Related Links : Pakistan in England 2006 : Scorecard
Steve Harmison has put England on top at Old Trafford with his destructive spell of fast bowling. The tall fast bowler took six wickets to destroy Pakistan’s first innings for a paltry 119 and his efforts were complemented by the England batsmen who put on 168 on board at the loss of 2 wickets at Stumps on the first day. England are leading by 49 runs and in a good position to consolidate their position on Day 2 with Kevin Pietersen going great guns with his innings of 38 not out along with the cool and collective Alastair Cook, who is unbeaten on 65. The visitors have tried whatever they could to come back in the game after getting dismissed for a cheap total, but their bowlers couldn’t get much assistance from the track which flattened out as the day progressed.
Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss this morning and elected to bat first on what looked like a wicket that was good for the batting. There was one change in both the sides with Pakistan getting back Younis Khan in place of Salman Butt and England replacing the injured Liam Plunkett with Lancashire fast bowler Sajid Mahmood. Pakistan were off to a disastrous start losing its openers Imran Farhat and Kamran Akmal quickly with just 9 on the board in about 6 overs. Harmison accounted for both the dismissals with the first one coming through a flashing drive from Imran Farhat into the man at point and Kamran Akmal getting out after poking an away going delivery to the slips. Marcus Trescothick had taken the slip catch off Akmal despite the wicket keeper Geraint Jones diving in front of him to grab that catch. After those two wickets, Pakistan started to repair the innings through the partnership between Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Both batsmen were well in control of the game and England soon lost the sting in its bowling once Harmison and Hoggard bowled their initial spells. One change, Sajid Mahmood did trouble the batsmen with his occasional short and rising deliveries but once the ball got old, it was easy going for the two right handers. With just over few minutes to go for the Lunch Break, Monty Panesar was introduced into the attack and he struck almost immediately dismissing Mohammad Yousuf (38). Panesar had bowled a flatter delivery to which Yousuf tried to run it down to third man and he managed to get a faint tickle to Geraint Jones. That ended the 81 run stand for the 3rd wicket and Pakistan soon lost Younis Khan as well and once again it was a bowling change that did the trick. Steve Harmison who was brought in for a small burst before the lunch break got Younis Khan carelessly driving at him on the backfoot to the point fielder. Younis did not get on top of the bounce of that delivery and he perished after making a promising 44. Pakistan lost the plot after such a good partnership and ended the 1st session’s play at a scratchy 93 for 4.
After Lunch, Monty Panesar produced a gem of a delivery that bounced a bit extra and turned enough to defeat Faisal Iqbal’s square cut and it was once again a sharp catch for the wicket keeper. Next to go was Skipper Inzamam, who could do little to a nasty short delivery that climbed up onto his throat from Harmison. All Inzy could do was to fend it to Pietersen at gully. The Pakistan Skipper who has the record of scoring nine consecutive fifties against England walked off without opening his account and Pakistan slipped down to 93 for 6. Shahid Afridi joined Razzaq and both the all rounders got a peppering from Harmison who bowled plenty of wicked short ones that forced the batsmen to stay away from the line of the deliveries. Afridi tried to be a hero by jumping down the track to Monty Panesar and lofting him over long on for a six but he tried the same thing again and this time was outsmarted by Panesar who gave extra revolutions to the ball and got it to grip the surface. Afridi got a big miscue that went high up in the air and then down to Pietersen for his third catch of the day. Afridi could last just the 16 deliveries as he did not show any signs of playing out Harmison and Panesar. Sami came in and disappeared in the pavilion after driving Harmison’s seaming delivery to the slips to give the fast bowler 7th 5-wicket haul in Tests. Soon Razzaq gave away his wicket as well and Pakistan were almost finished at 118 for 9. Razzaq who was worried about Harmison’s short ones into his rib cage stayed on the backfoot only to miss a pitched up inswinger onto his stumps from Harmison. Pakistan were bowled out in the 39th over itself with the last man to be out being Danish Kaneria who couldn’t make his ground in time at the striker’s end after responding to a quick single to point from Umar Gul. Steve Harmison produced his magic after quiet sometime and his figures were 6 for 19 in just 13 overs and Monty Panesar bowled like a champion in his own rights taking 3 wickets for 21 in just under 8 overs.
The Pakistani fast bowlers had to do something special to bowl out England for less than 200 and from the first ball itself, the bowling looked pedestrian. Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul couldn’t put the same kind of pressure that their English counterparts had done with the brand new cherry. England were off to a solid start with Strauss in particular looking to thrash anything that was off in line and length. Trescothick was however out for just 5 with Sami forcing the left hander to poke at his slanting delivery to the wicket keeper. Cook, the no.3 batsman took England to Tea at 49 for 1 along with his skipper. The final session saw the pair of Strauss and Cook pushing the game forward with their partnership and it was only a break in play caused by some reflection caused behind the bowler’s arm that distracted Andrew Strauss from getting along with his game. Strauss (42) lost his focus and edged Razzaq’s delivery to the wicket keeper and the new batsman Kevin Pietersen complained to the Umpires about the reflection and that stopped play for a significant amount of time. Once play resumed, Kevin Pietersen was on the look out for runs which he got by playing the sweep shots off Danish Kaneria and by the flicks he played to the fast bowlers. There was no stopping to Pietersen who was scoring in his free flowing fashion except for a snorter of a delivery from Mohammad Sami that took off from short of length and then climbed up to hit the right hander on his neck. Pietersen after some treatment got back to his business and along with Cook saw England safely to 168 for 2 in the 49 overs bowled. Pietersen slowed down towards the end to bat out for time, but his strike rate was still impressive with his 38 coming in 49 balls with the help of 5 fours. Cook was slow in his game but was keeping one end safe and his 65 took him 136 balls with 9 hits to the fence.