Well Pitched - a cricket blog

Fawad Alam Makes me Proud

2009-07-13T15:58:00.006+04:00

I don't have to tell you that I have been talking about Fawad Alam for two years now.

You all know how much I have written about him; how much I have called for him to be included in the Pakistan XI; how much I have rated him.

I was surprised to see some people question what Fawad Alam had done to demand a place in the Pakistan XI.

Well for those who follow Pakistan's domestic cricket and Pakistan A team tours know that Fawad Alam has been the best batsman in the country for about 3-4 years now.

He first caught my eye when he was the leading scorer in a domestic 20-20 tournament in 2005-06.

Since then, Fawad made strong waves in all formats of the game; 20-20, List A, and First-Class; one doesn't muster up a first-class average of 57 by being mediocre.

Throughout this time, I never thought he demanded a place in the XI. I thought he commanded one!

All that is in the past now, for Fawad Alam has just become the 10th batsman in Pakistan's history to hit a century on test debut.

He makes his way into an elite list, which includes Pakistani greats such as Khalid Ibadullah, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, and Younis Khan.

On top, Fawad became the first Pakistani to hit a century on test debut away from Pakistan.

He played a chanceless knock in a pressure situation and in a game in which Pakistan looked down and out almost as soon as it began.

Fawad may not be the most gifted stroke player nor the most technically correct batsman, but he is a fighter who grinds his way through situations as was apparent in his innings today.

He is not a big hitter of the ball but he still scores his runs at a fairly decent pace, mostly through his nudges into the gaps and running between the wicket.

Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal brought Pakistan back into this second test against Sri lanka; but if Pakistan go on to win this match, it will be because of the lead they muster up on the back of Fawad's innings.

His job is not over yet, but he has done me proud. I'm sure he has done a lot of others proud too.

This century may lead a number of people to speak Fawad up as the solution to the opening problem; though I am not sure about that.

This is the first time in his entire career that Fawad has opened in any form of the game.

He has made the most of the opportunity given to him and Pakistan have definitely found a great batsman; a great opener or not, only time will tell.

I still think Pakistan needs to find specialist openers and fit Fawad into the middle order where he has spent his career so far.

That's a thought for later; for now lets savour this brilliant innings from Fawad Alam.

The Colombo Mornings

2009-07-13T10:32:00.004+04:00

There's something about the mornings in Colombo.

Pakistan lost 6 wickets in the morning session yesterday; Sri Lanka lost 5 today.

Are the batsmen not getting proper sleep?

Yesterday morning was just a poor execution of batting skills against a new swinging red cherry.

This morning, however, the Sri Lankans were outsmarted by a rejuvenated Umar Gul.

After a lacklustre performance in the first test, Gul completely redeemed himself this morning with a top performance that got him 3 wickets, including the all important one of King Sanga.

Saeed Ajmal bowled non-stop during this session, and bowled well; it surprised me though that Mohammad Aamer was given only 4 overs this morning.

Aamer should have had a couple of wickets; if only Khurram had safer hands and some other edges had flown to the fielders, but I believe Younis should have bowled him more.

But then with 5 wickets, Pakistan has done well and somewhat brought themselves back into this game so I wouldn't argue against Younis Khan's tactics.

History would tell you that 150 would be a more than enough lead for Sri Lanka, but NC has different ideas.

A good Colombo morning for the Pakistanis after the nightmare yesterday.

A Season for Debutants?

2009-07-13T02:06:00.004+04:00

I was randomly thinking about it and then looked it up.

Starting from May 2008 (New Zealand's tour of England and the Australia's tour of West Indies) upto and including the ongoing test matches, here is a list of test debutants.

Sri Lanka: Ajantha Mendis, Dammika Prasad, Tharanga Paranavitana, Angelo Mathews

Australia: Brad Haddin, Beau Casson, Cameron White, Peter Siddle, Jason Krejza, Doug Bollinger, Andrew Mcdonald, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phil Hughes, Marcus North, Bryce McGain

Bangladesh: Naeem Islam, Mahbubul Alam, Imrul Kayes, Raqibul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Mahmuddullah

New Zealand: Daniel Flynn, Aaron Redmond, Gareth Hopkins, Jesse Ryder, Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill

India: Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay

West Indies: Amit Jaggernauth, Llionel Baker, Brendan Nash, Llendl Simmons, Dale Richards, Omar Phillips, Ryan Austin, Travis Dowlin, Chadwick Walton, Kemar Roach, Nikita Miller

England: Darren Pattinson, Graeme Swann, Amjad Khan, Tim Bresnan, Graham Onions

South Africa: JP Duminy, Imraan Khan, Albie Morkel

Pakistan: Khurram Manzoor, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Talha, Mohammad Aamer, Abdur Rauf, Saeed Ajmal, Fawad Alam

That is an extraordinary number of test debutants!

