The Hindu : Sport : Test heads for draw after Strauss plays it safe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006

Sport

Sport

Test heads for draw after Strauss plays it safe

Ted Corbett

LONDON: Pakistan, invited to try and get 380 runs in 80 overs, made it clear the most the team wanted from the first Test at Lord's was a draw and in 45 overs to tea had scored just 151 for four.

Matthew Hoggard snared the first two wickets and Monty Panesar ended Mohammad Yousuf's cameo and the obdurate innings of Faisal Iqbal.

It began to look as if Andrew Strauss might win his first Test as captain and then have to hand the reins back to Andrew Flintoff.

At the start, England batted on for 40 minutes to the horror of those who wanted to see a display of daring. "But, did you ever see England do anything adventurous?" sighed one famous voice. Not often.

You can argue all you like that Strauss should have declared but remember what happened to Adam Gilchrist at Leeds when his early declaration allowed Mark Butcher to guide England to victory.

Batsman's paradise

It was still a good day to be a batsman. The sun shone, the pitch was in fine shape for a fifth day and England had only Panesar to take wickets where Shahid Afridi and Danish Kaneria had failed. "I see no reason why he should not win the game for us," Strauss had said overnight. No pressure there then.

Hoggard had Salman Butt lbw first ball but 12 overs went by before he struck again by having Imran Farhat caught at third slip as he had been trying to do throughout his eight overs.

Hoggard is so consistent now, from the hitch kick in the middle of his run, to the ball cradled in his right arm, to that unvarying line around off stump, the result no doubt of a childhood in Bradford listening to Geoff Boycott underlining the value of putting each delivery in the corridor of misery.

That wicket gave him two for ten; but in marched Yousuf with 202 runs already and immediately off the mark with a legside four.

At lunch, Pakistan was 43 for two and soon afterwards Strauss called up Panesar who bowled beautifully with no one out straight but a man halfway back on the offside and a shorter mid-on. Iqbal hit him for six but Panesar welcomed this sign that his attack was worrying Pakistan and puzzling the batsmen, as he bowled his first six overs for 18.

Yousuf picked up from where he finished on the fourth day. I seem to have been watching him crouch beneath that enclosing helmet forever: through two double hundreds and for nearly 20 hours since he last had a failure.

In no time he was top scorer and 37 at the drinks interval — out of 99 — when he changed his bat. He clearly had no intention of leaving quickly and just to emphasise his superiority hit a lovely off-driven four from Liam Plunkett, who looks increasingly as if he is not yet a Test bowler.

His next shot was a leg glance so late and so fine it raced past long leg. We were watching an artist at work again. Next over he was out lbw to a ball from Panesar pitching leg stump and hitting middle. He walked off with 250 runs in the match.

Panesar had Iqbal caught at gully and the only question now was whether, with Inzamam-ul-Haq still batting, England could force a win.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport