England, set 127 to win in the first of two matches scheduled for Cardiff, were struggling on 62 for five at the halfway stage with Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi taking two cheap wickets with his brisk wrist spin.

However, Eoin Morgan was badly dropped at short fine-leg on 13 by Shoaib Akhtar attempting a reverse sweep and England eventually reached their target with 17 balls to spare.

After Paul Collingwood had asked Pakistan to bat following a 30-minute rain delay, England’s premier bowler Graeme Swann showed his versatility in all forms of the game with two for 14 from his four overs. Pakistan scored from only 10 of the off-spinner’s deliveries.

Michael Yardy was almost as parsimonious from the other end, taking one for 21 with his flat left-armers.A late burst of 38 runs from 29 balls between Umar Akmal (35 not out) and Afridi (16 not out), who was dropped twice, took Pakistan to 126 for four. It was the first time they had failed to hit a six in a T20 match.

Shoaib Akhtar, 35 last month, recaptured the searing pace of his youth, albeit in the knowledge that he only needed to bowl a total of 24 deliveries with an opening-wicket maiden.

Although England faltered midway, losing four consecutive wickets from the last ball of an over, their target was always too small.

Their total owed much to Trott’s well-made 77 not out during an innings where most of the England top-order failed to cope with the swinging ball.Trott found a useful ally in Stuart Broad (46 not out).

England’s eighth-wicket pair had so far added an unbroken 83, with Broad, who bats left-handed, driving stylishly through the offside and hooking Aamer for six.

Left-arm quick Aamer transformed England’s overnight 39 for one into 47 for five with a dramatic spell of four wickets for no runs in eight balls.

That haul saw him rip through England’s middle-order, with Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan — the Nos 4, 5 and 6 respectively — all dismissed by Aamer for nought.

England were 97 for five at lunch but soon afterwards they were 102 for seven as Aamer took two wickets for no runs in three balls.

Matt Prior, who helped Trott add 55 for the sixth wicket was caught behind by Kamran Akmal for 22 and Graeme Swann well held low in the gully by Azhar Ali for the fourth duck of the innings.

Nevertheless, Trott retained his composure to compile a 90-ball fifty with seven fours.

Pakistan, looking to square the series at 2-2 after victory at The Oval last week, did not have long to wait for a breakthrough on Friday after bad weather meant only 12.3 overs were possible on Thursday.

Aamer squared up Oval centurion Alastair Cook off Friday’s third ball and the left-handed opener was caught behind for 10.

Cook, dropped on one, was 10 not out and Jonathan Trott eight not out with England 2-1 up in this series after Pakistan’s four-wicket win across London at The Oval last week.

It was no surprise when Pakistan captain Salman Butt opted to field first in after winning the toss in the kind of overcast conditions that have troubled batsmen on both sides all series.

Poor catching has hampered Pakistan throughout this series and their 18th dropped effort in four Tests — a remarkable and damning statistic by international standards — was one of their worst.

England were on seven in the third over, when Cook was drawn into a defensive edge outside off-stump by left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer only for third slip Umar Akmal to drop the seemingly straightforward two-handed chance, much to the teenage bowler’s evident and understandable disgust.

Next ball Cook added to Aamer’s frustrations by edging him unconvincingly through the slip cordon for four.

Pakistan thought they had Cook caught behind off Aamer for nine, with England on 25.

Billy Bowden eventually gave Cook only for the Essex batsman, fresh from a century at The Oval to refer the decision.

Bowden, after replays indicated Cook had missed the ball, reversed his original verdict.

But Pakistan had the wicket their new-ball pair deserved when Mohammad Asif produced a superb full-length delivery that swung in a touch to bowl left-hander Strauss for 13 and leave England 31 for one in the 12th over.

Strauss has now gone over a year without a Test century and he may only have one more chance to end that run, should England bat again at Lord’s, before England begin their defence of the Ashes in Australia starting in November.

Although the Lord’s floodlights were on, Bowden and fellow New Zealand umpire Tony Hill halted the match midway through the 13th over after it appeared players were having difficulty seeing the red ball out of the otherwise dark background.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers put in a disciplined bowling performance to restrict the Lankans to 170.

