http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s Tail-End Woes
The astonishing recovery by the England pair of Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad on the second day of the fourth and final test at Lords has once again highlighted a perennial ailment of Pakistani teams in recent years, the inability of mopping up the tail quickly.
The hosts were tottering at 102/7 as two back to back strikes by Mohammad Aamer had given him a six-for for the first time in his career and given the visitors a golden opportunity of stamping their authority in the final test and secure a series leveling win. However, the much vaunted attack looked extremely pedestrian in the last two sessions of the day leaking 244 runs to the eighth wicket partnership and allowing Trott and Broad to post hundreds when mere survival of the English batsmen looked impossible.
The so-called world class attack, once again demonstrated their sheer inability of running through the tail which was once the hallmark of Pakistani team in the 1990’s with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292 and Waqar Younis at their pomp. The magnificent rearguard by the duo of Trott and Broad revived memories of the performance of Pat Symcox and Mark Boucher’s epic comeback in the first test of the 1998 PAK-SA series at Wanderers in Johannesburg.
The hosts were in a deep hole back then at 160 odd for 8 when Symcox had joined Boucher and smashed an extraordinary century to take his team past the 350 mark. The Pakistanis, at that time, were saved by a savage hundred by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Mahmood-c1116 after the opening order was blown away by the South African bowlers. In that series’ next match, Boucher almost took his team to a memorable win through a partnership with tail-ender Fanie DeVilliers as the duo added 80 odd for the ninth wicket chasing a target in the region of 250 runs.
Recently, the Pakistanis have suffered many defeats due to their inability of dismissing tail-end batsmen. Their astonishing defeat to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the second test at Sydney this year was made possible by an alliance of more than 100 runs between Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle, as Mr. Cricket Hussey rescued his team who had a measly lead off 51 runs with 8 wickets down. He, somehow, was enabled to take his team to a lead of 176 runs, eventually winning the match as the tourists stuttered in their chase throwing away the series.
The same fate met Pakistan in the first test of the summer at Lords against the Australians. The last three wickets added 150 runs in the second innings with Ben Hilfenhaus leading the way scoring a half century. The Australians eventually won that test by 150 runs! The ever unpredictable Pakistanis almost dug another hole for themselves in the next test match at Leeds. Steven Smith, the young Australian spinner smashed a career best 70 odd to take his team to a lead of 180 runs, setting Pakistan a challenging target and the brittle batting line-up barely succeeded in getting over the line with just three wickets standing.
Against England; the run continued in the first test at Trent Bridge where Matt Prior combined brilliantly with the tail helping the team build a 435 runs target after the hosts had lost 6 second inning’s wickets with fewer than 100 runs on the board. Even in Pakistan’s win at Oval, the hosts were allowed to recover from 95/7 in the first innings and post a total of 233 runs.
The horror show continued and turned into a major catastrophe at Lords courtesy the 244 run alliance between Trott and Broad that has all but sealed Pakistan’s hopes of winning the test and squaring the series. The irony here lies in the fact that the destroyer-in-chief of 1990’s, Waqar Younis, is the head coach of the current team and looks absolutely flabbergasted at the state of affairs.
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