Corridor of Uncertainty
First Class Captain
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2009
- Runs
- 5,134
- Post of the Week
- 4
Hosts win the second test as well taking the series 2-0
Australia continued their home dominance over Pakistan with a 14th consecutive victory against their hapless opponents, this one wrapped up inside 3 days.
Beginning with an overnight score of 108 for 1, Pakistan middle order caved in for 4th time in the series as the team got shot out for 167, the last 5 batsmen only contributing 3 runs to the cause. This handed Australia victory by an innings and 71 runs, a result that looked far-fetched when they themselves had finished day 1 at 233 for 8.
Pat Cummins once again was the wrecker-in-chief taking 6 for 33, the last 4 wickets costing him a mere one run. This was his second five-fer in the series, taking his tally to 17 wickets and earning him both man of the match and man of the series awards.
It all looked promising this morning when Imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali walked out to the crease – both batting at identical 48* scores, after Shan Masood had left in the 2nd over the previous day off Cummins. In contrast to last evening, the pair preferred dogged defense to the strokeplay that was thus far the feature of their innings. They largely succeeded in frustrating Australia in the first hour, despite many plays and misses particularly off the luckless Hazelwood, and completed their well-deserved fifties in the process.
However, the introduction of Nathan Lyon after the first hour changed the game. Imam, perhaps frustrated himself with lack of runs, charged Lyon on the very first ball of his spell and ended up holing out to Warner on mid-off, placed exactly for this shot. Thereafter, it was a familiar procession. Asad Shafiq lasted 6 balls before nicking Cummins to 2nd slip for a well earned pair, his 3rd time favoring this particular field position. Babar, the only bright light from a batting viewpoint for Pakistan in this series apart from Azhar, had a rare lapse of judgment and left a straight arm ball from Lyon to be given LBW. He did not waste time on the review either and walked out – perhaps disgusted more by his teammates than by himself this time. Umar Akmal once again hooked Cummins in the safe arms of deep midwicket, having made a meal of it in the first innings too, summing up his comeback series.
This was perhaps signal for Azhar to take matter in his own hands and he played a couple of glorious straight drives off Australia’s own comeback kid Mitch Marsh, but then couldn’t resist following an away swinger and gave a friendly nick to a chattering Tim Paine behind the stumps. It was as good a white flag a captain could offer his opposing captain as any.
The bowlers put up some resistance. Yasir particularly came up with some lusty blows but this could not adequately compensate for his 4 wickets in the series @103. Pakistan’s bowling success of the series Hussnain, who only played the last test and got his country’s lone 5 wicket haul of the series, was the last man out, leaving Rizwan stranded at the other end with a futile 21*. Lyon finished with 3 for 50, to go with his 78* when batting.
Azhar Ali was philosophical, “we were looking to put up a much better performance after the first test but the middle order just could not come to grips with Cummins’ skill. On these kinds of pitches, you have to keep scores ticking over because a good ball is always around the corner. Our batters just went into their shells and that did not help. I am personally happy with my performance although I should have converted couple of those 50’s into hundreds, as should Babar. Umar Akmal has all the strokes and the experience and I am hoping after this series where he was under a lot of pressure, he will come good in the coming one’s. We had some other bright spots too – Shaheen Shah Afridi was superb at Perth, Rizwan has kept and batted well and the new bowlers Hassnain and Naseem Shah are the one’s to watch. We have a blueprint in place on how to get back into the top 3 of test teams but it will take patience and time. There is a lot of talent in our country and with Misbah bhai and Waqar Bhai’s guidance, we will InshaAllah get more of it into our team and put up a better display in the future.”
Tim Paine was typically gracious, “look they are a new team and a new captain. Coming to Australia in not easy at the best of times and even more experienced teams from Paksitan have had a hard time. They have some very good players – Babar, Shaheen, Azhar himself, who will be an asset in the future. Look, I told the team to keep the intensity today and they delivered once again. Cummins is just a super star. He is our attack leader and always delivers. But we should not forget contributions throughout the test series from Smith, Lubuschagne, Lyon, Harris and Hazelwood and pretty much the whole team mate. We are very confident and are happy to our start in the test championships.”
Pakistan team leaves for home on Dec 3 after changing their flights.
2nd Test
Australia 363 (Smith 51, Lyon 78*, Cummins 51, Hussnain 5-65) beat Pakistan 125 (Babar Azam 63* Siddle 4-32, Lyon 3-63) and 167 (Azhar Ali 63, Imam-ul-Haq 54, Cummins 6-33) by 71 runs
Man of the Match; Pat Cummins
Australia take the two-match series 2-0
Man of the Series: Pat Cummins
Australia continued their home dominance over Pakistan with a 14th consecutive victory against their hapless opponents, this one wrapped up inside 3 days.