Paceman Praveen Kumar (2-20) rocked Sri Lanka’s top order when he bowled Upul Tharanga with the first ball of the match and then trapped former captain Mahela Jayawardene leg-before in his fourth over.

Left-arm spinners Pragyan Ojha (3-36) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-34) also kept pressure as India never allowed the hosts to build a big partnership in the day-night match in Dambulla.

Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan top-scored with a fighting 45 in Sri Lanka’s disappointing batting performance after the hosts elected to bat.

Dilshan was the fifth man to be dismissed, sweeping Ojha to Rohit Sharma at mid-wicket after hitting five fours in his 62-ball knock.

Sri Lanka, struggling at 103-7 in the 32nd over, managed to cross the 150-mark, thanks to gutsy knocks from Suraj Randiv (43) and Nuwan Kulasekara (22). Randiv hit four boundaries in his 61-ball knock.

Fast bowler Ishant Sharma took 2-32.

SCORES IN BRIEF
SRI LANKA: 170 all out (Dilshan 45, Mathews 15, Kapugedera 10, Randiv 43, Kulasekara 22; Praveen 2-20, Ishant 2-32, Ojha 3-36, Jadeja 2-34)

INDIA: 171 for 4 (Karthik 10, Sehwag 99 not out, Raina 21, Dhoni 23 not out; Mathews 2-32, Fernando 2-33)

Result: India won by six wickets.

Man-of-the-match: Virender Sehwag.

New Zealand were indebted to skipper Ross Taylor (95) and all-rounder Scott Styris (89), who put on a record 190 for the fourth wicket to help their team set a stiff target.India virtually lost the match in the opening 12 overs when they were reduced to 50-4, with Tuffey taking three wickets and Kyle Mills one.

Tuffey also had a hand in the run-out of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who could make only two to leave his team tottering at 53-5 in the 14th over.Ravindra Jadeja (20), Virender Sehwag (19) and Dinesh Karthik (14) were the only batsmen to reach double-figures in India’s dismal batting performance against New Zealand’s pace.

Fast bowlers Mills and Jacob Oram bagged two wickets each.New Zealand were earlier struggling at 28-3 after winning the toss before Taylor and Styris came to their rescue with their big stand.

Their partnership was New Zealand’s best for the fourth wicket in one-day internationals, the previous highest being 168 between Lee Germon and Chris Harris against Australia in the 1996 World Cup quarter-final at Chennai.

Taylor looked set to complete his fourth one-day hundred when he was trapped leg-before by left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra, who was the most successful bowler with 4-47.The New Zealand captain hit one six and eight fours in his 113-ball knock.

India paceman Praveen Kumar did the early damage when he had opener Martin Guptill caught behind for 11 and then bowled debutant Kane Williamson for no score in his lively opening spell.

Nehra was the other wicket-taker in the initial overs, having opener Peter Ingram caught behind for 12.India then had to wait for more than 31 overs to get another wicket as Taylor and Styris applied themselves remarkably well to boost the innings.

Styris was bowled by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha immediately after hoisting the bowler for a straight six. He also completed 4,000 one-day runs during his 95-ball knock.

“We had a few butterflies because we knew we had to work hard for a Test match win. It was a timely reminder for us we have to work for a Test match win. All credit to Pakistan.”

England had made just seven when Alastair Cook was clean bowled by left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer after a full length delivery kept low.England could then have been 17 for two when off-spinner Saaed Ajmal, with only his third ball, induced an edge from Strauss, playing a forcing shot, on 10.

But debutant wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, brought in after Kamran Akmal missed several chances and bagged a pair in Pakistan’s 354-run first Test defeat at Trent Bridge, could not hold the tough catch with England then on 17 for one.

Zulqarnain then failed to hold a simpler chance off a defensive edge from Strauss, on 38, with Ajmal again the unlucky bowler.Strauss, was on 43 when Mohammad Asif, running back at mid-off, failed to hold a skyer off Shoaib Malik but England were almost home.Trott went to his second fifty of the match with a cover-driven four off Malik that levelled the scores before Strauss’s inside-edged single off Ajmal ended the match.

