Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd Test, Multan

[greg]

Well Pakistan are well in control so far and ominously Mr Yousuf is going well again.Another big hundred on the cards?

[gangstacocacola]

good to see inzamam settling in and hitting a few good shots. contributions from all the pakistani batsman so far, however, none of them managing to turn their scores into 3 figures. lets hope inzamam can do that. pakistan i think need 500 runs in this innings to be able to bat west indies out of the game. pakistan have decieded to stick with razzaq. lets hope he can prove his selection. i dont know why west indies have opted to drop sarwan and give morton a game. can anyone shed any light on this? will be an interesting game nevertheless.

[greg]

Originally Posted by greg

Well Pakistan are well in control so far and ominously Mr Yousuf is going well again.Another big hundred on the cards?

Me and my big mouth.

[Rachael]

Well, considering that Pakistan were romping along at 109/1 at lunch... Lara's crew should be satisfied to have regrouped and regained some semblance of control.... but Pakistan would surely have taken 263/4 if offered it at the start of the day... so a nicely balanced situation.

Player of the day? Probably Gayle: his 22 overs may not have been overly threatening but without them Lara could have been in a real pickle.

Edit: I've just found this in an article on "Three contrasting half-centuries against a largely insipid bowling attack"....

Originally Posted by cricinfo

The two most impressive bowlers of the day were wretchedly unlucky: Collymore, typically accurate, was unlucky to watch several deliveries miss the bat and Gayle, teasing with his sharp offbreaks, didn't have too much fortune either.

Re-edit: it seems Collymore was the pick: cricinfo has a further article with Lara praising some disciplined toil from his best bowlers....

Originally Posted by cricinfo

And some mammoth efforts they were. Corey Collymore might walk under a ladder, break a mirror and let a black cat stroll across him repeatedly and he'd still have more luck than has thus far come his way on this tour. Despite beating batsmen as if it were slipping out of vogue, he has the solitary wicket to show for it and 16 overs today drew no reward but sympathy. He might try some of what Jerome Taylor is having, for though he eventually redeemed an iffy morning spell, his wickets came off wide deliveries Collymore would scoff at.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Well, considering that Pakistan were romping along at 109/1 at lunch...

Umm..not really! Pakistan scored at 2.87 runs per over in the first session (109/1 in 38 overs) - hardly 'romping' speed, is it? Run-rate in the afternoon session was 2.89 rpo, and in the third session was 2.92. So by your strict standards, Lara's crew were actually culpable for a shameless loss of control through the course of the day

Even in terms of wickets, the three sessions were fairly evenly matched, with Pakistan losing a wicket in each session - the picture is of course spoilt by M. Yousaf's brainless dismissal towards the end of the day, something which has tilted the balance in WI's favour. Pakistan need to score at least 400 here, and with the second new ball due, I am not so sure they can manage it.


PS: I think you forgot that the first session in Pakistan is 2.5 hours and the third session is only 1.5 hours - hence merely looking at the intervals presents a somewhat misleading picture.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Maranello

PS: I think you forgot that the first session in Pakistan is 2.5 hours and the third session is only 1.5 hours - hence merely looking at the intervals presents a somewhat misleading picture.

Yup... though for the record I have NO complaints about the control exerted by Collymore, Gayle and Bravo was outstanding... and even the normally enthusiastic cricinfo commentators agreed that Taylor served up a stack of right dross alongside his decent balls and that Powell was just plain dreadful.

[Maranello]

And I am sure Pakistan will have plenty of time to rue not rotating the strike and being more aggressive in their run accumulation yesterday, in particular in the last two sessions when they were generally on top. The sedate pace of run-scoring yesterday meant that Pakistan ended up with a paltry 262 from a full over 90 over day, in conditions that suited batting for almost half the day - when was the last time that happened in a Test match?

Inzi out fairly early on the second morning without adding much to his overnight total, and out to a delivery and a stroke that's frankly beneath his class.

He really does seem well below his best these days; time for the big man to call it a day?

[Mr Hutt]

Total (8 wickets; 117.2 overs) 355

Shoaib Mailk did play for a while after inzi and generally the whole batting order has contributed, Imran Farhar, Moyo and Yunis getting past 50

its now 355/8 Pakistan have done well, the ball is seaming a bit still lets declare and get to the WI

[Milo]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Yup... though for the record I have NO complaints about the control exerted by Collymore, Gayle and Bravo was outstanding... and even the normally enthusiastic cricinfo commentators agreed that Taylor served up a stack of right dross alongside his decent balls and that Powell was just plain dreadful.

Once again you completely ignore the ability of bowlers to take wickets. This West Indian attack performed really well. The combination of wicket taking and control (shown also in the last test by Umar Gul - who you also criticised for going at over 3 and over - and Nazir) worked well once again. Taylor, who has genuine wicket taking ability (something the modern game of cricket is crying out for) once again has to be praised. They have stopped a team scoring 500 at will here.

[greg]

I wonder how many runs Pakistan would have scored if Taylor hadn't taken those 5 wickets.

He looks a good prospect for the West Indies,certainly the best of the young fast bowlers.Good fightback today by the Windies and they need to carry it on again tomorrow.