And only the West Indies faced absurd circumstances that resulted in 7 debutants in their ongoing test against Bangladesh.

All the others are for genuine cricketing reasons, if you know what I mean.

I'm not sure if there has been another period in test cricket that has witnessed so many debuts.

There might be, but this to me looks like probably one of the largest number for 3 cricket seasons - 2008, 2008-09, and 2009 as defined on Cricinfo.

So what is it? Is a test cap easier to achieve these days? Or are several teams going through a rebuilding phase? Or have there been too many injuries? Or the boards are just feeling generous?

55 debutants in 15 months of test cricket; I can count only 20 out of them who are or will be regulars for their test teams.

Ashes Day 5: Two-Bits

2009-07-12T22:19:00.006+04:00

I was expecting an innings win for Australia but Paul Collingwood lived to do what he claimed he would - bat out the game for England.

Australia could not close what really should have been their game, especially after they ran through England's middle order and had them at 127-6.

It was quite unbelievable really, particularly when Monty Panesar came out to bat and went back unbeaten.

Here are my two-bits from Day 5:

Graeme Swann was supposed to be the biggest threat to Australia but he failed to pick up a single wicket; his unbeaten 47 and 31 though probably saved the game for England.
James Anderson managed his 2nd and 3rd highest test score in this match; quite a game to do it in.
Nathan Hauritz with figures of 6-158 surprised me; what shocked me is that he did a lot better than Swann.
There was talk before the Ashes that the batting from the tails will probably decide the series. Australia's tail did not get a chance in this match; England's last 4 wickets, on the other hand, added 108 runs in the 1st innings and an unbroken 125 runs in the 2nd.

I'm not sure whether that says more about England's tail or Australia's bowling.
Ben Hilfenhaus is a bowler and a half; I don't see Lee or Clark playing a single game this Ashes.
Mike Hussey was the only batsman in this match who did not manage to hit a boundary; even Monty managed to hit one!
Why was Mitchell Johnson not bowled near the end of the England's innings? Was Ponting trying to save some money again by handing the ball to North?
This was the first first Ashes Test this decade that ended in anything but an Australian victory. The last time this happened, it was Brisbane and it was 1998.

Oh Pakistan!

2009-07-12T12:31:00.006+04:00

I expected a lot of things from Pakistan's 2nd test match against Sri Lanka, but I did not expect any of this:

Pakistan bowled out below 100 for the 10th time in their test history.
Pakistan bowled out for their 7th lowest test score ever.
Pakistan bowled out for their lowest ever test score against Sri Lanka!

In fact Pakistan's 117 in the 4th innings of the Galle test was their lowest ever test score against Sri Lanka; it has taken them less than a week to wipe out that record.

Twice in this series; two of their lowest ever scores.

Can it get any worse for Pakistan?

A New Cricket Application in Town

2009-07-12T09:55:00.006+04:00

How many of you own an iPhone or an iPod touch?

For those that do, this is for you; for those who don't you may buy one just for this.

Virtual Cricket is a new cricket application specifically developed for the iPhone and the iPod touch; and its review tells me that it is the best cricket application around.

The application not only allows one to follow the scores of LIVE cricket matches, it provides for ball-by-ball commentary, full scorecards, player and team graphs, and a wide range of statistics.

The best part about it is that it also provides a newsfeed of the latest news, articles, and opinions on cricket on the web; not only from leading cricket websites such as Cricinfo, but also from cricket blogs.

From what I hear, it is the best cricket application developed thus far integrating all the features of other applications and also utilizing iPhone options to make it an enhanced experience for the users.

Try it for yourself to see what it is all about; if you would like to, follow the banner on the right to the iTune store.

What are they doing with Fawad Alam!?

2009-07-12T08:36:00.009+04:00

I cannot believe what I am watching!

