Mahmood Ahmad
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2nd npower Test: England v Pakistan at Manchester, 31 May - 4 Jun 2001 Mahmood Ahmad |
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Pakistan 1st innings:
England 1st innings: |
The light drizzle, which had started just at the stroke of tea, turned into heavy downpour a little while later, halting the game for about one hour.
England had added 31 more runs to their tea time score of 173, before it started to drizzle again. The man most aggrieved by this interference can be no other than Graham Thorpe who is just two short of what would be his 9th test match hundred. What’s more, he’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get these two runs.
It was slow going for England after the rain-break, especially when one considers the remarkable rate at which they had been scoring their runs. The first 40 minutes or so after the first rain-break saw only 25 runs coming, including one boundary, that too, an outside edge of Thorpe’s bat that went whizzing past the first slip.
Vaughan has been especially very quiet after tea, adding just 7 runs, acquired mostly of singles, to reach 84, which includes 11 hits to the fence.
England achieved their 200 runs in the 13th over after tea, when Thorpe worked Saqlain, away to covers for a well-measured single. Incidentally, that was the first productive over for England after a couple of maidens from Wasim and Saqlain.
The rain interruption means a waste of about 19 overs in the day. Still, looking at the rapid scoring rate maintained by both the teams, it does not seem too costly a loss for either Pakistan or England. However, had Pakistan got one or two more wickets before the close of play, their position in the match might have been a bit more different.
Full marks, however, to the batsmen for playing with complete calm and composure and dealing with every ball on merit. Apart from stroking boundaries to virtually every part of the ground, they have displayed excellent running between the wickets, fully capitalizing on Pakistan's fielding lapses.
The home side achieved the one-fifty of their innings in the 40th over, as Vaughan clipped Razzaq off is toes for a two to long leg.
Waqar brought himself on from Razzaq's end and Vaughan greeted him with a straight drive that yielded three. The last ball of the same over was driven over cover boundary by Thorpe to surpass the previous highest partnership of this match - 141 by Inzamam and Younis for the fifth wicket.
The next over by the Pakistan skipper saw Thorpe working the ball to fine leg, bringing up the 150 for the 3rd wicket off 217 balls.
At tea, England had moved further on to 173 for 2, with Thorpe batting on 75 (122 balls) and Vaughan on 77 (129 balls).
Both these batsmen have so far thoroughly enjoyed their stay at the crease and grafting their innings without taking any undue risks, with the pitch providing at Old Trafford apparently offering little help to the bowlers.
Starting the proceedings at 79 for 2, these two took 8 overs to take the score past the hundred-run mark. It was a wide delivery from Wasim and the left-handed Thorpe cut it to perfection, with the fielders posted at backward point and cover didn’t even have the time to move as the ball raced over the rope.
The next over from ace fast bowler saw Vaughan getting into the act, pulling another short one to square leg boundary for his 9th boundary.
Meanwhile, Saqlain operating from the opposite, kept producing some fine deliveries, temporarily unnerving the batsmen, despite the fact that there was no considerable turn in the pitch.
Razzaq replaced Wasim at the Warwick Road End and a single by Thorpe off the last ball of that over brought the hundred of the partnership off only 136 balls. The left-hander dispatched the first ball of the next over, by Saqlain, through extra cover to bring up his half-century off 71 balls in tests. The 29th fifty in test cricket for Thorpe contained 8 fours and a six.
Vaughan’s fifty followed soon after as he guided the ball to third man for a single. The right-hander took 79 balls to get to the landmark and hit 9 boundaries.
Wasim Akram, the veteran pace man, started off the proceedings for Pakistan and bowled with verve. He struck the very first ball of the innings on Atherton’s pad, the resulting appeal rightly turned down by the umpire.
His efforts brought dividends in 7th over, when the left-handed Trescothick failed to read a leg-cutter that clipped his bails. He scored 10 off 20 balls and hit one boundary.
The second ball of the next over, bowled by Waqar, brought the prize wicket of Atherton. The former England captain paid the price for playing at an out-going delivery and was well taken by Rashid Latif behind the stumps. He made 5 off 19 balls.
The last forty minutes or so though belonged to Thorpe and Vaughan. After getting off the mark in a highly belligerent fashion – Thorpe slicing Waqar for six to third man and his partner picking Wasim off the hips for four – the two carried on in the same vein to take the score past 50 by the 13th over.
Thorpe, in fact, showed by his subtle timing and improvisation why he was considered the best batsman in the English line-up. He drove and pulled first Waqar and Wasim, then Azhar Mahmood, with perfect ease, inspiring his partner to also display his shots.
The fifty for the 3rd wicket was reached off only 49 balls, as Thorpe hammered Waqar, his former county-mate, for two boundaries in one over, both placed behind but on either side of the wicket.
At lunch, England have reached 79 for 2, the partnership between Vaughan (33) and Thorpe (28) having yielded 64 off the same number of balls.
Wasim and Waqar, the two successful bowlers for Pakistan, have figures of 1/20 and 1/40 against their names.
The day’s proceedings were started by Darren Gough, and he created immediate problems for the Pakistani stumper. Rashid, in fact, looked quite stiff in the morning, perhaps a trick of a comparatively colder weather and overcast conditions at Manchester. He edged the last ball of the first over, bowled by Gough, down to Knight at second slips and the dolly was dropped.
However, this fielding lapse didn’t cost much to England. Rashid had added 7 to his overnight score of 64, surpassing his previous test highest of 68 made against Zimbabwe, when he was dismissed in the most unfortunate manners.
Placing a Caddick-delivery to point, he went for a single that wasn’t quite there. The direct throw from Treschothick found him well short of the crease. The wicket fell at 380.
The last Pakistani pair added 23 in about three overs before Waqar was trapped lbw off Gough, the English pace man finishing with figures of 3 for 94.
Saqlain remained unbeaten on 21 (26 balls) after entertaining the crowd with some highly unorthodox and improvised shots, including a swot off Caddick that went soaring over mid wicket rope for six.
Waqar also hit one four, a top edge to third man boundary, before being undone by Gough.
Caddick and Hoggard, the other successful bowlers, took three each for 111 and 79 runs, respectively.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 01 Jun2001 - 22:25