Tweet
I've always been fascinated by the Pakis - on any given day they can beat anyone in the world, but they are also liable to lose to Kenya the next day. They always have had so much individual brilliance but rarely gel as a team and have many difficult issues to overcome, not the least of which is not being able to play any home tests, and individuals being susceptible to match fixers because they have been paid so poorly compared to other test nations.
Last night was another example 'good' Pakistan' coming out to play. The 3rd test against Sri Lanka in the UAE was meandering along to a stale and very boring draw (mostly Sri Lanka's doing, who were trying to protect their 1-0 series lead), and Pakistan managed to go at almost a run a ball in the 4th innings to smash over 300 in 2 sessions to win and square the series. They scored almost 200 runs in the final session alone to somehow conjur up a win with 9 balls to spare. This match was very reminiscent of Australia v England at Adelaide in 2006/7, when England completely stopped scoring on the 5th day and opened the door for Australia to blitz them in the final session. Absolutely amazing effort by Pakistan, and done so against some very negative and unsporting tactics by the Lankans - they bowled wide of leg stump and stacked the boundaries for most of the 50 odd overs in the 4th innings.
Such a shame that they don't play any test cricket until their series against us in 9 months' time. I always enjoy watching the Pakis play - they swept England 3-0 when the Poms were top of the tree a couple of years ago and they also managed to win test against the Saffers recently. Unfortunately for them, they will never be able to achieve consistency in their play because of the lack of continuity in their test match schedule.
Last night was another example 'good' Pakistan' coming out to play. The 3rd test against Sri Lanka in the UAE was meandering along to a stale and very boring draw (mostly Sri Lanka's doing, who were trying to protect their 1-0 series lead), and Pakistan managed to go at almost a run a ball in the 4th innings to smash over 300 in 2 sessions to win and square the series. They scored almost 200 runs in the final session alone to somehow conjur up a win with 9 balls to spare. This match was very reminiscent of Australia v England at Adelaide in 2006/7, when England completely stopped scoring on the 5th day and opened the door for Australia to blitz them in the final session. Absolutely amazing effort by Pakistan, and done so against some very negative and unsporting tactics by the Lankans - they bowled wide of leg stump and stacked the boundaries for most of the 50 odd overs in the 4th innings.
Such a shame that they don't play any test cricket until their series against us in 9 months' time. I always enjoy watching the Pakis play - they swept England 3-0 when the Poms were top of the tree a couple of years ago and they also managed to win test against the Saffers recently. Unfortunately for them, they will never be able to achieve consistency in their play because of the lack of continuity in their test match schedule.
Comment