Pak v SL: 2nd Test match

[Shaka]

Originally Posted by Maranello

Naved and Afridi have both done well. Kaneria also seems a different bowler from Faisalabad, the extra bounce and pace on this track really helping him... and I think Razzaq is bowling much better than at least I thought he could, hardly any juicy short balls outside off!

Razzaq has been the pick of the bowlers so far for the simple reason he has been getting the ball to go both ways which is a welcome change. His dismissal of Jehan Mubarak was a classic; first bringing one in to the left hander, then getting him caught at gully off one that went away.

Afridi has been very accurate too, and he also shows signs of being able to get it to go the other way but for me he needs to put in just a few more that come into the RH batsmen, just to keep them guessing.

I wonder if the success of the seamers is down to this being a green-ish wicket? Will be interesting to see how SL bowlers fare in comparison.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Shaka

I wonder if the success of the seamers is down to this being a green-ish wicket? Will be interesting to see how SL bowlers fare in comparison.

Yep, is as green a wicket as I remember seeing in Pak, and there have been a few over the years, esp at Peshawar and Pindi.

I am sure Vaas, Maharoof and Fernando will be a handful for our inexperienced batsmen, and Herath will do damage esp. in the 4th innings... but at least we can be sure that our bowlers will try as hard as anyone, and desist from "show pony" tactics (copyright: Rachael).

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Shaka

Afridi has been very accurate too, and he also shows signs of being able to get it to go the other way but for me he needs to put in just a few more that come into the RH batsmen, just to keep them guessing.

I really enjoyed Afridi's first Test wicket, that of Sangakkara...I think the guy was out-thought, which is always fascinating. Afridi first dried up the runs, there was a near run-out in that over, and Sangakkara could not get off strike as he wanted to. In that spell, he had pulled or hooked at anything short of length, so Afridi set the trap, bowled a high-ish bouncer at pace and got a top edge to deep fine leg... beautiful!

[Maranello]

Update:

SL all out for 208 in the last over of the day.

Razzaq gets 5 for 35!

Kaneria gets 3 for 72... and a certain someone prob. feels rather sheepish so we won't rub it in..

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Maranello

Yep, is as green a wicket as I remember seeing in Pak, and there have been a few over the years, esp at Peshawar and Pindi.

Well... if Woolmer can find very good fast-medium bowlers who can swing the bal both ways.. maybe the circket board wil start putting pressure on the groundsmen to start producing wickets they can actually exploit. We know it's possible, not only from this game but also from at least one of the games against India (remember the stink about a ground in Pakistan being prepared to suit Indian swing bowlers?).

Originally Posted by Maranello

I am sure Vaas, Maharoof and Fernando will be a handful for our inexperienced batsmen, and Herath will do damage esp. in the 4th innings... but at least we can be sure that our bowlers will try as hard as anyone, and desist from "show pony" tactics (copyright: Rachael).

Interesting, isn't it: Sri Lanka now (esp. if you include Zoysa) have a clutch of swing bowlers, India are revealing a few... and now Pakistan are actually starting to play the guys we heard about but thought we'd never see. Subcontinent the salvation of the dying breed of traditional swing bowlers? Wow!

I really do hope this enables Woolmer to put pressure on Akhtar and Sami... and I hope it doesn't all come unravelled as and when those two return: it's quite possible that Razzaq's improvement is linked to being a senior bowler in a disciplined attack which is focussing on a game plan. The responsibility seems to be bringing the best out of the otehrs as well.

Rol on the day when Akhtar or Sami dare not show their face in the dressing room because they've let down their less illustrious but more disciplined colleagues: LOL!

ps. Jus bseen the "SL all out for 208 in the last over of the day." - excellent! :-D

[Shaka]

Well I think one word sums up this day for Pakistan's bowlers and that is sheer hard GRAFT. No doubt Shoaib Akhtar didn't fancy bowling much in the heat and his claims that his shoulder was inflamed by 'bowling too much' in the last test looks pretty hollow when you look at Razzaq's stint today...in fact a full bowling scorecard probably deserves scrutiny but his figures in particular are remarkable:

Bowling O M R W
Naved-ul-Hasan 17 2 52 0
Riaz Afridi 19 7 42 2
Abdul Razzaq 23.1 9 35 5 (1w)
Danish Kaneria 23 3 72 3


The bowlers just never let up in their disciplined choking of the SL run-rate and there was hardly a loose ball to score from in a full day's play. Riaz Afridi had a fairly impressive debut in the end...he looked like he relished the big stage and maintained the pressure throughout.

Another who can feel pleased with himself is Kamran Akmal behind the stumps. Very tidy work and three catches, two of which were very good. With the fileding and catching also exemplary, it was a very good day in the field and I think Bob Woolmer will be a very satisfied man today.

[Mike Small]

Good performance by Pakistan bowlers, but they got Sri Lanka dismissed cheaply in the first test too and endep losing comfortably. Their batsmen will have to back up the bowlers much better than what they did.

[Shaka]

In the first test Pakistan's batting was inexcusably bad on a very decent pitch. Here I think they'll struggle to get much of a lead as the pitch has got a bit in it for the seamers and I think Fernado and Vaas will be a handful. But if Pakistan can put up anything like 270 it should be a significant advantage...the batting conditions aren't likely to see SL posting a big score second time round like they did in Faisalabad.

[Shaka]

Lunch Day 2: Pakistan 136-2 trail by 72 runs

Pakistan's domination of this test match looks ominous for Sri Lanka. Scoring has been rattling along at 4 runs an over a stark contrast to SL's crawl to 208 yesterday. Although Yasir Hameed was out for only 3 lunging forward to a wide-ish ball that left him from Maharoof, Imran Farhat (72) and Younis Khan (61 no) put on 122 runs for the 2nd wicket before Vaas trapped Farhat lbw just before lunch.

Farhat played his usual cavalier fashion with lots of beautiful strokes, but the quality innings has come from the returning Younis Khan...straight from the first ball he was moving the ball around effortlessly upsetting the SL field. He looks set for a big score, and he needs to make sure he gets it. One of the criticisms of Younis in the past has been that he doesn't convert enough 40's and 50's into hundreds.

If he does it here, he'll make both captain and coach very happy as they both love to have him in their side...he's a big team player.

[Maranello]

Younis has been very good at placing his shots and getting runs, interesting to see how the quick singles (and converting 1s to 2s) work out now that Inzi has replaced Farhat....