Year Defining Win

Whatever else they do this year, nothing can beat what we have seen this month. Pakistan may go on to win many series and tournaments this year such as the Asia Cup, T20 Championship, ODI series win against England BUT nothing and I mean nothing comes in front or comes harder than what has been achieved over the last few weeks with a high profile test series win against the world number 1 ranked side and that too with a whole test match to spare. It was a major obstacle to compete with, but the hosts have overcome it in triumphant fashion.

England came into the series as favourites and Pakistan although they had had an impressive run with series wins without a single defeat against New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as a commendable drawn series against South Africa and a test win coming back from behind in the Caribbean to level the series, their best bet was considered a drawn affair against England and even the keenest optimists were only settling for a 1-0 series win, but yet Pakistan exceeded expectations which no one could have predicted to break England's unbeaten test run where they hadn't lost any of the previous 9 series, winning 8 of them and standing tall at the number 1 ranking going into the series, but 2 emphatic victories for Pakistan in the end gives them the serious honours and that is that.

There was even some talk of comparing this England team to the West Indies of the 80s and the Aussies under Steve Waugh, that's how highly they were rated coming into this series, but Pakistan have beaten them convincingly once and from the jaws of a certain defeat in another. Team Misbah have caught England off guard and when we look back at the year that 2012 is it will be hard to consider a bigger and more symbolic triumph than this test series win over a dominant England side.

10 to remember

Broad to Taufeeq: It shaped in and straightened from around the wicket to shatter the furniture and clip the top of the off stump bail which is exactly what coaches’ order for fast bowlers. It was England’s 1st wicket of the series and it was a peach of a delivery to break the opening stand. It was a dream delivery from Broad.

Test 1 Day 2 Session 1 Pak 1st innings

Monty to Younis: This was bowling of the highest order as Monty was setting Younis up with arm deliveries angling in to the right hander, but he managed to get one to turn and escape through the defences at speed which Younis had no answer to as the off stump was pegged back by the Sussex man.

Test 2 Day 4 Session 2 Pak 2nd innings

Rehman to Broad: The left arm spinner bowled him through the gate as he enticed him to drive through the off side, but the ball spun back between bat and pad, handsomely, as Broad was on his way without troubling the scorers after scoring an enterprising unbeaten half century in the first innings. This was the 2nd wicket of the over as England lost their 7th and Rehman had his first 5 wicket haul at test match level after getting many 4 fors before.

Test 2 Day 5 Session 3 Eng 2nd innings

Ajmal to Bell: Ajmal had his 2nd wicket in 2 deliveries after Bell was caught behind to the perfect doosra which brought him forward, but not totally committed and turned enough to find the edge which Adnan did not spill. The length was perfect, the variation was disguised expertly and the turn was sufficient enough to do the trick as Bell, arguably England’s best player of spin was on his way back with a golden duck. What followed was an abysmal series for Bell with 3 innings without any big score as Ajmal’s uniqueness had him in screws.

Test 1 Day 1 Session 1 Eng 1st innings

Hafeez to Cook: Intelligent bowling change from Misbah to employ him into the attack early in the piece and the Professor did the trick by dismissing Cook on the 3rd delivery of the over. The first two balls were interesting as Cook got a leading edge on the first ball looking to work towards the on side and on the 2nd delivery pushed back, but just managed to get the piece of wood down in time to survive, but 3rd time lucky for Hafeez and he had his man as Cook attempted to cut but got a thin edge as Adnan ensured he held on. It was the 1st breakthrough of the series and unsurprisingly it was the professor coming on with the new ball hardness and nipping out a left hander.

Test 1 Day 1 Session 1 Eng 1st innings

Trott to Younis: Sharp seam movement from the innocuous Trott who was doing a decent job with his handy medium pacers. Trott got the prize scalp of a 6000+ test run scorer and the hosts most capped batsmen as Younis was looking in pretty sound nick but Trott brought his downfall and prevented him from going on once he got a start.

Test 1 Day 2 Session 2 Pak 1st innings

Swann to Rehman: Shoaib Akhtar who was providing his thoughts on the series on a new local TV channel said Manna could no do anything differently on this ball and I agree with him. It spun at speed angling into the stumps and turned enough away from the left hander to brush the top of the off stump bail as Rehman departed in the penultimate over of the day without troubling the scorers.