Fawad Alam making his test debut for Pakistan and opening the innings!

What is Pakistan doing?

Are they hell bent on destroying one of the most promising careers that has not even got going yet?

Fawad Alam has been the best batsman in Pakistan's domestic circuit for close to 4-5 years now, but he IS NOT an opener!

I am more than pleased to see him make his test debut considering that I have been writing about him for close to two years now.

But I am not happy to see him open.

He has never opened in his life! Not in domestic cricket, not for the U-19 side, not for any side!

For Pakistan to throw him at the deep end in his very 1st test match goes to show the lack of planning, and a lack of a whole lot of other things, within the team management.

Fawad might go on and do well as opener, but if he fails, it will be a major major blunder on part of the selectors and the team management.

Even if he does well, does it garantee him the opening spot? It should not; there should be specialist openers and Fawad should be batting in the middle order!

First the selectors don't select a reserve opener in the squad. Then when the team management decides to drop an out-of-form-one out of the XI, they throw a debutant, who has never opened in his life before, at the deep end of things.

What happened to Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal who have opened before?

It is just as if Pakistan doesn't want to give Fawad a proper chance to succeed at international level.

In ODIs and T20Is they bat him at 7 or 8, which hardly gives him a chance to bat; in a test match they ask him to open, which is one of the most difficult tasks in the game.

Just give him his position at number 5 or 6!

Pakistan and Sri Lanka Ready for yet another Clash

2009-07-12T04:05:00.003+04:00

In just about 4 hours Pakistan and Sri Lanka will take the field again for the 2nd test match of their series.

The 1st test last week set the tone for a fast paced, action packed series between the two; if the initial reports coming in regarding the nature of the pitch are true, then this morning will see yet another exciting test match kick off.

After Pakistan's dramatic collapse on the 4th morning of the previous test, there were a number of reactions from various quarters.

Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt received a lot of criticism, Fawad Alam's exclusion raised eye brows, while some even questioned the omission of Abdul Razzaq and Danish Kaneria.

Personally, I don't think there was anything wrong with the XI that Pakistan fielded in the 1st test.

They dominated the test for 3 days, before collapsing in a heap.

What does the team composition have to do with that?

An Alam, Razzaq, or Kaneria would not have prevented defeat last week for Pakistan.

I don't see a reason why Pakistan should tinker with its line up; the only change I would like to see is Fawad Alam or Faisal Iqbal in place of Shoaib Malik.

I am not a fan of make-shift openers; particularly in test matches, hence I see no reason to separate Salman Butt and Khurram Manzoor.

Sri Lanka is likely to go in with the same team, unless they want to bring in an additional pacer, which I highly doubt.

Here are a few things that I am looking forward to seeing:

King Sanga and Younis Khan, after their double failure last week; big innings from the captains.

Ajantha Mendis with a point to prove or three; a few more wickets than he has managed thus far against Pakistan.

Umar Gul after a lacklustre perfomance; a breathtaking opening spell.

Another Mohammad Yousuf century; don't count it out.

Rangana Herath being smashed around; how I would love that!

More magic from Mohammad Aamer; this boy has it in him.

Another failure from Mahela Jayawardene; it'll take some time for him to get back to his best. Or will he ever?

Dilshan with a fiery cameo before getting out playing a scoop; don't think he will stop doing it.

Misbah finding yet another way to lose his wicket; you can surely count on that!

And a Pakistan victory; it has to be 1-1.

Ashes Day 4: Two-Bits & Hearsay

2009-07-12T02:56:00.005+04:00

I sense an innings win for Australia on the 5th day.

Marcus North and Brad Haddin just shut England up today and further proved what I had to say about the English bowlers.

I can't believe how over rated they were before the Ashes began.

My two-bits from day 4:

Marcus North and Brad Haddin managed centuries on their Ashes debuts; I'm not sure who all have managed that - I know Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Mark Waugh have; I know Allan Border and Steve Waugh haven't. I'm sure there are many more cricketers with the same achievement, but its quite an effort from these two.
Stuart Broad just keeps getting worse - please someone tell me why he's playing international cricket?
North and Haddin put on an even 200 for the 6th wicket; I thought that must have been one of the highest for the Ashes but it was far behind the 1937 effort (346) between Bradman and Fingleton.

And some hearsay.

