Related Links : Pakistan in England 2006 : Scorecard
The show is over at Headingley and it wasn’t an exciting finish as thought of before the start of play on the final day’s play but a premature finish with Pakistan getting bundled out inside 48 overs. The tourists could put up just 155 giving England a 167-run win and also a series win at 2-0 with still one more Test Match to go in the series. Andrew Strauss the stand-in for a stand-in captain got his side the first Series victory since the Ashes. The openers failed once again and it was a shaky platform for Pakistan to chase the target of 323. The turning points in this innings were two with the first one being the suicidal run out of Mohammad Yousuf and then Younis Khan clean bowled by a dream delivery from Monty Panesar. Inzamam was left with no batsmen at the other end and it was a mere formality for England as they got to the inevitable victory without sweating much. Monty Panesar with three and Sajid Mahmood with four wickets were the wreckers in chief.
Andrew Strauss gave everyone a big surprise by getting Monty Panesar to bowl the first over of the day’s play, which was just the second over in the Pakistani innings. Monty looked penetrative in his first over and one thought he would continue along with Steve Harmison with the brand new ball. However that over from Monty was just to change ends for Matthew Hoggard and the swing bowler who realized that there wasn’t much assistance for his style of bowling decided to bank on his experience of having taken 200 plus Test Wickets. Hoggard, the local boy bowled a few intentional juicy half volleys to which Salman Butt collected boundaries through his customary wristy drives. Little did the young Salman Butt anticipate that he was falling in a trap with Hoggard setting him up for the flamboyant drives played away from his body. The inexperienced Salman got out caught in the slips as planned and the breakthrough came in the 9th over of the morning. After drinks, Monty Panesar and Sajid Mahmood were brought into the attack and Monty struck for England much to the delight of his huge number of fans. Taufeeq Umar attempting a sweep shot out of the rough got an inside edge that took his pads and then into the soft hands of Alastair Cook at silly point.
The two openers were back in the hut for Pakistan but the biggest obstacle for England was to see the back of the prolific scoring batsmen in this series – Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. England were very fortunate to get the wicket of Mohammad Yousuf as his partner and he decided to go for a silly run after Younis had played a little steer behind square on the off side. Paul Collingwood, the gully fielder ran in quickly on his toes to pick that up and dive towards the stumps to affect the run out of Yousuf (8). Faisal Iqbal was the new man in who got off to his King pair and then a pair, but he couldn’t last long as his leg glance off Sajid Mahmood couldn’t get past the diving Chris Read. Sajid Mahmood in that same over got Kamran Akmal to poke at a back of length delivery that held its line around the off stump to reduce Pakistan at a miserable 80 for 5. The Pakistan Skipper, Inzamam who was forced to bat after the fall of five wickets due to his absence in the field yesterday for four hours and twenty minutes would have loved to have batted after the Tea Break. But it wasn’t a day for Pakistan as the Captain joined his Deputy with half of his side perished and with just the tail to follow. The two batsmen carried Pakistan to lunch without any further damage at 84 for 5.
Younis Khan and Inzamam produced Pakistan’s fightback after lunch and they took their side past the hundred run mark with some dazzling shots. Monty Panesar ensured that the fightback was just a miniature one by bowling Younis Khan with a flighted delivery that drifted in and turned enough to beat Younis’ forward prod and clip the off bail. That was a knock out punch from the slow bowler, a blow that thrashed away any hopes of a Pakistani victory. Inzamam was hardly getting any support from his lower order and the inevitable English victory came with Inzamam jumping down the track with a shaky head position to miss the line of a Monty Panesar delivery completely to be stumped by Chris Read. Inzamam did not bother to look back and his innings came to an end at a personal score of 38 and Pakistan all out for 155 with their second innings not even lasting two full sessions. Sajid Mahmood got the most number of wickets today as he was rewarded due to his extra effort of bowling at almost 90mph and getting the ball to kiss the surface and climb onto the batsmen. Monty Panesar was amazing as he continued to get the wickets of some of the best players of spin in this Test Series.
So Headingley is now done and dusted and the action now shifts to The Oval on the 17th for the fourth and final test match. Pakistan’s bowling attack will be bolstered by the return of the upcoming bowling superstar Mohammad Asif. England would be happy at the way Chris Read and Sajid Mahmood have performed in this match and the hunger for winning Test Matches is quite evident in this team.