Australia v Pakistan Dec 16-Jan 6

[Zainub]

Holy cow, what a start! Surely this allowes me to get carried away!!!!

But we bowled beautifully I thought, very well diciplined start this, the hardwork seemed to have paid of thus fair, hopefully we can keep that up in the next session and get another 4 in that one!!!

GO Pakistan!!!!

COMMON!!!!!!!!

PS: Best part of the session was Shoaib getting the better of Hayden - the look on Matty's face said everything ...Boy, I'm enjoying this sooooooo much!!!

[Nikhil]

Lol! Super start by Pakistan and then a very good comeback at the end of the fist session. Three wickets in succession and that puts them top. They need two more wickets pretty soon.

We all know how dangerous all the three remaining batsmen are and most importantly, Pakistani bowlers can not get away. Keep to the task and they should get their rewards.

A very good effort as of now.

[Ernest]

Australia First Innings

J L Langer not out 144
M L Hayden lbw Shoaib Akhtar 4
T Pontingb c Mohammad Sami 25
R Martync c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Sami 1
D S Lehmannb b Shoaib Akhtar 12
M J Clarkec c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Shoaib Akhtar 1
A C Gilchrist b Abdul Razzaq 69
S K Warne c Yousuf Youhana b Abdul Razzaq 12
J N Gillespie not out
15
Extras
10nb 3w 1b 9lb23
Total 7 for 306

Australia have a lot to thank Langers for here, well bowled Pakistan up to now 09:34, very English looking score card.

Update Latest Australia 339 for 8 at 09:52

[Shaka]

Stumps Day 1: Australia 357-8

Justin Langer with some help from Gilchrist stood between Pakistan and what could have been a complete rout of the Aussie line up today. I went to bed this morning and the Aussies were really struggling at lunch and soon after were tottering on 78-5. Pakistan's second string attack never looked as menacing as the opening bowlers though and from all accounts the intensity levels dropped once Shoaib and Sami finished their first stint. This probably had a lot to do with the shine wearing off the ball too. Kaneria didn't get much out of the pitch and Khalil bowled with plenty of control but couldn't get enough from the WACA pitch to really trouble the batsmen. Unlike either Gul or Shabbir, although he has the height he doesn't get any lateral movement. Probably mor effective with the new ball but isn't everyone?

Aussies look fairly comfortable now and with Langer still there they have taken a strong position in the sense that Pakistan's batting line up has struggled to make 300 even with far more experienced players in the past and I can't see them doing it here. Other than that a pretty decent effort in the field by Pakistan but Australia finished well.

[Rachael]

I've started a thread elsewhere with player-vs-player breakdown. Maybe those who watched session-by-session could throw some light on it

See http://www.world-a-team.com/showthread.php?t=1847

ps. Anyone got the bowling figures from lunchtime and tea? I'd love to see just how things changed

[Shaka]

Originally Posted by Rachael

ps. Anyone got the bowling figures from lunchtime and tea? I'd love to see just how things changed

I didn't see it but 149 runs were scored for the loss of only one wicket. From comments made in the studio at the end of the day, sounded as if the Pakistan attack toned down the intensity but I have a feeling that the ball lost it's hardness and batting became a bit easier. Certainly when the 2nd new ball was taken at the end of the day it livened up again.

Added to that Gilchrist played a typically aggressive innings and didn't allow Razzaq and Sami to settle into line and length mode cutting and carving anything around off stump even slightly wide. Razzaq got him out when he tried one too many and played on.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Shaka

From comments made in the studio at the end of the day, sounded as if the Pakistan attack toned down the intensity but I have a feeling that the ball lost it's hardness and batting became a bit easier. Certainly when the 2nd new ball was taken at the end of the day it livened up again.

Possibly a familiar story then: Akhtar, Sami and co up for it when there's a chance to be destructive.. but lacking discipline when patience and plan 'B' is called for.

The end of day bowling figures look diabolical, really.. with Akhtar in particular seemingly having leaked runs like a village park player (allowing 23 scoring strokes off 61 balls to Langer is just plain poor, suggesting least 2 poor balls an over... and is especilly poor given reports that Langer was playing cautiously and looking to leave when he could against the new ball.. but that's capped by giving Gilchrist of all people 9 balls to hit out of 15 bowled and going for 21 runs.. and going for 4.11 an over to a tailender like Gillespie).

Sami actually went for fewer runs than Akhtar in the end.. but given the cricinfo report one wonders if that was in part because he was so erratic in the morning (until that one over to Martyn) that Langer and Ponting (in particular) were able to just watch pointless delivery after pointless delivery just sail on by.

Sami certainly went at more than a run a ball against the lower-middle order (40 runs off 36 balls to Lehman, Gilchrist, WArne, Gillespie and Kasprowicz).

With the lead bowlers leaking like that it's no surprise that the support bowlers followed suit..

[Occasional Fan]

That's an extraordinary come-back by Australia. They will always be difficult to play when they pile on 152 for the sixth wicket and another 80 for the eighth.

[Shaka]

One thing I did notice about Shoaib's and Sami's opening spell was that they were not really bowling an off stump line. Not that they've ever been the best at bowling to left handers but they were pitching quite a few that went down leg side. The Aussie batsmen were still struggling with the ball nipping around a bit but I expect their bowlers will channel their bowling around off stump a lot more.

Anyway, Pak bowlers always seem to bowl at the stumps and it worked for them today up to a point. You are right about there being no plan B but I don't think it's in either Sami or Shoaib's make up to bowl tight - and maybe some credit should go to the Aussies as they do have a habit of scoring at a fast rate.

Actually, only someone who saw the afternoon session will have a proper perspective of what went on at that juncture.

[Zainub]

I thought we never bowled too badly, in the later half of the day Langer just played too well, you've just got to give credit to him, people will say things about the relative merits of Razzaq, Kaneria and Khalil obviously, but IMHO over annalyzing our bowling will reveal nothing, we tried our best, he just came up with an answer for everything we had in store. All in all I'd say 358-8 on day 1 is not an ideal score after you've send the opposition in, but it could have been a lot worse. I'm still positive. Match still wide open.

Must dash now, I've been sneezing at the rate of one big sneeze every 10 mintues, my PC will be in danger if I stay online any longer...Will comment later tonight hopefully if I feel better,

Bless me!

Zainub