Wahab Riaz debuts with five-wicket haul against England
Test debutant Wahab Riaz’s five-wicket haul has ensured England could only amass a first innings total of 233 in their Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 at The Oval, but if it wasn’t for Matt Prior (84 not out) and Stuart Broad’s record 119-run eighth-wicket partnership the situation might have been a lot worse for the home side.
Wahab began the day by ripping through the England top order, claiming Andrew Strauss (15) as his first Test victim and following that with the wickets of Jonathan Trott (12), Kevin Pietersen (six) and Eoin Morgan (17) before breaking the partnership between Prior and Broad (48) to bring to an end a frustrating couple of hours for the visitors. The left-arm paceman finally finished with first innings figures of 5-63.
Wahab’s impressive debut will provide the tourists with some confidence that they’ve made the right choice with their replacement for the injured Umar Gul (hamstring) and they can breathe a sigh of relief that Kamran Akmal didn’t bring his iron gloves with him to The Oval in his return to the Test XI after his nightmare behind the stumps in Nottingham, the wicketkeeper holding onto all four catches provided to him behind the stumps by England’s batsmen.
England, despite Broad and Prior’s fightback, will have some concerns about their performance with the bat in the first innings and none will be more worried than Alastair Cook, after the opener once again failed to make any meaningful contribution to his team’s total, this time departing for six to leave his total at a cumulative 106 in eight innings on home soil this summer.
Hardly the form that warrants a seat on the plane to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, and the left-hander is fast running out of chances to make his case for inclusion in the England squad that heads Down Under to begin their Ashes defence this November.
While England’s top order crumbled, Prior and Broad gave the innings some measure of respectability, notching the highest 8th wicket partnership for England against Pakistan, breaking a record that had stood since 1962.
The partnership was finally broken when Wahab trapped Broad on the pads to trigger a bottom order collapse, with Mohammad Asif dismissing James Anderson (duck) in the same manner in the next over.
Saeed Ajmal then ensured Pakistan wasn’t left to rue their only major fielding blunder of the day – when Mohammad Yousuf dropped the easiest of chances to dismiss Prior in the 63rd over – for more than one ball, as he claimed his first wicket of the day the very next ball, dismissing Steven Finn lbw for a duck to end England’s innings on 233.
In reply Pakistan ended the day at 48-1 after Imran Farhat was bowled by Anderson for 11 in the final over of the day.
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