Random Pakistan Cricket Fact #15

2009-07-11T17:36:00.003+04:00

Kamran Akmal has more dismissals in test matches than Rashid Latif and Moin Khan.

For an average wicketkeeper, I found that quite amusing.

How has Akmal managed to surpass Rashid and Moin?

His dismissals per innings (2.05) are also higher than Moin's (1.24) and Rashid (1.88).

In fact, Kamran Akmal has more dismissal per innings than any Pakistani wicketkeeper in tests!

Figure that one out.

Imagine where that figure would be if he didn't drop all those catches, or miss all those stumpings.

Ashes Day 3: Two-Bits & No Hearsay

2009-07-11T04:51:00.004+04:00

The first test of the Ashes, and the first of the three tests I predicted to lose overs due to rain; good start I say to the Ashes Prediction Competition!

It was rain that made them go off, not the bad light, right?

Though I think I'm going to suffer on the Mike Hussey front and the first test result blunder.

Anyhow, here are my two-bits for the day 3:

This is the second time that Michael Clarke has missed a century in the opening Ashes test in England after his 91 at Lord's in 2005. He still doesn't have a test hundred in England.
Stuart Broad started this test match with an average of 38, an economy rate of 3.2, and a strike rate of 71. Pathetic that is. He hasn't done himself any good in this game. Why England persists with him is beyond me.
For those who thought that England picked their wicketkeeper forgetting about the catching and stumping - Prior has been behind 3 of the 5 dismissals.
Out of the current Australian batting line up, Ricky Ponting (127, Leeds 1997), Michael Clarke (91, Lord's 2005), and Michael Hussey (86, Brisbane 2006) scored 50 or more in their Ashes debut; today Marcus North joined that list. He could very well join Ponting too.
Graeme Swann wicketless? So much for the English hopes.

3 in 3 for Umar Akmal!

2009-07-10T18:12:00.002+04:00

Umar Akmal continued his fine form in Australia with yet another century; his 3rd of the tour after his back to back effort in the 2 test matches against Australia A.

In the 1st ODI between Pakistan A and Australia A, Umar Akmal smashed 104 runs off only 70 deliveries, which included 5 sixes and 10 fours.

3 centuries in 3 matches on tour in Australia - haven't seen this before!

The best part is that Umar was not up against some average second grade bowling; he faced internationals Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger, Brett Geeves, and Jason Krejza.

This tour is not yet finished and if Umar can continue his awesome run with the bat, it won't be long before the selectors will be seriously considering him for the senior side.

Ashes Day 2: Two-Bits & Hearsay

2009-07-10T04:45:00.005+04:00

After Day 1, I was of the opinion that England were ahead; today Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich have ensured that Australia are definitely ahead.

A result is still possible I believe. Don't rule out an Australian lead and an English collapse; its happened way too often in the past.

Particularly in the first tests of an Ashes series.

Speaking of first Ashes series tests, here are my two-bits from Day 2:

Ricky Ponting set the record straight in more than one way with his century; besides erasing memories of a bloody 1st test in 2005, Ponting kicked off an Ashes series in England with a hundred. He had done the same in Australia in the two Ashes series held there in this decade, but not in the two Ashes series held in England during the same period.
Simon Katich managed his 1st Ashes century; strangely he has played all his Ashes tests in England. His previous best was 67.
Ponting became the 4th batsman to cross 11,000 test runs; he did so in 9 more innings than Brian Lara, and in 1 less innings than Sachin Tendulkar.
Before the series began, I called England's bowling shit. Anderson and Broad with test averages of 34 and 38 respectively did not exactly catch my fancy; all they did today was prove me right. Economy rates of over 4 and no wicket to show - they need to lift their game!

And some hearsay.

The Ashes Prediction Competition

2009-07-10T04:27:00.004+04:00

For once it is not Sportsfreak running a tipping competition.

This time its a couple of South Africans, who for some reason are interested in the Ashes. I presume to witness Australia's demise.

After all their coach, Mickey, gave the English some tips. So did Buchanan, but so what right? Australia are not losing the Ashes!

That's my tip anyway.

The competition is being run by The Commentary Position, a South African blog operated by Darren and Roscoe.

Their tips, or predictions like they call it, are here.

So far its them, Jrod, Damith, Brian Carpenter, and I who are competing.