Test 2 Day 1 Session 3 Pak 1st innings

Broad to Ali: It was an attacking length inviting the drive as Ali was tempted into one, but the ball came back and found the way through to send the off stump cart wheeling as Ali departed in the 20s on a test venue where he’s had a stupendous record.

Test 2 Day 1 Session 2 Pak 1st innings

Rehman to Trott: This broke the 100+ stand for the 2nd wicket between the left hand right hand combination between Cook and Trott which looked like taking England well into the lead as Trott was castled with a sharp turner from Rehman which pitched down leg and knocked back the off stump. Trott walked off acknowledging the delivery as the 2011 ICC cricketer of the year had his stumps sent down. Rehman removed the set batsmen with an inspirational moment.

Test 2 Day 2 Session 3 England 1st innings

Rehman to Swann: It turned marginally as Rehman got his opposite number in the final session of the opening day of the series as it pitched on middle and did enough to find the way past and give Swann the long walk back. There was rare turn on that one on a pitch which was doing little.

Test 1 Day 1 Session 3 England 1st innings

Half Way Through

After cleaning up the visitors for 327 with 9 of the wickets belonging to the spinners, the hosts trailed by exactly 70 going into the critical 3rd innings which could make or break the outcome of this Abu Dhabi test.

Andrew Strauss’s woes continued as a tentative prod against Mohammad Hafeez brought his downfall as the ball ballooned up in the air for the simplest of catches for Asad Shafiq under the helmet as the England captain departed. Cook and Trott got together and piled on over 100 for 2nd wicket with an antirational approach at the crease as they grinded and nudged the ball around and dug hard to provide some direction and stability to the innings with an effective left right combination. However, Trott was denied a 3 figure score as the slow left arm spin of Rehman foxed him with a splendid delivery that castled Trott. Cook was removed on 94 when he decided not to go upstairs for a DRS when Ajmal spun one back into the pads for an LBW from a doosra delivered from over the wicket just shortly after he had been whipped on the back foot through mid wicket and mid on by Cook for a well timed boundary.

Ian Bell who was struggling to read Ajmal looked scratchy and was beaten regularly by sharp turn and bounce, but managed to stay to the end, but down the other end KP drove loosely to an off break and got an inside edge which popped up from the boot to slip where Hafeez held on. Eoin Morgan was in a tangle against Ajmal unsure of the spin imparted outside the off stump as he looked to defend tentatively and was on his way back to the pavilion in the final over of the day as a dismissed batsmen as Ajmal struck in the final over of the day with an off break which found the edge as Hafeez claimed yet another catch in the slip.

England went in to day 5 50 behind with 5 wickets left in the tank as Prior and Bell resumed proceedings. Prior was dropped at deep square leg in the early phases of day 5 by Junaid Khan who dropped a dolly, but soon perished as he pressed back to a sharp turning Ajmal off break as he was dismissed in similar fashion to what happened in Dubai last week as Ajmal got his 4th of the innings and 14th of the series.

Broad came in and looked positive and dangerous immediately as he got off the mark with a paddle sweep to the very first delivery he faced and looked to take the bowlers on with selective and powerful hitting, unafraid to go over the top. The Nottinghamshire bowling all rounder raced to a timely half century at approximately a run a ball to take England well into the lead with an attacking counter attack. However, Bell fell when Misbah finally decided to take the 2nd new ball before that with one nipping back off the seam as Bell reviewed unsuccessfully. Swann played some cracking strokes through the off side against Junaid who was ineffective and unimpressive, but his stay was short lived as Rehman got him with a straighter one which would have undoubtedly gone on to hit to stumps as Swann was dismissed by spin for the 3rd time in the series. James Anderson managed to survive until tea and played some surprisingly fine strokes against the hard-to-pick Ajmal, allowing Broad to extend his counter attack even further as Strauss’s men were 66 in front at lunch with 2 wickets left and Broad looking in sublime touch still there as 112 were added in a productive and critical session.

Nonetheless, Hafeez completed the job by dismissing the two tail ended left handers from around the wicket to strengthen his formidable tendency of getting left handers as the bulk of his scalps even more.

