South Africa dominate first session, Pakistan denied of an early breakthrough
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 stamped their authority on Pakistan in the first session’s play at Dubai International Stadium. In doing so, they set a strong base by setting up an unbeaten opening partnership of 101 runs.
In the process, the centre at Dubai became the latest Test venue as both the teams take on each other in the first Test of the two-match series. The stadium at Dubai became the 102nd ground to be a part of Test cricket.
The tourists won the toss and elected to bat first on a grassless track. In doing so, the opening pair laid a strong foundation in anticipation to set up a huge first innings total. Alviro Peterson struck a scintillating half-century to dent the opposition’s
hope of getting an early wicket.
Moreover, his innings of 51 runs include 8 crisp boundaries. He was instrumental in using his feet against the spinners on a track that was offering a bit of turn and uneven bounce to the spinners. Surprisingly, Graeme Smith was the junior member in the
association between the two openers, though remained unbeaten on 48 runs.
The opening bowler’s for Pakistan did a terrific job in their early spell as they posed all sorts of problems and threats to the opposition, and were unlucky not to take a wicket.
Umar Gul produced a beautiful delivery to Peterson, which came back in the air and moved away off the surface to take the out-side edge, though the umpire denied a strong appeal for caught behind. As a result, Adnan Akmal, the wicket keeper was denied his
first Test victim on debut.
Going into the first game, Pakistan suffered an early blow as their star batsman Mohammad Yousuf was ruled out due to a leg injury. Azhar Ali will have another go in the longest version of the game.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 has gone into the first Test with two front line spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman. The experts say that it will grip and turn for the spinners.
Pakistan is playing their first Test under a new Test captain Misbah ul Haq, since the spot fixing controversy in England at Lord’s. The absence of their solid opener, Salman Butt will put a lot of pressure on the current opening pair of Taufeeq Umar and
Mohammad Hafeez.
Furthermore, the unavailability of their premier fast bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir will create a lot of problems for the home team as the pair was easily the best in the business on the recently concluded England Tour.
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