Yep, Damith and I are up against each other again after our all famous Pakistan-Sri Lanka debate over at BCC!

Here are Damith's picks for the Ashes.

And here are mine.

THE FORMALITIES

Most Runs Overall (15) --> Michael Hussey, yeah I think he's back to his robotic ways. Everyone will pick Phil Hughes I'm sure.
Most Runs England (10) --> Ravi Bopara, any doubts?
Most Runs Australia (10) --> Phil Hughes, I'm hedging!
Most Wickets Overall (15) --> Mitchell Johnson, he will kill them English.
Most Wickets England (10) --> Graeme Swann, the pacers are useless.
Most Wickets Australia (10) --> Mitchell Johnson, don't need a hedge here.
Best Tosser (captain who wins the most tosses) (5) --> Andrew Strauss, he has to win something!
Man of the Series (10) --> Mitchell Johnson & Andrew Strauss, in England there are always 2 men of the series.
1st Test Result (10) --> England
2nd Test Result (10) --> Australia
3rd Test Result (10) --> Australia

4th Test Result (10) --> Australia
5th Test Result (10) --> Australia
Overall series result (15) --> Australia 4-1.

THE TRIVIALITIES

Number of Tests that lose overs to rain (note, not bad light) (5) ---> 3
Number of Tests that Flintoff will be able to manage (5) ---> 2
Number of Tests won by an innings (5) ---> 2
Number of Tests played by McDonald (5) ---> zero
Number of Tests played by Lee (5) ---> zero

If you're interested in taking part, you can still do it; however you will start from -1. Still worth it I believe.

Hop on over to The Commentary Position and give them your entry.

Even God is on Chris Gayle's Side

2009-07-09T19:25:00.005+04:00

The Ashes have allowed the drama unfolding in the West Indies to be pushed into the background.

If there was ever a dramatic cricket story; this is it!

Potentially the West Indies could field 9 debutants in their test match against Bangladesh, which should have started an hour ago but still hasn't due to rain.

The actual West Indies team is boycotting the series because of contractual disputes with the WICB.

Its strange that the dispute has gone to the extent that has led the board to field a second string team for a test match.

Sure its Bangladesh, but its still a test match.

Doesn't the board think that Chris Gayle, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Dwayne Bravo are worthy of the contracts they are asking for?

Hasn't WICB thought of the repurcussions of losing a test match to Bangladesh?

It's more than likely.

So far the rain Gods have sided with Gayle and made sure a new look West Indies does not take the field.

But it's just about time before it happens; I don't think I have seen something more absurd than this!

Random Pakistan Cricket Fact #14

2009-07-09T18:10:00.002+04:00

Imran Khan to Inzamam: "I know that you will win us the World Cup."

True story.

Pakistan had played about a dozen warm up matches in Australia before the 1992 world cup; Inzamam Ul Haq had failed in all of them.

When members of the team and the management suggested that he was not good enough, Imran Khan maintained that, "this boy will win us the world cup."

After Pakistan's last league game against New Zealand, which was another failure for Inzamam, Imran Khan went up to Inzamam and said, "You scored only 5 but you hit 1 boundary and that was an amazing stroke. I know that you will win us the World Cup."

The rest, as we all know, is history.

Ashes Day 1: Two-Bits & Hearsay

2009-07-08T23:33:00.007+04:00

The Ashes build up in the media was overwhelming to say the least; but that was nothing compared to the over drive they went into today.

I woke up to over a 100 new entries in my RSS Reader. That has never happened before and I have over a 100 blogs and sites that I subscribe to!

It goes without saying that almost all of those new entries was something or the other about the Ashes, which kicked off today.

Anyhow, so here are my two bits about day 1 of the Ashes.

Australia have as many as 7 Ashes debutants in their line up. Only Ponting, Katich, Hussey, and Clarke had played an Ashes test before today; meaning that Australia's entire bowling attack is playing their first test against England.
On the other hand, England have only 4 Ashes debutants - Bopara, Prior, Broad, and Swann.
Nathan Hauritz 1st Ashes wicket was Kevin Pietersen; not bad was it.

Now for some hearsay from Day 1.

The best thing about Mohammad Aamer

2009-07-08T19:03:00.003+04:00

We all knew the boy had pace.

We all knew he could swing the red ball both ways.

