. Fawad scored 2 boundaries in his batting spell, and was dismissed by Dewald Nel.
Shoaib Malik then walked out, but another wicket followed soon as Salman Butt was the 3rd player to be dismissed once again lbw. This time, it was the former teammate Azhar Mehmood who took the wicket. Salman scored 26 runs from 49 balls with 5 boundaries.
Umar Akmal came in at number 5. Umar Akmal has looked a class above his teammates; the stylish right hander tamed his aggression to adapt to the moving ball, and did it with great effect. Shoaib Malik and Umar put on 59 for the 4th wicket before Malik was caught by Blake on the bowling of Lawson after scoring 27 from 39 balls, hitting 5 boundaries in his spell.
In a 3-day match, the scorecard looked less than impressive with Pakistan at 112 for 4. That is when the elder Akmal, Kamran, walked in to join his brother. The brothers showed good understanding and started to show some signs of recovery.
Although there was not the usual stroke play from both as we have become so used to, there was enough class on display, as both made sure they pounced on anything loose, putting on 68 runs for the 5th wicket. Kamran Akmal was dismissed after scoring a gutsy 28 from 43 balls with 3 boundaries and a delightful six. He was caught by Coles off the bowling of Alex Blake.
Next in was the captain Shahid Afridi, and it was not a happy outing for the all rounder. He was dismissed for naught after facing 6 balls. Afridi was caught by Nel on the bowling of Blake.
Left arm Spinner Abdur Rehman then joined Umar Akmal, who was still going strong at the other end. Umar and Rehman put on a good partnership where Akmal really came into his own, and realising the fact that he was running out of partners, he started using the long handle, and in that period smashed 4 sixes, 3 of them typically to his favourite midwicket area.
The pair put on 111 runs before Abdur Rehman was stumped by Paul Dixey on the bowling of Goodman after scoring 30 runs from 95 balls with 2 fours.
Later, Umar Akmal was also sent back; while going for another big hit against Lawson, he was stumped after scoring a brilliant and stroke filled 153 runs off 188 balls (with 17 fours and 5 sixes).
Inspired by Umar Akmal, the 3rd Umar in the team, fast bowler Umar Gul, played some big shots at number 10, scoring 30 unbeaten runs from just 26 balls with 2 fours and 2 towering sixes. Pakistan team were eventually bowled out for 360, with Mark Lawson claiming 4 wickets for Kent.
In reply, Kent played one over for 2 runs without losing a wicket.
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