The pitch here in Abu Dhabi has surprised quite a few and provided appreciative turn and purchase for the slower men which is expected to get progressively worst and harder for batting. Some deliveries are kicking off and going square, literally. It’s made an intriguing and fascinating contest from what was supposedly meant to be an unresponsive track and the curator deserves to be applauded for preparing a fine sporting wicket. Anything above 200 will be tricky and examining to chase down in the 4th innings and 250-300 in front and the hosts will certainly be favourites to go 2 up and subsequently seal the series. However, they must bat with character in the 3rd innings and avoiding getting blown away by the balanced and penetrative English attack and bat for at least 3.5 and preferably 4 sessions and reach the 130 over mark to get at least 300 on the board. Even 10 or 15 over 200 will give them somewhat of a sniff. Ideally, 350 would be great with just around a day to bowl out England. A total of 400 will really send the chances of an England win out of the window and would be a dream total. The likes of Younis and Azhar need to stand up and make an impression like they did throughout 2011 as they are the only two batsmen who are yet to score a half century in the series from the Pakistan top 6 and both were expected to do well against England, Younis in particular. The inform batsmen and captain Misbah ul Haq who has 3 successive test 50s will need to continue his successful run in the middle order. The tail who all had 0s next to their name from 8-11 will need to take a leaf out of England’s book and show some resistance as their contributions can be vital with 15, 20s, 30s. They for sure will need an improved display and not let England rattle them so easily. The key for the batsmen will be all about being positive and precise in their foot work and defence, using their bat as much as possible and picking up on the subtleties from the finger spinners to avoid LBWs, taking on the bowlers every now and against just to remind them that they are serious about winning so they can break the shackles and occupy the crease easier and perhaps even push the field back and judging the length well against the English seamers and not getting enticed into those loose drives and understanding the bounce of the surface properly. They will need to deal with the mental stress being implied with bat pads who will be chirping away with plenty of noise.

Test 2 | Day 1

Toss: Misbah won the toss and elected to bat first. This is only the 2nd time that they are batting first in the 14 tests that he has captained. Last time they did so they beat the West Indies in Guyana to square the 2 match series in May.

Selection: Junaid Khan, the Lancastrian overseas player in 2011 who claimed a memorable 5 wicket haul against the Sri Lankans here in October came in for Cheema whereas for the visitors Monty got a go with Tremlett’s injury ahead of Finn and Onions as England fielded 2 specialist spinners for the first time since the opening Ashes test match at Cardiff in July 2009. Apart from that both parties were unchanged.

Pitch and conditions: It was meant to be placid and extremely unresponsive. A dreading experience for the bowlers was awaited. However, there was turn and purchase and to some degree extravagant turn on day 1 for the slower men and it was chillier than usual in the UAE. The crowd was by and large disappointing and rather empty.

Ball of the day: There were several - Monty getting Hafeez with an arm ball the very next delivery after he spilled a caught and bowled opportunity. Hafeez misread the length as he went back looking to cut, but the ball skidded through straight to shatter the furniture. Monty was delighted.

Shot of the day: Taufeeq off driving Anderson with a firm push down the ground to beat mid off and race away to the fence with excellent timing to open his account and get off the mark on the first delivery he faced in the very first over and 4th ball of the test match with the close to perfect off drive as he capitalised on somewhat of a half volley, probably looking for some swing in the air.

Action: Misbah taking Monty on with consecutive 6s over long with some clean striking early in his innings as he took the attack to the bowler coming in at the usual 3 down position in just the 44th over. In the 94th over Misbah took Monty again, it was the last over of the day and he got back to back 6s again with some big blows.

POD: Misbah ul Haq who registered his 2nd half century of the series with a classical old school test innings where a time consuming crease occupation was demonstrated to grind out the bowling, churn out the runs gradually, frustrate the opposition, overcome passages when the going was tough, hold the innings together, set a foundation and try and squeeze the venom out of the bowling over a longer period. The key was valuing, respecting and priding his wicket as if his life was depending on it and showing a chanceless approach for digging in deep and long. Misbah, the Pakistan captain will want to add at least 40 more to his score tomorrow in order to earn a well deserved and hard fought gutsy and enduring century.

Sessions

Morning: 73/2 (31) – Eng

Afternoon: 104/2 (34) – Pak

Evening: 79/3 (29) - Eng

Day: England

Series:Pak 7 Eng 5 /12

Statistics

Hafeez and Taufeeq have 10 50+ stand in 30 test innings together and got their 2nd of the series in effectively 2 innings

All top 4 batsmen had their stumps pegged

Cook and Strauss will become the 1st English pair to appear in 100 innings together during this test match

Team Pakistan have posted 330 or more 10 times in the 1st innings in 13 tests under the leadership of Misbah ul Haq

Azhar Ali has been dismissed by Broad 4 times in the 36 test innings he has had at test level with 10 coming against England