Pakistan were earlier dismissed for 296, after resuming on 291 for nine, with Asif (14) caught in the gully by Kevin Pietersen off Stuart Broad.Umar Gul, batting with a runner, was 13 not out. But Gul’s hamstring injury meant the paceman was unable to bowl.Zulqarnain, in on a king pair, top-scored with 88.It represented a remarkable recovery after Pakistan made just 72 — their lowest score against England — in the first innings.

England off-spinner Graeme Swann took a Test-best six wickets for 65 runs in Pakistan’s second innings and was named man-of-the-match.Pakistan were all but beaten in this match on Friday when, for the second innings in a row, they were bowled out for a record low score against England after they made 80 at Trent Bridge.Not since the 19th Century had a team been bowled out for 72 or fewer in their first innings and still won a Test.

Pakistan captain Salman Butt opted to bat first in overcast conditions ideally suited to England’s seamers. James Anderson (four for 20) and Stuart Broad (four for 38) cashed in as Pakistan again struggled against the swinging ball.

England then made 251, thanks mainly to a third-wicket stand of 133 between South Africa-born batsmen Pietersen (80) and Trott (55).
Ajmal, recalled in place of leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, took five for 82.But Pakistan were once more left lamenting their poor fielding after dropping six catches.

They collapsed to 82 for five in their second innings.But Zulqarnain and Ajmal, whose 50 meant he returned Test-best figures with both bat and ball in the same match, added 115 for the eighth wicket as blue skies reduced England’s swing threat.

Test-best six wickets for 65 runs in Pakistan’s second innings and was named man-of-the-match.Pakistan were all but beaten in this match on Friday when, for the second innings in a row, they were bowled out for a record low score against England after they made 80 at Trent Bridge.

Not since the 19th Century had a team been bowled out for 72 or fewer in their first innings and still won a Test.Pakistan captain Salman Butt opted to bat first in overcast conditions ideally suited to England’s seamers. James Anderson (four for 20) and Stuart Broad (four for 38) cashed in as Pakistan again struggled against the swinging ball.

England then made 251, thanks mainly to a third-wicket stand of 133 between South Africa-born batsmen Pietersen (80) and Trott (55).
Ajmal, recalled in place of leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, took five for 82.But Pakistan were once more left lamenting their poor fielding after dropping six catches.They collapsed to 82 for five in their second innings.

But Zulqarnain and Ajmal, whose 50 meant he returned Test-best figures with both bat and ball in the same match, added 115 for the eighth wicket as blue skies reduced England’s swing threat.

Andrew Strauss, the England captain, who’d started the reply with a first-ball boundary, was 24 not out and fellow left-handed opener Alastair Cook 17 not out, after having an lbw verdict overturned by the Decision Review System (DRS).Pakistan, as happened at Trent Bridge, were again found wanting against accurate swing bowling in helpful, overcast conditions.

Umar Amin (23), Umar Akmal (17) and Mohammad Aamer (12) were the only batsmen to make double-figure scores in an innings featuring five noughts.But for a seventh-wicket stand of 27 between Amin and Aamer, Pakistan may well have been dismissed for under their record low score of 53 against Australia at Sharjah in 2002.As it was, they were all out inside 40 overs in under three hours.
Anderson had been Pakistan’s chief tormentor at Trent Bridge with a career-best 11 for 71.

And he produced several near-unplayable deliveries after Pakistan captain Salman Butt won the toss and batted.But it was Broad, on the ground where a fortnight ago he took a first-class career-best eight for 52 for Nottinghamshire against Warwickshire, who began a collapse that saw Pakistan 37 for six at lunch.

Imran Farhat completed a 24-ball nought when he edged a good length Broad delivery, angled across the left-hander, through to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.And fellow left-handed opener Butt attempting a rare attacking shot, edged a drive off Finn to Graeme Swann at second slip.Butt spent nearly an hour at the crease for seven runs.

Umar Akmal clipped Anderson off his pads and whipped Broad legside for an audacious six.But Pakistan saw Azhar Ali lbw to a Broad inswinger for a 32-ball nought.Umar Akmal was also lbw to Broad but replays suggested the ball had pitched outside off-stump. However, Pakistan chose not to refer South African umpire Marais Erasmus’s verdict.