Beginning with an overnight score of 108 for 1, Pakistan middle order caved in for 4th time in the series as the team got shot out for 167, the last 5 batsmen only contributing 3 runs to the cause. This handed Australia victory by an innings and 71 runs, a result that looked far-fetched when they themselves had finished day 1 at 233 for 8.
Pat Cummins once again was the wrecker-in-chief taking 6 for 33, the last 4 wickets costing him a mere one run. This was his second five-fer in the series, taking his tally to 17 wickets and earning him both man of the match and man of the series awards.
It all looked promising this morning when Imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali walked out to the crease – both batting at identical 48* scores, after Shan Masood had left in the 2nd over the previous day off Cummins. In contrast to last evening, the pair preferred dogged defense to the strokeplay that was thus far the feature of their innings. They largely succeeded in frustrating Australia in the first hour, despite many plays and misses particularly off the luckless Hazelwood, and completed their well-deserved fifties in the process.
However, the introduction of Nathan Lyon after the first hour changed the game. Imam, perhaps frustrated himself with lack of runs, charged Lyon on the very first ball of his spell and ended up holing out to Warner on mid-off, placed exactly for this shot. Thereafter, it was a familiar procession. Asad Shafiq lasted 6 balls before nicking Cummins to 2nd slip for a well earned pair, his 3rd time favoring this particular field position. Babar, the only bright light from a batting viewpoint for Pakistan in this series apart from Azhar, had a rare lapse of judgment and left a straight arm ball from Lyon to be given LBW. He did not waste time on the review either and walked out – perhaps disgusted more by his teammates than by himself this time. Umar Akmal once again hooked Cummins in the safe arms of deep midwicket, having made a meal of it in the first innings too, summing up his comeback series.
This was perhaps signal for Azhar to take matter in his own hands and he played a couple of glorious straight drives off Australia’s own comeback kid Mitch Marsh, but then couldn’t resist following an away swinger and gave a friendly nick to a chattering Tim Paine behind the stumps. It was as good a white flag a captain could offer his opposing captain as any.
The bowlers put up some resistance. Yasir particularly came up with some lusty blows but this could not adequately compensate for his 4 wickets in the series @103. Pakistan’s bowling success of the series Hussnain, who only played the last test and got his country’s lone 5 wicket haul of the series, was the last man out, leaving Rizwan stranded at the other end with a futile 21*. Lyon finished with 3 for 50, to go with his 78* when batting.
Azhar Ali was philosophical, “we were looking to put up a much better performance after the first test but the middle order just could not come to grips with Cummins’ skill. On these kinds of pitches, you have to keep scores ticking over because a good ball is always around the corner. Our batters just went into their shells and that did not help. I am personally happy with my performance although I should have converted couple of those 50’s into hundreds, as should Babar. Umar Akmal has all the strokes and the experience and I am hoping after this series where he was under a lot of pressure, he will come good in the coming one’s. We had some other bright spots too – Shaheen Shah Afridi was superb at Perth, Rizwan has kept and batted well and the new bowlers Hassnain and Naseem Shah are the one’s to watch. We have a blueprint in place on how to get back into the top 3 of test teams but it will take patience and time. There is a lot of talent in our country and with Misbah bhai and Waqar Bhai’s guidance, we will InshaAllah get more of it into our team and put up a better display in the future.”
Tim Paine was typically gracious, “look they are a new team and a new captain. Coming to Australia in not easy at the best of times and even more experienced teams from Paksitan have had a hard time. They have some very good players – Babar, Shaheen, Azhar himself, who will be an asset in the future. Look, I told the team to keep the intensity today and they delivered once again. Cummins is just a super star. He is our attack leader and always delivers. But we should not forget contributions throughout the test series from Smith, Lubuschagne, Lyon, Harris and Hazelwood and pretty much the whole team mate. We are very confident and are happy to our start in the test championships.”
Pakistan team leaves for home on Dec 3 after changing their flights.
2nd Test
Australia 363 (Smith 51, Lyon 78*, Cummins 51, Hussnain 5-65) beat Pakistan 125 (Babar Azam 63* Siddle 4-32, Lyon 3-63) and 167 (Azhar Ali 63, Imam-ul-Haq 54, Cummins 6-33) by 71 runs
Man of the Match; Pat Cummins
Australia take the two-match series 2-0
Man of the Series: Pat Cummins
