Wahab Riaz takes five on debut for Pakistan in 3rd Test at The Oval
The ongoing tour of Pakistan in England, gives spectators an opportunity to watch good Test cricket. The third Test’s day-one belonged to the debutant, Wahab Riaz. The youngster bamboozled the English top order batsmen with his unplayable fast swing bowling. England has a two match lead in the four-Test match series by winning the first two test matches, with utmost ease and comfort. The English wished to whitewash the visitors and build their confidence before the Ashes series later this year.
Recruiting Wahab Riaz has definitely paid off for the Pakistani skipper Salman Butt. The young left-arm fast bowler has already made his One-Day International (ODI) debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in the tri-series in Bangladesh. In three matches the youngster has taken 7 crucial match winning wickets. The left-arm bowler has also played a T20 international match, managing one vital wicket.
Riaz enjoyed a debut to be remembered at the Oval, taking 5 wickets for just 63 runs, reducing the English to 233 all out. Besides, the 116 runs partnership between Matt Prior and Stuart Broad, the English batting performance was lacklustre. There is no doubt that English batsmen were troubled by young Riaz’s slingy bowling style, extra bounce and pace, he was extracting from the pitch.
The English bowlers struck in the final over of day 1, when left-handed opening batsmen Imran Farhat inside edged a James Anderson delivery on to his stumps. On the other hand, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yasir-Hameed-c2811 was impressive with his positive stroke play. Making his comeback, Hameed quickly reached the 36 run mark.
Other bowling contributions came from Mohammad Asif superb line and length. Playing his part by taking 3 wickets, Asif provided the first break thought to the visitors, which started the downfall of the English line-up. Mohammad Amir and Saeed Ajmal were able to pocket one wicket a piece. Experts and commentators believed that Pakistan was a much better side then before with only one mishap in the field, when veteran batsman, Mohammad Yousuf dropped a catch.
At 94 for 7, the English were in a hopelessly position. That is when Matt Prior and Stuart Broad fought back, putting on 116 for the eighth wicket. Prior scored a match saving 84, whereas, Broad supported with a gritty 48.
Currently, Pakistan trail by 185 runs with 9 wickets in hand. Now it is up to the Pakistani batting line-up to complement their bowling performance. The changes in the batting department are yet to be seen, in terms of how well they can perform in the given conditions at the Oval.
The Pakistani’s are very well placed at the moment, but one can never be sure the course of action as the game will progress. Riaz’s five gave Pakistan an edge. Now Pakistan should look to build a total which gives them an advantage over England. Surely now the right-handed veteran batsman, Mohammad will guide the Pakistani batting to a sizeable total.
Nevertheless, the discovery of new talent is exactly what the doctor had ordered for Pakistan. Riaz does bring a lot to the team in terms of diversity and adding to the existing bowling power show led my Asif and Amir. But it is the batting department of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 which needs to deliver. To sum-up, day one has been clearly dominated by the Pakistanis, and the young left-arm debutant Riaz, achieving his first 5-wicket haul in his first test ever.
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