FAISLABAD TEST HEADS FOR A DRAW AFTER INZAMAM AND RAZZAQ STAND FIRM

When stumps were drawn for the day, which saw another premature end owing to poor light, the home side were 186 for two, 160 runs ahead of England with eight wickets and three sessions remaining.

Both the not out batsmen at tea – Razzaq and Inzamam – made sure that Pakistan did not lose any further wickets in the day. They treated all the England bowlers on merit and abided by the theory of punishing the loose balls.

The most eventful moment of this mostly uneventful session came when Razzaq hit Craig White for two consecutive fours to reach his third fifty in Test cricket. These shots from the young all-rounder were followed by the single from the bat of Inzamam to deep square leg that brought up the 50 partnership.

Razzaq’s fifty came from 140 balls and included one six. His knock was chanceless, save for the slight lapse of concentration immediately after completing his half-century. Trying to pull a sharp bouncer from White he skied the ball to mid-wicket and was lucky that there was no fielder there except for Trescothick who was posted at short leg.

Inzamam was even luckier than his partner as the top edge from his bat was let off by Caddick at short fine leg. The unlucky bowler this time was Ashley Giles, who finished the day with figures of one for 64.

The two not out batsmen Razzaq 60 (167) and Inzamam 33 (80) will be looking for acceleration on the last morning allowing skipper Moin Khan the chance to declare after setting a target of around 250, if he is looking for a result.

PAKISTAN BUILD ON THEIR LEAD AS ELAHI MAKES TEST BEST

With Abdur Razzaq, he added 98 for the second wicket after the home side had lost the services of Afridi before lunch.

Elahi, opening the batting for Pakistan in the absence of Saeed Anwar, shook off his newcomer tag as he defied the England attack with confidence and, later, with aggression.

He reached his first ever Test half-century in stylish fashion when he flicked Caddick off his toes to the mid-wicket boundary and became increasingly confident after reaching fifty, hitting Giles for two fours in one over followed by a third off the first ball of Caddick’s next over.

In contrast to his partner, Razzaq was a picture of patience and temperament as he took time to get used to the England bowling. He struck his first four after facing 42 balls – that shot came off Salisbury, as he cut the leg spinner to deep point boundary.

The lone success for England came in the closing moments of the session when Ashley Giles decided to come round the wicket in an attempt to make use of the rough patches. His venture paid off as he took the all-important wicket of Elahi, who looked well set on 72.

The ball from Giles pitched outside the leg stump and ricocheted off Elahi’s gloves as he went for a sweep. Alec Stewart, alert behind the wicket, had to cover a few paces before diving to take the catch. Elahi faced 116 balls in his innings and hit ten fours.

At tea, Pakistan were 116 for 2, with Razzaq on 22 off 93 balls and new batsman, Inzamam, on four from 11 balls.

MATCH EVENLY POISED AFTER ENGLAND TAKE FIRST INNINGS LEAD

By the time Ashley Giles had Elahi caught behind for 72, just minutes before the tea interval, Pakistan had gained an 85 run lead over England, after starting their second innings 26 runs adrift.

England made an early breakthough when opener Shahid Afridi was dismissed in the fifth over of the innings caught by Giles off the bowling of Darren Gough with the score 13 for one.

Elahi, was promoted after Saeed Anwar, who yesterday was ill and unable to field, dropped down the order and the young batsmen took charge of getting their side out of trouble.

They advanced the score to 111 for two when Elahi was captured by Alec Stewart and at tea, Razzaq and new batsman Inzamam ul-Haq had added five to the total.

Earlier, England resumed their innings at the overnight score of 282 for eight but lost an early wicket when Andrew Caddick was given out caught behind. He had made five when he appeared to play and miss to a delivery from Abdur Razzaq. Moin Khan claimed the catch and umpire Mian Aslam gave the decision despite television replays once again proving inconclusive.

England were 295 for nine with the last pair of Craig white and Darren Gough trying to add maximum runs to the total. Gough, having just come in, punished a rising delivery from Razzaq for a four. In the next over White followed suit by hooking Danish Kaneria for a four crossing 300 of the innings.

The two players were on the rampage collecting quick runs. Having surpassed the Pakistan’s total of 316, they were particularly harsh on Kaneria. White hit him for a mighty six to long off, while Gough wrapped him for a four to square leg. The youngster gave away 11 runs in the over.

The two players continued piling up runs till the innings came to end when Craig White, who was keeping the innings together, was bowled by Saqlain Mushtaq for an invaluable 41. England was all out for 342 gaining a lead of 26 runs over Pakistan. Razzaq and Saqlain shared three wickets each.

With the prolific opener Saeed Anwar feeling indisposed, Pakistan opened the innings with Shahid Afridi and Saleem Elahi. After making a steady start Shahid Afridi delighted the large crowd by smashing Darren Gough for two consecutive boundaries in the 3rd over.

He could not, however, stay at the crease for long. A little later, he tried to hook a rising delivery from Gough, miss-hit the shot and was caught by Giles at deep fine leg. It was an absolutely crazy shot for an opening batsman. Pakistan lost their first wicket for only 13 runs on the board, with Afridi getting out for a meager 10 from identical number of balls.

Promoted in the batting order Abdur Razzaq came in to bat. Ashley Giles was called to bowl an over before lunch, but the batsmen maintaining a defensive posture were not perturbed.

At lunch Pakistan was 23 for 1 scored in 9 overs. Saleem Elahi held the crease with 12 runs scored in 34 balls while Razzaq having played 11 balls remained at zero.

© CricInfo

Date-stamped : 02 Dec2000 - 22:23