Report - 2nd Test, Day 1 : Azhar Ali stands strong but Australia edge ahead on rain-hit day

[Abdullah719]

Toss: Pakistan won the toss, Misbah-ul-Haq opted to bat first.

Teams

Australia: MT Renshaw, DA Warner, UT Khawaja, SPD Smith (c), PSP Handscomb, NJ Maddinson, MS Wade (wk), MA Starc, JR Hazlewood, NM Lyon, JM Bird.

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz.

The day began positively for Pakistan as the captain won the toss and opted to bat first, making just one change with Sohail replacing Rahat. The openers were circumspect as ever, surviving a few close calls as Azhar left one alone that was too close for comfort, but was bouncing over the stumps. Sami faced a major struggle to get some runs while Azhar had a few quiet periods as well - the latter was the more composed in such situations. Sami became the first wicket to fall as Lyon came on to bowl and had him caught at slip on the third ball with the ball turning sharply. Once again, it was a huge struggle for Sami as he made 9 off 41 deliveries. Babar came to bat with a positive outlook and it almost saw another few chances created by the bowlers - but the batsmen did his job right until the last ball of the session as Hazlewood went wide of the crease, forcing Babar to play at one which he edged behind to leave Pakistan at 60/2.

Australia were on the attack after Lunch with Younis joining Azhar at the crease. The veteran got off the mark quickly but got bogged down a little after that, as Australia bowled tightly and patiently with less assistance on offer. Younis was less exaggerated in his movements as he looked to get into better positions to play the ball and it almost cost him dearly as he was ruled out LBW. However, he reviewed with the ball missing the leg-stump. Azhar surpassed fifty in the meantime until Younis perished on 21 as he left a gaping hole between bat and pad for Bird to exploit with his rhythmic bowling. Misbah started with a boom, taking Lyon down town for a six to indicate his intentions but he soon fell to Bird also, inside edging one with Maddinson taking a superb catch at short leg. Shafiq and Azhar looked more composed at the crease than the last two batsmen to be dismissed as Pakistan ended the session at 142/4.

The second session ended prematurely, a few minutes ahead of time due to rain and that proved to be it for the day as well with no further play possible. The match will start half an hour early on the remaining 4 days - Azhar Ali on 66*, Asad Shafiq on 4*.

Summary: It was a day of small margins but Australia are likely to be the happier side at the end of Day 1. Taking the wicket of Babar just before Lunch and then the two veterans in the 2nd session ensured that they never allowed Pakistan to be in a position of comfort. Much responsibility lies on the shoulders' of Azhar and Asad to take Pakistan to a competitive first-innings total on Day 2 and to avoid a low first-innings score which would give Australia an opening to run away with the game. The pitch looked to be very good for batting, and Pakistan would ideally like to somehow post 400+ first up.

Fall of wickets:

1-18 (Sami Aslam, 11.3 ov)
2-60 (Babar Azam, 25.6 ov)
3-111 (Younis Khan, 42.1 ov)
4-125 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 46.5 ov)

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Very well batted Azhar. Hopefully he converts and Asad joins him.

 

[161]

Haven't watched but I heard it was an easy pitch so 142/4 is a poor score.

Sami and Babar aren't converting their starts but what's most shocking is that Misbah can't even get a start.

Azhar and the lower order must pull of some heroics if we are going to get anything close to a competitive first innings score of 350.

 

[Square Drive]

325+ and it's our game.

And we will get there. Just need the tail to get us with 50-75 runs which I'm confident we'll get.

Sarfraz can get his 40 and hopefully Shafiq gets a 50 ish, while Azhar goes big.

 

[Kianig89]

333 avg score here hopefully we will cross it need our tail to support again #100runs

 

[Mamoon]

Australia's day by a nose, but things could change if Azhar, Shafiq and Sarfraz score big tomorrow.

 

[UsmanhailsAfridi]

Pitch is dry and ball was reversing and had spin on day 1

Just need to occupy crease for 2 sessions tomorrow and get close to 300.

 

[Wasim_Waqar]

The ball was surprisingly turning. Pakistan need to get as many as possible then we can put them under the pump. We won't get a pitch more to our liking.

 

[KB]

142-4 looks a bit precarious. We are seeing Pakistan battle through tough periods, but these periods are not followed by batsmen dominating the bowlers so even though they play good cricket for a long period they are not able to fully capitalise.

That said, they are showing a lot of fight and determination, especially epitomised by Azhar Ali today. Compared with many previous Pakistan teams, they are not as skilful, but there is a real strength of will.

 

[90MPH]

To be fair all the dismissals were good deliveries.

The ball either moved or spun on a good length though maybe Sami could have kept his one out with a straighter bat.

Pakistan still need 300 minimum I feel otherwise Aussies may get away from them.

 

[Pete Rose]

Australia slightly ahead. It's unfortunate but true that because of shafiqs historical inconsistency, no fan can objectively say that Pakistan is even at this stage.

 

[s28]

With Pakistan bowling attack I think 250 in the first dig will be enough to put pressure on Australia. Ball was turning on day one for Lyon so they should be very concerned about Yasir Shah.

 

[Pete Rose]

With Pakistan bowling attack I think 250 in the first dig will be enough to put pressure on Australia. Ball was turning on day one for Lyon so they should be very concerned about Yasir Shah.

