Australia v Pakistan Dec 16-Jan 6

[Maranello]

Hayden out bowled by Shoaib. An Absolute Beauty, Hayden seemed to take a big stride forward and did not offer a stroke, maybe he was leaving it, seemed a reasonable course of action. But the ball managed to swing in quite a fair bit to hit off, missing the stretched pad. Beaten for swing more than pace I think, Shoaib bowling round the wicket to the left-hander.

Apart from that, bowling from Shoaib and Sami so far has been patchy, not enough wicket-taking deliveries, in fact, not many really attacking deliveries, which caused the batsmen any trouble. To be fair, not a lot of truly bad ones either, only a couple of bad ones so far where Langer has cashed in.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

Now that's trouble

Shoaib's ankle did seem pretty bad last night, they have shown a few close-up shots this morning and Tony Greig, who saw the damage last night seems surprised that Shoaib is managing to charge in as he is. Waqar thinks it was just the new boots Shoaib was wearing yesterday...not clever to break in new ones in a Test!

By the way...Benaud and Greig seem really keen on Shoaib's bowling so far, so maybe I have been too harsh above. Benaud feels that his favourite cricket attack to watch would be Shoaib and Warne... excellent attacking fast bowling from one end, and classic attacking wrist spin from the other. Can't say I disagree...

[Maranello]

Shoaib getting a few past Ponting. Waqar thinks that he is the most pumped and enthused he has been for a long , long while.

Sami has been less dangerous, effective without being genuinely threatening.

PS: As obvious, I am not watching this as a contest between Australia and Pakistan, since that never began. More interested in the contest between bat and ball, and more specifically, how well/badly do each of the Pakistani bowlers do against the world's best batsmen. That for me has always been the main criteria to judge this Pakistan by on this series; the actual results have never been in doubt except for the most blinkered of "fans".

[Maranello]

Not sure about Inzi's tactics, yes he has to protect his bowlers, but should still try and prise some wickets. For instance, if Kaneria is bowling, a close catcher or two would be a good idea! Kaneria just got Langer to offer an easy chance which a non-existent short-leg would have easily snapped up...

I agree that runs need to be stemmed, but not at the cost of going for wickets. There is not much else Pakistan can go for anyway!


The two positives for Pakistan in this session, according to Mr. I Chappell:

1. Good bowling by Shoaib and Sami.

2. Australia have not got away completely, and have not been able to impose themselves on the bowling, or demolish them.

IMO, all the rest is pretty much one-way traffic today, and generally in this Test.

[Zainub]

Tea taken on day 3. Shoaib went off the field after hurting his shoulder while fielding, and will not bowl in this innings again. Inzi was off because of certain a certain back problem. Yousuf Youhanna tried his best to keeps things tight although in vain, Australia scoring at a good rate still. Razzaq's bowling was seeming very preditable for much of the session, until he changed his line to over the wicket for one ball, the one which produced the dismissal of Justin Langer, bowled of an iside edge to remain 3 short of what would have been his 2nd hundred in the test match. That was the only wicket to fell in that session. Ricky Ponting himself is now just a few shy, 8 to be precise, of his first test ton in 18 matches and also his first as skipper. Kaneria has so far bowled alright without any luck what so ever. Damein Martyn also well set on 26.

Australia lead now by 449 runs, how many more could they possibly want?

[Shaka]

I'll probably stay up tonight and watch for a bit. With the game a dead duck I expect Youhanna might make his customary 2nd innings decent score to maintain his average. Salman Butt has it in him to make a mark, while Younis could do with looking like he means to hang around rather than play a bright and breezy knock of 20-30.

[Mike]

Well, Aust routed Pakistan today for a one-sided result of nearly 500 runs. Glen McGrath gave the slips plenty of catching practice unlike the first innings when they dropped a few. McGrath took the first 7 wickets and eventually got 8. Not bad for a bloke who some reckon is passed his best. He claims this was his finest performance. Goes to prove that fast bowlers do get better with age. Inzamam claims the young players in the side were too inexperienced on bouncy pitches and he thinks they'll put up a better performance in Melbourne. Melbourne has a drop in pitch which will suit pace and spin so it should be a test of where Pakistan are at.

[Occasional Fan]

That is a shocker of a card for Pakistan, and one which McGrath will be framing for the grandchildren. 8-24 is a career best for him, I believe. Cue Beny and Ern to discuss at further length whether this old man is really on the wane!

[Zainub]

Can't be forgotten OF, that we batted just about as poorly as we could have.

[Occasional Fan]

Presumably the next test is 26/12 in Melbourne? I assume that the Pakistanis and Aussies have the same tradition of Christmas tests as applies in the Ashes series? That gives a full week to work on an approach, I guess.