Pakistan have fielded the same top 6 for 7 tests in a row now

Both test matches which have been played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium have ended in high scoring draws

The Electric Fence aka Misbah has scored 13 50+ scores in 22 test innings as captain including 7 NOs in that package

Shafiq has 5 50+ scores in 16 test innings

Prediction for tomorrow: Pakistan 345 AO (all depends on Misbah)
England: 179/3

Looking ahead: Misbah needs to bat right to the end and take the odd calculated blow in between and stretch this total as far as possible. If he could last at least 90 minutes or more in the morning and help Pakistan get above 330 that will be a job well done. 300 has to be the minimum target. I feel from an early look that this test will be decided in the 3rd innings and if Pakistan batsmen do not falter they should be able to hang on for at least a draw if not better. It looks like if England have improved on their batting display in Dubai that they will at least get a lead and go in front here and then unleash their spinners in the 3rd innings hoping to get Pakistan skittled relatively cheaply with enough time to knock off the runs and square the series. Pakistan will be more than happy to draw this test and maintain the series lead. The top order MUST bat considerably better 2nd time around, especially Azhar and Younis who have failed so far in the series in order to avoid getting bowled out quickly and give England a strong shout of coming back and pushing for the win. Killing and taking time out of the game will be important from their point of view.

Sohail - The Best Pakistan Commentator

Aamir Sohail is a feisty and competitive character and had a successful career as an opening batsmen and useful slow left arm orthodox bowler. Sohail formed a stylish and successful opening partnership with Saeed Anwar which dominated many attacks. Sohail captained Pakistan to the Sahara Cup title in Canada in 1996 and 1998 against their arch rivals and also led them to a test win in South Africa under his captaincy. Sohail completed his studies at university level as an economics graduate. Sohail was Pakistan’s 2nd leading run scorer in their triumphant 1992 World Cup with a century and 2 50s as he was a member of Imran’s cornered tigers that played a fearless brand of cricket to conquer the world down under in the 1992 season. As a commentator and broadcaster Sohail has appeared in many TV channels and commentary teams over the last decade since finishing his career as a pundit and expert. Whilst not everyone likes him and he has his large share of critics, Sohail is a commentator who speaks his heart and voices his opinions openly without worrying about the implications of his views and how they could affect the public’s opinion on him, especially in terms of popularity. Sohail’s commentary is detailed and the technical jargon he applies goes to show a man who knows his knowledge and tactical know how, a man who analyses and watches the game in depth and really applying all the knowledge and experience he had picked up in his playing days to behind the mic with a deep voice and wise choice of words. His passion is evident and Sohail comes across as someone who is a no nonsense and fully serious commentator who holds strong and firm views which he is willing to justify rather than siding with anyone. Sohail was a patriotic servant for his country and was a man of integrity and dignity who blew the whistle against the shady characters in the team by exposing them in the 1990s. I was pleased to see him part of the commentary team for the Pak - Eng series in the UAE.

Ajmal on the Brink of Creating History in Abu Dhabi

Saeed Ajmal has 93 test scalps in 18 tests. A 7 wicket match haul in Abu Dhabi will give him 100 test scalps in 19 tests which is the fastest by a Pakistani. The all time fastest was 16 test matches. The current fastest by a Pakistani is joined between Waqar Younis and Mohammad Asif. The quickest by a spinner, a Pakistani spinner, was the inventive off spinner Saqlain Mushatq who got there in 23 tests as did Shane Warne. After claiming a formidable 10 for against a powerful batting line up in the 1st test in Dubai and full of form, confidence and motivation behind him, one cannot rule Saeed getting there in Abu Dhabi when the 2nd test commences on Wednesday. If he doesn’t get there in Abu Dhabi however, Saeed is surely still going to be the quickest Pakistani spinner to the feat and all time joint quickest by a Pakistani bowler alongside his former coach Waqar Younis and former teammate Mohammad Asif. The wicket in Abu Dhabi however is not really result orientated and provides less assistance to the spinners than Dubai. Nonetheless Ajmal showed in Dubai that he doesn’t necessarily need a helpful wicket to do the damage and make batsmen look foolish. The control, mind games and unorthodoxy is enough to create trouble for the batsmen who have to face the unique challenge of dealing with him. In all seriousness his threat and talent is of such that England will feel they are up against Shane Warne or Murali and will be feeling the greatest pressure since they last faced the two champions and all time leading test wicket takers who got over 700 scalps in the 5 day arena with endless 5 fors next to their name.