Maybe, but it will help pakistan a lot if we can get 350. Then we don't just rely on the quality of our bowling but also the scoreboard pressure for the batsman.

 

[Napa]

Match looks evenly poised to me. Must be a worry for Australians to see the ball turning. Tomorrow morning's session will be critical.

 

[Pete Rose]

I am somewhat annoyed that the Australian bowlers got a rest because of this rain break. our guys will start afresh tomorrow.
i have to say based on what we saw today and in brisbaine: hazelwood and starc dont look particularly threatening. Even bird's first spell was harmless as his length was slightly shorter and the ball was harder. Things started happening when he came back under lights and bowled the right length plus some reverse.

 

[arunpsm]

If I can I will definitely watch the test match. Asad Shafiq has brought back some hope and expectation for Pak supporters. Although AA is solid too when he wants to be, AS is more watchable (just IMO)...

Good luck to Pak team.

 

[Napa]

Given the amount of rain forecast for the next 4 days, a draw is definitely a possibility.

 

[Ami]

Could this be Paks best ever tail in terms of batting talent...?...lets just hope they show some resistence.
Amir
Sohail
Wahab
Yasir

 

[NauV]

Although, this team is willing to "battle it out" and "dig in" and "grind", the issue is the scoring rate typically goes no where . . Even though that's a perfectly acceptable strategy, the problem comes when way too often outside of Asia, when they have survived long periods and its time to captialize, the lose wickets . . That's when the problem comes . . you haven't scored runs, and you have lost wickets . .

With 142/4, and not to sound like too much of a pessimist, this is what history tells us:

1.) Asad Shafiq has a history of failing after he scores big . . He hardly ever backs it up with another solid performance
2.) Sarfaraz Ahmed has a knack of scoring a good lookign and a fast 30 and then throwing it away . . we would need much more than that . . again, performances since England (barring first innings at the gabba), prove that . .
3.) Pakistan's tail, for all it's resilience in the last game, is the worst performing tail for the last 2 years . . and the tail has included Wahab, Amir, Yasir, Sohail (for the most part) in the last 10 test matches . . so to expect too much from them 2 innings in a row would be quite delusional (I hope I am proved wrong)

Keeping those in mind, in conjunction with the fact that we won the toss and this pitch is expected to become more batting friendly with time, the position doesn't look good at all for Pakistan!

For me, the absolute minimum is 325 to stand any chance in the game . . they will have to bat extremely well with contributions from almost everyone to get there! Here's hoping . .

 

[AZulfi]

I watched play before lunch and Pak batsmen, all of them, are pretty woeful when it comes to rotating the strike.

Azhar struggled. Sami struggled even more. That eventually led to his downfall. Sami needs to learn how to work the ball into gaps. It was the same story at Brisbane. both could not hit boundaries either!

If Pak batsmen cannot milk singles and twos on arguably the biggest ground (Melbourne) in cricket, then they definitely won't succeed at most other grounds.

On a good batting pitch 142/4 is under par. Bill Lawry and co. were saying that 400 is par score on this ground.

Advantage Australia

 

[Iffitheking]

Australia's game to lose, but rain is forecast for day 4 and 5 so I guess it will be draw

 

[imranraf]

Definitely Australia's day. There was not much on the pitch. Misbah and Younis have not been performing for a while now. Other than Azher Ali, none of our batsmen have been able to take advantage of a pretty decent batting conditions. Let's hope Azher Ali and Asad Shafiq can build a big partnership.

 

[MenInG]

Test matches aren't won by one or 2 sessions

Lots of cricket left and Pakistan will fight it out

 

[moghul]

Azhar ALi you played with low SR but that was needed, I loved every short you played or defended . Your innings reminded me that movie "True Grit". Carry on, job is not even half done. You have shown you're mentally strong and ready to relieve Misbah.

 

[Wasim_Waqar]

Definitely Australia's day. There was not much on the pitch. Misbah and Younis have not been performing for a while now. Other than Azher Ali, none of our batsmen have been able to take advantage of a pretty decent batting conditions. Let's hope Azher Ali and Asad Shafiq can build a big partnership.

There was enough in the air and enough turn for the bowlers. There wasn't much seam movement but that's not always required.

We need to continue to accumulate patiently.

 

[Syed1]

The way Lyon was ripping it on the first day made me very excited to see Shah operate on this pitch. If he gets the right field Shah can dismiss the Aussies on this pitch twice and very cheaply.

 

[Syed1]

I watched play before lunch and Pak batsmen, all of them, are pretty woeful when it comes to rotating the strike.

Azhar struggled. Sami struggled even more. That eventually led to his downfall. Sami needs to learn how to work the ball into gaps. It was the same story at Brisbane. both could not hit boundaries either!

If Pak batsmen cannot milk singles and twos on arguably the biggest ground (Melbourne) in cricket, then they definitely won't succeed at most other grounds.

On a good batting pitch 142/4 is under par. Bill Lawry and co. were saying that 400 is par score on this ground.

Advantage Australia

Par scores go out of the window considering the pitch and weather conditions. The pitch has a bit in it for the bowler and it has plenty of spin, if we manage to get to 300 we would be firm favourites for this test (provided we get a full game)