The on-going npower test series, the 2nd day of the 1st test brought augured well for England at Trent Bridge. The morning session was dominated by Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif who got 5 wickets for him-self but after that Pakistan didn’t manage to do anything right. The conditions on the pitch were favourable to bowlers with 12 wickets tumbling down for just 113 runs.
Anderson and Finn capitalised on the superb conditions to run through the Pakistani top order as they were left reeling at 90/6 even before tea was declared.
James Anderson totally justified his opening bowlers slot when he removed both the openers of the Pakistani team and thereon Finn caught up by running through the middle order. He ended up with figures of 3/12 in his 1st spell with the ball and reduced Pakistan to a measly 47/6. Thereafter Mohammad Aamer and Shoaib Malik gave the Pakistan team a semblance of recovery .
After Asif blasted the English batsmen by swinging the ball both ways, England replied in the form of Anderson and Finn who wreaked havoc in the Pakistani batting line-up under the grey skies in Nottingham.
The scale of the onslaught was however unprecedented as the partnership between Salman Butt and Imran Farhat which was Pakistan’s forte in the match against Australia in Headingley proved ineffectual against England with Butt edging an easy one through to the keeper Prior.
Farhat and Ali managed to stick until lunch with Stuart Broad bowling short but Finn fresh from his training proved that he has what it takes to extract bounce and baffle the batsmen. Anderson bowled round the wicket to shatter the stumps of Imran and Finn Contributed by picking up Umar Amin to leave Pakistan in dire straits at 35/3.
Anderson claimed his 3rd in the form of Ali who walked and didn’t make use of the referral which suggested he hadn’t nicked it after all. It had come off his trouser pockets. Finn snagged both the Akmals almost with similar deliveries with the ball moving away from the bat.
Malik and Aamer though steadied the Pakistan ship with a gritty 43 between them which happens to be the 3rd highest for either team.
The Pakistani collapse completely overshadowed Asif’s brilliant bowling in the morning to capture his 7th five-wicket haul in tests. Matt prior on the other hand made quite an unimpressive re-entry into international cricket and England’s dramatic collapse was nothing in comparison to Pakistan’s.
At Tea:
England : 354 (Morgan-130, Collingwood-82, Asif-5/77, Aamer-3/41)
Pakistan : 147/9 (Malik-26*, Aamer-22*, Finn-3/12)
Pakistan trail England by 264 runs
