Sessions: P | E | P
Pitch and conditions: Hot, humid, placid track, low key atmospheric surroundings although the Barmy Army were in full tune during phases.
Quote of the day: It's disappointing as fans rightly feel it's a case of sour grapes. Ajmal has ICC certification & license to bowl. Why point weapons at him. – Ramiz Raja
Scorecard: England 192 AO |Pakistan 42/0 | Pakistan trail by 150 with all 10 wickets in hand
Prediction For Stumps Tomorrow: Pakistan 300/4
Star of the day: Saeed Ajmal who after pressurising the English batsmen with his talk of unveiling a mysterious ‘teesra’ and after the hype he had generated from not only his inventions, but his performances in 2011 where he dominated the bowling charts by a distant mile was undeniably the stand out performer on day 1 of the series as Misbah ul Haq’s side rattled England out for a total of just 192 on a decent track. Saeed got his first 3 wickets in quick succession as he came into the attack in the 19th over and from there on in made inroads frequently. His control was splendid and for the batsmen he became unreadable for most of the time.
Bad day at the office: Ian Bell received a golden duck which is unarguably one of the worst feelings in cricket and not the start he’d have wanted to the tour without troubling the scorers and heading back to the changing rooms after nicking off immediately.
Ball of the day: Saeed Ajmal dismissing Ian Bell with a beautifully disguised and pitched doosra which found the edge and Adnan held on before going up for the appeal which the umpire agreed on.
Shot of the day: Trott flicking Gul off his pads in the 9th over of the innings to open his account with a well timed stroke past mid wicket and square leg. It was the first delivery of the over and Gul had only conceded 3 from his fist 4 before bowling this delivery which was dealt with to the fence by the Warwickshire batsmen. It was his trademark stroke and incidentally was the first boundary of the innings, match, series, and tour.
Statistics:
On a full 90 overs day of batting in the first innings Pakistan have been extremely solid and consistent and added totals of: -241/4, 232/1, 239/4, 247/4, 282/4, 205/2 (69) on their first full day of batting in a test match in the last 4 months. Therefore if form is anything to go by England will be out in the field for a long time.
In the 12 tests that MUH has captained, his side have won the first innings on 8 occasions. Surely MUH is on track to win his 9th first innings as captain in just 13 tests after bowling out England cheaply on the opening day of the series?
Pakistan have fielded first in a test match 20 times in their last 22 tests. The two times they did bat first at stumps on day 1 they were either shot out for 80 or concluded on 180/6.
Out of their last 8 victories in tests, 7 have come when fielding first.
This is the 2nd successive test where a side has been shot out for fewer than 250 when batting first after winning the toss at the DSC which is surprising considering the batter friendly nature of the wickets.
Toss: Strauss called correctly and unsurprisingly opted to make first use of the surface. Misbah incidentally actually said to Nasser at the toss that he would have done the exact same had he won the toss which surprised a few considering he has bowled first when winning the toss normally, trying to exploit the early moisture in the wicket. However, this time he briefly alluded to playing 2 spinners and racking up the runs and then unleashing them on a deteriorating wicket was the thinking behind the decision.
However, we shall never know as honest a man Misbah might be if this what actually he would have done or whether it was just so called talk to defend himself should the opening day in the field be a flat out one for the hosts.
Selection: The hosts played exactly the same 11 players that played the two tests in Bangladesh in December – going in with 2 seamers and 2 front line spinners. Aizaz Cheema was given the nod ahead of left arm pace options Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz. England opted for Tremlett ahead of Finn and didn’t give Monty a place, although he bowled impressively in the 3 day warm up which created some debate, although deep down Strauss and Flower were having none of it and stuck by their policy which has worked for them getting to ‘world beaters.’
Further observations: Here is what I would say is a rating for a first innings score in the UAE from what I have seen here:
Below 200 = disastrous
250 = not bad
300 = about par – you are still in the game or will be at
least for a while
least for a while
350 = generally a good total, a competitive total
450 = a winning total
The English Pundits will now come down hard on challenging the legitimacy of Ajmal’s bowling action – it’s going to be the main talking point of the series – they won’t let this issue go as long as he takes wickets …heading towards another controversial series
Looking Ahead: Pakistan batsmen will be looking to get stuck in, apply themselves at the wicket, work their socks off, dig in long and deep,
pile up the runs, wear out the bowlers and gain a sizeable first innings lead to put the visitors under pressure. They can afford to take their time. Grit,application, solid temperament, determination, mental toughness and the ability to value their wicket and scrap hard for their runs is the strength of the current Pakistan top 6 which they will be looking to portray again here. They should be rewarded for this discipline, stamina, patience and sound defences. A total of approximately 400 will be very pleasing. They’ll be looking to bat to around lunch time on day 3. They’ll be looking for a centurion or two.
pile up the runs, wear out the bowlers and gain a sizeable first innings lead to put the visitors under pressure. They can afford to take their time. Grit,application, solid temperament, determination, mental toughness and the ability to value their wicket and scrap hard for their runs is the strength of the current Pakistan top 6 which they will be looking to portray again here. They should be rewarded for this discipline, stamina, patience and sound defences. A total of approximately 400 will be very pleasing. They’ll be looking to bat to around lunch time on day 3. They’ll be looking for a centurion or two.
400 is the magic number Pakistan will be targeting at least. A lead of at least 200, they will also want to try and kill some time through stodgy and resilient crease occupation to ensure the possibilities of an England win go completely out of the window and England have to go into the 3rd innings with a “draw mentality” where only two results are realistically possible so all they have to concentrate on is bowling out England with sufficient time and if England bat out of their skins and hold on, then they can still salvage a draw which would have been a fine result considering the difference on the rankings, but currently after day 1 Pakistan should be thinking about pushing and enforcing a win and nothing else. The situation is in theirs and the moment is theirs to take. They are in the driving seat. I’ve called a win from here already.
English commentators are also underestimating Pakistan’s batting heavily – this is not the same team which got bowled out under 100 3 times in the space of 4 tests in 2010 when the likes of temperamentally deficient test batsmen like: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik were waving their fashy blades and providing catching opportunities every other over…this is a completely different line up who average 387 in their first innings under Misbah and even higher on the UAE tracks where they have posted 400 3 times in 5 innings and once 340.
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