Wicketkeeper Zulaqarnain Haider made a first ball nought on his Test debut, caught behind off Broad, after Pakistan dropped Kamran Akmal, who made two ducks and missed several chances at Trent Bridge.

Amin, dropped on 10 by Graeme Swann, batted for over an hour and struck three fours before he was caught by third slip Paul Collingwood off Anderson.Umar Gul, who made a Test-best 65 not out at Trent Bridge, fell for nought as Anderson took Pakistan’s final three wickets for one run in 10 balls.

SCORES IN BRIEF
PAKISTAN: First innings 72 all out (Butt 7, Akmal 17, Amin 23, Aamer 12; Anderson 4-20, Broad 4-38, Finn 2-10)

ENGLAND: First innings 43 for no loss (Strauss 24 not out, Cook 17 not out)

Hilditch does not believe Ponting, who has been in charge for 71 matches, is mapping out his retirement plans.

“I’d be expecting Ricky just to be focussing at the moment on trying to win back the Ashes, which is the highest priority for him and the team,”

Hilditch said. “I suspect he hasn’t thought much about his future past then, [the Ashes] is just a high priority for him at the moment. I’m hoping he achieves that goal and is playing well and wants to play on.”

Last month Ponting again toyed with the idea of going back to England in 2013 in an effort to correct the mistakes of the past two Ashes tours, but his batting has begun to wane to the point he is now successfully attacked by rival teams. Since The Oval defeat Ponting has averaged 40.61 in 10 Tests, the figures of a good player instead of a great of the game. When his 209 against Pakistan is taken away, an innings which began with a dropped catch, his mean falls to a modest 29.5.

It is hard to believe Ponting will continue if he can’t recapture his elite standards, and a farewell involving the Ashes and the World Cup could be enticing. One thing Ponting won’t do in the meantime is back down, not from pulling early in his innings or demoting himself in the order.

There has been talk of Ponting slotting in at five or six, like Steve Waugh and Allan Border when they finished their careers, and allowing Michael Clarke to enter at first-drop. Hilditch won’t be suggesting a move. “I’d be expecting him to play out his career at No.3,” Hilditch said. “That’s where he’s always batted, and played such a great role for Australia in that position, so I wouldn’t envisage it changing.”

Australia’s next Test duty is a two-match series in India in October, with the Ashes beginning in Brisbane on November 25. Shane Warne has called the schedule “a shambles”, but Hilditch is not concerned and believes the contest against the No.1-ranked side will be ideal ahead of England’s visit.

“Two hard Tests against India, I think it’s a really good preparation,” he said. “It will be tough, this is their first real break for a couple of years, and they are playing in somewhere we haven’t been terribly successful.

“It’s a real big challenge, it will be a monumental one for them, but it will get them very quickly Test-match hardened for the Ashes. All I can say is that preparation won’t be an excuse. There’s plenty of cricket.”

Australia are currently on a two-month break after finishing a disappointing tour of England, which included a lost one-day series and a drawn Test campaign with Pakistan. The time off gives some key players a chance to recover from injury and Hilditch expects Nathan Hauritz, the offspinner, to have overcome his foot problem in time for the India tour.

He said Brad Haddin was also on track for the trip and had resumed batting following a lingering elbow problem that prevented him from going to England. Peter Siddle, the fast bowler, won’t be ready for India, and is due to return from back stress fractures in the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa next month.

Tendulkar has scored 13,742 runs in 168 Tests at an average of 56.08, notching up 48 hundreds and 55 half-centuries in the process.
He has 17,598 runs, including 46 centuries, in his 442 one-dayers. The Mumbaikar also holds the distinction of being the first batsman to score a double hundred in ODIs.

But despite these astonishing feats, Tendulkar remains hungry for more runs and after getting his fifth Test double hundred in the second Test against Sri Lanka, the diminutive batsman urged critics to stop talking about his age.

