Pakistan v England 1st Test Lahore

[Mr Xtreme]

Honours just about even so far. England are 194-4 which is a pretty decent score, but they aren't safe yet and a late fightback which saw Saqy take all 4 wickets means the first session will be crucial tomorrow.

The wicket is very slow, and I thought our spinners should have pushed the ball through quicker to compensate. Noticeably, saqi's wickets came when he started to do that.

In England's favour, they won the toss which means we'll have to bat on the last day; a big advantage for them. I think Pakistan must look to dismiss England for 350 or less and bat well in the first innings. Shame Qaiser Abbas missed that catch off Thorpe. He's a hard batsman to get out.

[ManiaX]

Salamz.

Thorpe's probably their best batsman at the moment - he also has a good record against Pakistan - same goes for Atherton. But I think we should have played Danish Kaneria in place of Afridi - with Elahi opening along with the one and only - Saeed Anwar.
Kaneria is one of those young talents that really should be able to deliver if given the proper chance and support. Mushy needs just a bit of luck to get his confidence back - he's making a comeback and hopefully he'll come good - Id hate to see him dropped.

Playing Qaiser Abbas was a good decision - always good to see young players making their debut - they seem so eager to do well for their country which is definately refreshing considering the disgrace that
Malik and Co brought to the game.

Pretty even at the moment - if the Poms can bat till around tea on Day 2- they may frustrate the Pakistanis.

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___________________
Believe In Angels.
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Laterz,
ManiaX.

[Pathan Bhai]

Gotta make inroads early tommaro. Mushay shuld've been dropped, he is not match fit, Kenaria shuld've been in or even Arshad Khan.

What u think Mania?
havent seen u for a while!
laterz

[Hollywood]

Danish Kaneria was coached by Abdul Qadir for those who dont know.So he should do well.


[This message has been edited by Hollywood (edited November 15, 2000).]

[^_^MuNNa^^]

match is evenly poised so far..track is very much favorable for the spinnerz and saqi did pretty well to claim 4 wkz b4 the dayz play was done!..itz a shame that a few good catching opportunitiez were missed by paki-fielderz..such misses sumtimez become crucial deciding factorz in the end!..

day 2 play is just a few hrz away..
letz hope 4 the better!
itz still any1z game

dJ_ArSH
pakbeat.com

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ik nazer ke liey umer bher..umer bher ke liey ik nazer..

[Spitfire]

Instead of Mushy Arshad Khan should have been given chance because Mushy is growing older.Afridi was enough as a leg spinner.

[Dr Who?]

I guess Danish Kaneria should have been given a chance. He is a very exciting prospect for Pakistan. Mushy and Arshad are both very inconsistent..

[ghalib]

ohh ho ho ho.. yeh kia hua??

England will top 400 and may even come close to 500 in their first inning... If Pakistani batting holds up, which they better, its a draw...

[Mr Xtreme]

Well, England have batted well, but probably too slowly to give themselves a chance to win. Assuming they bat on tomorrow (which they have to) that only gives them 2 and half days to bowl Pakistan out twice. The pitch looks fine at the moment so unless we bat really badly, or get paid by bookies, I agree a draw looks likely.

Saqlain bowled well but the lack of support from other bowlers was really disappointing. Mushtaq should have made some inroads on a pitch offering turn. Qaiser Abbas had Craig White caught off bat and pad but it was missed by the umpire (Riazuddin).

[Rooster-Blues]

Spin web ? What the heck happened … they can not even make a spinning track .. they do not want to make fast tracks in favor of Pak-Batsmen .. and now they don’t want to build spinning track ! this is mismanagement at its best …. Why PCB does not want to prepare bowler or supporting pitches .. given the bowling fleet we have it will only help us and prepare our batsmen to face Australia and South Africa on their grounds …. The board seriously lacks vision and management … and how they will fix it ? by bringing a ‘Kaka-Spahi’… its flat out stupid!
So far for butt-whopping and exciting cricket… this test is headed for a draw… six wickets fell in two days .. there is nothing wrong with the team although I think Danish would have bowled better than Musshy … but the pitch is dead .. it might have cracks on it by the third day which will make the bounce uneven and it might keep low which will make life difficult for the team batting last and guess who is batting last!
.



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Hey one more thing
These things are hard to explain
For some it seems strange... to swallow
The frontier of our minds
Is the last place we find
But maybe the first place we should go

[ManiaX]

Salam Pathan Bhai,

What can I say except - Exams!

Looks like the Poms did manage to frustrate the Pakistanis - They played really well - Thorpe in particular. But we didnt bowl with any heart - Akram was totally flat and Razzaq is unconvincing as a test match bowler. With Akhter injured, we should have played another one of our long line of fast bowlers such as Mohd Zahid(he's fit again),
Mohd Akram, Ali Sami, Shabbir Ahmed etc.
These guys have raw pace and on a wicket like this, that could have been a major plus.
Mushy is still struglling - it's obviously disappointing...unfortunately..unless he delivers in the 2nd innings - I think he may be out for the next game. Saqlain finally bowled well..after a long series of uninspired and poor performances for Pakistan for whatever reasons. I think the Poms have an advantage at this point..I think they can win this game from this position - if they bat till tea and get a couple of quick wickets - well - we have a real game on our hands..especially if they
get Saeed out quickly. Would`nt bet on it though

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___________________
Believe In Angels.
___________________

Laterz,
ManiaX.