Related Link : Pakistan in England 2006
Northamptonshire played superb cricket on the first day of their three-day warm up game against Pakistan at the County Ground. The homeside after winning the toss had declared its innings at 269 for 3 and then had Pakistan in a shaky position at 97 for 3 after getting to bat for 25 overs. Pakistan’s Skipper for this game was Younis Khan who was returning from a knee injury that had kept him out of the 1st Test at Lord’s. Younis Khan’s innings of 50 not out was the positive to come out of the day’s play for Pakistan.
The County Side had won the toss and elected to bat first and their openers gave them a solid start of 71. Opening batsman Stephen Peters scored a magnificent 142 which took just 195 balls with the help of 26 fours. Supporting Peters was Usman Afzaal who came good with an impressive 71 and Northants declared its innings at 269 for 3 playing just over 62 overs which was immediately after Peters had got out. Former Indian Skipper, Sourav Ganguly lost out the opportunity to have a crack with the bat in the middle due to his side’s early declaration!
Pakistan included all its fringe players in the line up giving break to as many important players as possible. Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi, Iftikhar Anjum, Jannisar Khan and Arshad Khan were the fresh players used by Pak in the bowling and in the batting, it was Taufeeq Umar and Younis Khan being the fresh players. The two Pakistani regular openers, Salman Butt and Imran Farhat flopped yet again leaving Pakistan to a bad start. With two more days to go, Northants would be hoping to pull off a victory somehow and Pakistan does have an inexperienced set of players in this match.
Brief Scores :
Northamptonshire 1st Innings 269/3 declared (Stephen Peters 142 Usman Afzaal 71* Bilal Shafayat 30, Samiullah Niazi 2/35, Jannisar Khan 1/28) Vs Pakistanis 1st Innings 97/3 (Younis Khan 50* Taufeeq Umar 29, Ben Phillips 1/22 David Wigley 1/27 Charl Pietersen 1/39) – Stumps on Day 1 (20-07-2006)