Tendulkar’s two tenures as captain of the Indian cricket team were not very successful. When Tendulkar took over as Captain in 1996, it was with huge hopes and expectations. However, by 1997 the team was performing poorly. Azharuddin was credited with saying

“Nahin jeetega! Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai!”,

which translates into: “He won’t win! It’s not in the small one’s destiny!”.
Tendulkar, succeeding Azharuddin as captain for his second term, then led India on a tour of Australia, where the visitors were comprehensively beaten 3–0 by the newly crowned world champions.

Tendulkar, however, was at his usual best and won the player of the tournament award as well as player of the match in one of the games. After another Test series defeat, this time by a 0–2 margin at home against South Africa, Tendulkar resigned, and Sourav Ganguly took over as captain in 2000.

Individual honours and appreciations:

* Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award, 2008.
* ICC World ODI XI: 2004, 2007
* Rajiv Gandhi Awards – Sports: 2005
* Player of the tournament in 2003 Cricket World Cup
* Maharashtra Bhushan Award, Maharashtra State’s highest Civilian Award in 2001
* Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, 1999
* Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest honour given for achievement in sports, 1997–98.
* Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1997
* Arjuna Award, by the Government of India in recognition of his outstanding achievement in Cricket, 1994.

England, who won the toss, were in trouble at 118 for four shortly after lunch, with Kevin Pietersen out for nine in his first match since injuring his thigh in a one-day international against Australia at Lord’s on July 3.
But former Ireland left-hander Morgan hit back with 44 not out featuring nine boundaries and together with Paul Collingwood (27 not out) had so far shared an unbroken stand of 72.

In a series where the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) was being used in England for the first time, Pakistan wasted both their two permitted unsuccessful challenges on appeals by Mohammad Asif for lbw and caught behind against Pietersen on one and five.
But Asif then bowled Pietersen, leaving a gap between bat and pad, off the inside edge.
England’s other South Africa-born batsman, Jonathan Trott, had added just three to his lunchtime 35 when he padded up to an inswinger from Aamer.

Trott, successful with a previous referral, asked for New Zealand umpire Tony Hill’s lbw verdict to be reviewed.
But replays suggested the ball was clipping the top of the stumps and Trott was out, with England 118 for four.
And there was a fresh flashpoint when wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal appealed for a catch against Morgan, on five, off the bowling of left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Aamer.

But even before the third umpire ruled in Morgan’s favour, crowd jeers were ringing round Trent Bridge as replays on the giant screen showed the ball had clearly bounced into Kamran Akmal’s gloves.
It took Collingwood 30 balls to score his first four but then two came in as many Umar Gul deliveries, courtesy of a couple of square cuts.

Morgan then cover-drove and glanced off-spinner Shoaib Malik for fours.
Both batsmen cashed in against Pakistan’s slow bowlers and Morgan made it six boundaries for England in 12 deliveries with a trademark reverse sweep off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.

Before lunch Aamer, who took seven wickets in Pakistan’s dramatic three-wicket second Test win over Australia at Headingley last week, had Alastair Cook caught at first slip and had England captain Andrew Strauss caught behind for 45.
Earlier, Strauss had a huge reprieve when, on 15, he edged an outswinger from the 18-year-old Aamer only for Kamran Akmal to drop the routine chance.

Cook struggled in overcast conditions similar to those in which Pakistan bowled Australia out for just 88 in the first innings at Headingley and on eight edged Aamer to first slip Imran Farhat.
Trott then became the first batsman to use DRS in England when, on 13, he given out, lbw to Kaneria, by de Silva. As replays showed Trott had got an inside edge, de Silva reversed his original verdict.
But Aamer did have Strauss, playing loosely outside off-stump, eventually caught behind by Kamran Akmal to end a second-wicket stand of 51.
Pakistan players wore black armbands in memory of the 152 people killed in after an airplane crashed near the capital city of Islamabad on Wednesday.

SCORES IN BRIEF

ENGLAND: First innings 190 for 4 at tea (Strauss 45, Morgan 44 not out, Trott 38, Collingwood 27 not out; Aamer 3-25)

PAKISTAN: Butt, Farhat, Ali, Amin, U Akmal, Malik, K Akmal, Aamer, Gul, Kaneria, Asif

Source :thedailystar.net