We all knew he was touted to be Pakistan's next pace sensation.

We all knew he was one for the long term for Pakistan.

We all knew he would get wickets in heaps.

All that, Mohammad Aamer showed during his debut in the first test against Sri Lanka, with a match haul of 6-112.

The best part about that though, was that all his 6 wickets were top order batsmen.

Aamer got the best of them, 3 in each innings, 1 bowled, and 5 caught by the keeper or in the slips.

Just goes to show how well the left armer bowled.

King Sanga twice, Jayawardene, Dilshan, Paranavitana, and Warnapura - that's 5 of Sri Lanka's top 6 that Aamer managed to topple over in his debut test.

He has a lot of promise and a long road ahead of him; hopefully a bright one.

And hopefully he follows in the foot steps of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and not Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

You Really Think England Can Win?

2009-07-07T23:09:00.004+04:00

To say there has been plenty of hype about the Ashes would be the biggest understatement ever.

All the Australian and English blogs have been buzzing with Ashes hype; that is not the surprising bit.

What is surprising is that many believe that England have a real chance at winning the Ashes.

They can't be serious!

I have no idea how anyone can seriously believe that England can win.

Sure they have great batsmen; Andrew Strauss converts 50s to 100s at a better rate than anyone; Kevin Pietersen scores centuries more often than anyone else; Ravi Bopara has knocked centuries in his 3 previous tests.

But their bowling is shit.

I don't even know why Stuart Broad plays international cricket.

James Anderson and Graham Onions hardly look the sort that can run through the Australians.

It is not the West Indies batsmen they're up against. It is the Hughes, the Katich, the Ponting, the Hussey, the Clarke, the North, the Haddin, the Johnson.

That is one heavy batting line up.

Andrew Flintoff is probably the only threat to them but it won't be long before he'll be limping off the field or getting dropped for missing a boat or something.

Graeme Swann is a more than decent spinner, but he's no threat. Definitely not. He was for the West Indians, not one for the Aussies.

Monty Panesar is a joke.

Adil Rashid is probably their best hope but they won't give him a single game.

The Australians recently beat South Africa at home; a team who had not lost a test series in almost forever.

While the English could not bowl out the West Indies to win a game in the Caribbean; sure they beat them at home but the West Indians were hardly interested in being there.

I just cannot see England winning any game in the Ashes; nor can I see how anyone else can.

Why was Rangana Herath Man of the Match?

2009-07-07T22:07:00.002+04:00

I watched the last Pakistani wicket fall this morning, but I didn't bother to stay up any longer to watch the presentation.

I switched the TV off and went to bed.

Once I woke up, I didn't bother to check the scorecard; I usually do to check who the man of the match was, what the figures were and so on; this time I didn't.

Till now that is.

After reading the comments regarding Rangana Herath on Krishna's post about Pakistan's loss, I went over to Cricinfo's scorecard to check his best ever figures out.

4-15 looks good but why in the world was that a man of the match performance?

Don't ask me who else it should have been, tell me why Herath got the man of the match award?

Sure he bowled a match changing second over of the day this morning, but his 4-15 really included only 1 big wicket.

That of Mohammad Yousuf; the delivery he bowled to have Yousuf play all around it was a very good one.

Besides that, Herath hardly did anything else.

Salman Butt threw his wicket away needlessly, while Abdur Rauf and Mohammad Aamer can hardly count as match winning wickets.

Then why Rangana Herath?

Why not Tharanga Paranavitna who put together a rearguard action when the other batsmen struggled; or Nuwan Kulasekara who managed to keep Pakistan's lead to only 50 runs; or Thilan Tushara who truly bowled an unplayable spell?

Awesome Advertisement for Test Cricket

2009-07-07T20:23:00.005+04:00

That's what the first test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was.

Who said Pakistan and Sri Lanka play boring dull draws?

They did so in Pakistan earlier this year but then that's how pitches have been off late in Pakistan.

If history is anything to go by, a Pakistan vs Sri Lanka test match produces a result more often than not - out of the 35 tests they have played against each other, only 12 have ended in draws.

Coming back to this test at Galle; it had everything one could have asked for from a test match.

