Pakistan need to remain on guard against England
By Khalid H. Khan
Tuesday, 27 Jul, 2010
PAKISTAN go into the England series in what is going to be a stern test of character for Salman Butt’s young brigade which is still basking in glory by ending Australia’s 15-year stranglehold in Test cricket.
More than anything, the tense series-levelling victory in Leeds on Saturday has suddenly lifted Pakistan’s spirits as they head to Nottingham for the first of four Tests against an England side which, undoubtedly, will be much tougher because they play on familiar territory — a big advantage which Ricky Ponting’s Australians didn’t enjoy.
While everybody, understandably, is still in a festive mood after a rare Test win — the Headingley triumph was only Pakistan’s third in 21 Tests since January 2007; they stumbled to 11 defeats in the same period — the general perception now developing is that most of the diehard supporters are pinning their hopes on a successful series against Andrew Strauss’s men.
But it has to be mentioned here that luck, more than anything, favoured Pakistan on a cloudy first morning of the Leeds Test. Ponting’s gamble to bat first was mystifying. No team in modern day cricket has managed to win a match after making 88 in the first innings. And yet, as it transpired later, Pakistan almost made a mess of a 180-run chase.
Without belittling Pakistan’s unexpected triumph while keeping in mind what had prevailed in the week before with appointed captain Shahid Afridi quitting after the debacle at Lord’s, Salman accomplished a mission impossible in his first Test as skipper.
By far, Pakistan’s strongest point is their pace bowling which did a fabulous job against Australia with Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif leading the way and received good support from Umar Gul. Collectively, the trio took 30 of the 39 wickets claimed by bowlers and sent down roughly a fraction above 72 per cent of the 296.3 overs bowled by Pakistan in the four innings.
One fears for the well-being of Pakistan’s main strike weapons, chiefly because their workload against England will increase over the four Tests against an experienced line-up that generally bats deep with the likes of Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, both boasting decent averages, supporting the main batsmen.
Pakistan, on the other hand, should not expect too much from their inexperienced lot. Their batting is fragile, particularly the middle order which badly flopped against Australia. The biggest disappointment was Umar Akmal with mere 46 runs in four innings. Somehow, he tends to treat Test cricket as if he is playing a Twenty20 match. To watch someone as precociously talented as Umar not putting a price tag on his wicket is quite exasperating.
It’s high time that somebody from the Waqar Younis-led coaching staff pulls up the young man and gives him a proper dressing down. Umar’s overall Test average is now below 40 after twin failures at Headingley.
Perhaps, Umar should take lessons from Azhar Ali who has been the batting find of the series with two promising knocks in the pivotal No 3 hot spot. Azhar certainly has both the technique and temperament to succeed at the highest level.
Pakistan scored only four half-centuries compared to Australians’ seven in tough batting conditions where only Salman managed, on either side, a series aggregate of over 200 — 213 at 53.25 — thanks to scores of 63 and 92 he made at Lord’s.
Azhar and Imran Farhat were the only other Pakistani batsmen to score more than 100 and the only ones to cross the 50-run mark in an innings.
Pakistan’s Achilles heel in the England Tests will be their batting which never made more than 289 — in the second innings at Lord’s — against the Aussies. They were exposed to the hilt at Lord’s not by Australia’s main bowlers but part-timers Shane Watson and Marcus North.
In conditions where experience is the biggest virtue, Pakistan will sorely miss the depth and skills Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan possessed in abundance, and who have some years of top flight cricket still left in them.
In England four years ago, Yousuf (631 runs in four Tests) and Younis (329 in three) were the mainstay of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s side in a four-match series which ended on a controversial note when Pakistan forfeited the final Test at The Oval over ball-tampering allegations to lose the series 3-0.
A blend of youth and experience in the Pakistan ranks would have otherwise set the scene for an enthralling series against England because a shrewd thinker like Strauss is not going to do what Ponting did last week and allow Pakistan to claw back.
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