Outstanding pace bowling with plenty of swing; canny spin bowling with batsmen trying hard to read and counter; brilliant rearguard actions with the bat; a dogged century from one of the best batsmen in the world; mini collapses and a major one on the 4th day; partnerships and broken ones; balls beating the bat; bats dominating a few sessions; pretty much even stakes for both sides throughout the game; and a result on the 4th morning.

All that came from both Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

And then we hear people say test cricket is not exciting!

There wasn't a single moment during this test match when I was bored. It was fast paced action throughout the four days.

Now I hope Sri Lanka are brave enough to have similar pitches for the two remaining test matches and don't produce flat tracks to enforce dull draws and a series win.

Ideally this series should go into the 3rd test at 1-1; then we would truly have an awesome advertisement for test cricket!

You tell me; would you rather watch fast paced cricket action over 3 hours in a T20 game, or the same for hours everyday for 5 days?

Pakistan is Pakistan after all ...

2009-07-07T09:16:00.004+04:00

Last night everyone went to bed thinking that Pakistan will win their first test match in two and a half years.

I didn't.

Go to bed that is.

I stayed up all night in anticipation of a Pakistan win.

97 to get, 8 wickets in hand, Yousuf and Butt at the crease; who would have thought that the Pakistani batsmen had other things on their minds.

Sri Lanka have all but closed this test and I guess its time to go to bed.

I know Stani and many others will be looking to slit my throat for pointing out that Sri Lanka had not won a test against Pakistan at home since 1986.

But a fact is a fact. It was true.

So the win, which was supposed to be a first for Pakistan in two and a half years, will now in all probability be a first for Sri Lanka in 23 years!

A bit historic for them I guess.

Sri Lanka never looked like winning this game; Pakistan was on top from the moment Younis Khan called right at the toss.

All the way till this morning.

Tushara and Herath bowled brilliantly and the Pakistani batsmen had no answer for the swing and spin.

But there is no excuse for Pakistan's slide from 71-2 to 86-7.

They blew it!

Random Pakistan Cricket Fact #13

2009-07-07T06:16:00.003+04:00

3 Pakistanis have taken 4 hatricks in test matches; all have come against Sri Lanka.

Wasim Akram did so twice in consecutive test matches during the Asian Test Championship in 1999.

The first one of those I witnessed at the Gaddafi. The second one I watched live in my college dorms.

Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Sami are the other two.

There's definitely something about Sri Lanka that Pakistan fancies; I'm not sure exactly what.

Sohail Tanvir does it for Shane Warne

2009-07-06T23:47:00.003+04:00

There must be something about Shane Warne that Sohail Tanvir always brings out the best for him.

He did it during the 2008 IPL campaign, ending the competition as the league's leading wicket taker.

And he did it again for the Rajasthan Royals in today's T20 match against Middlesex Panthers.

The 2008 IPL and County T20 champions met today at Lord's in a game played for the British Asian Trust, one of the Prince of Wales' charities.

Batting first, the Royals posted a winning total of 162 that included an Asnodkar and Kaif consolidation play and a late burst from Mascarenhas.

Even Justin Langer turned out for Warne's team but he couldn't get going with the bat.

In response the Panthers were bowled out for only 116 with Tanvir picking up 3-20 in his 4 overs.

He got the crucial wickets of opener Godleman, Eoin Morgan, and Tyron Henderson, who had appeared for the Royals in this year's IPL.

Tanvir's lack of form for Pakistan did not hurt their chances in the World T20, but it would have been good to see him performing for his country.

Like he does for his IPL franchise.

So what is it about Warne that brings about the best in Tanvir?

Maybe Younis Khan needs to take some tips on what makes Tanvir tick.

A More Than Happening Test Match

2009-07-06T16:19:00.005+04:00

A first time captain, 4 debutants, first over wickets, wagging tails, century from an ICL rebel, wicketless Mendis, Younis Khan picking up wickets, opener nightwatchman, first ball wicket for Mendis; and a whole lot more.

On top, we will have a result on the 4th morning of the test.

To say that the first test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been happening will be a gross understatement.

A lot has happened during the three days of this test, but 3 things have stood out for me.

A nightwatchman walking out as opener.
A debutant getting the wicket of the opposing captain in both innings.
Debutants picking up 16 out of the 32 wickets that have fallen thus far.

I don't know if either of these have happened before in a test match; I wouldn't be surprised if these are first time instances.

If someone has the facts, please enlighten me.

I'm going to go and do some digging myself.