Date-stamped : 05 Dec95 - 10:27 Pakistan 'A' v England 'A', 2nd "Test" Khan Research Laboratory Ground, Rawalpindi 30 November, 1,2,3,4 December 1995 ====> Preview, 29 Nov 95 Bleak outlook spurs Munton - Simon Hughes FOUR inches of rain in the capital, and snow on the hills, may provide a bigger obstacle to England A winning the second Test than Pakistan. The match, scheduled to start this morning at 10am, is bound to be delayed as the wicket resembles damp putty and is liable to make the odd ball explode. With an afternoon start in prospect and early finishes because of bad light, a result at the KRL Ground seems unlikely. It is cer- tain to be a low-scoring match with a difficult pitch and a wide spongy outfield, which feels like heathland underfoot. England will probably make two changes from the side that won the first Test in Multan. Jason Tooley is likely to play instead of Craig White, whose bowling will be ill-suited to the soft condi- tions, and Tim Munton is due to take Ian Salisbury`s place. Do- minic Ostler and Shaun Udal are left out of the squad of 13. Munton must be imagining that he died and went to heaven during his journey out here. A day after arriving, he encountered a pitch with pace, bounce and movement, not dissimilar to Edgbas- ton, and batsmen with little inclination to hang around. Now, he is anticipating a good, old-fashioned sticky dog which will make him, bringing the ball down from his 6ft 7in frame, a very awk- ward proposition. The Pakistanis have made a number of changes to their side, but have stuck with youth, partly because they are committed to send- ing a shadow national XI to a one-day tournament in Sharjah. The announcement in their initial World Cup squad of Javed Miandad, who has not played seriously for two years, indicates the disar- ray Pakistan are in, and young fast bowler Shahid Nazir and leg- spinner Anwar Ali have everything to play for. England A (from): NV Knight, JER Gallian, *N Hussain, A McGrath, JC Pooley, RC Irani, C White, -KJ Piper, IDK Salisbury, DW Head- ley, RD Stemp, TA Munton, ESH Giddins. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 1, 30 Nov 95 England left kicking their heels - Simon Hughes IT IS not often English professional cricketers feel miffed by the loss of a day`s play to bad weather, but this is an excep- tion. The first Test finished 11 days ago, and many of the Eng- land A squad have not seen competitive action since. So it was with some dispondency that the team arrived at the Khan Research Laboratory Ground yesterday to find that the tide had not entirely receded. The previous day`s storms had left large wet patches around the pitch on which a weak sun was having little effect. It was soon evident there would be no play. The moist, two-sweater conditions here and in Peshawar, venue for the Third Test, question the wisdom of staging an A tour during the short Pakistan winter. It is dark by 5.15 pm and a heavy dew precludes a start earlier than 10 am. One consolation is that England should be better equipped to ex- ploit the damp wicket, seam bowlers like Ed Giddins and Tim Mun- ton will be a handful, while the lift and bite Shaun Udal is likely to extract prompted The Management to reinstate him in the 13. This is bad luck on Ian Salisbury who will appear in the third Test having not bowled for three weeks since his six for 39 in the first. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 2, 1 Dec 95 Pitch plays into Pakistan`s hands - Simon Hughes First day: Pakistan (73-1) v England A JUST when it seemed that this tour had ground to a halt, and players were getting more excited about flick-coin football than actual cricket, it spluttered into action again with 2.5 hours` play yesterday afternoon. For the sake of progress the teams sacrificed their tea interval but, as usual here, made up for it by going off for bad light 20 minutes before the close. In 34 overs Pakistan, who lost the toss, had made a solid start with only the odd alarm. There had been some disagreement between the captains over start- ing the match. Nasser Hussain, putting the priority of winning this Test series above other considerations, was reluctant to start until the dew had evaporated, but Asif Mujtaba would have delayed the moment much longer if he had had his way. "Our boys aren`t used to wickets like this," he said, eyeing Ian Salisbury spinning the ball sharply on a damp adjacent strip. "We`d prefer the conditions to be absolutely perfect." Bearing in mind four inches of rain fell in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, he was obviously all for going away for about a fortnight. Mujtaba need not have worried. The pitch, having been rolled into oblivion for the best part of three days, had none of its antici- pated spite, and was slow enough to enable batsmen to adjust if the ball did anything un- toward. Timing was tricky however, and after 15 overs the score was only 28 for nought. Tim Munton gave nothing away in a niggardly opening spell, send- ing down four consecutive maidens at one point, but never looked particularly threatening. Using a horses-for-courses criterion there was some logic in the selection here of Munton, a recent replacement for the injured Mike Smith, but it was a bit harsh on Ed Giddins, who was left out. Being wise after the event is a malaise that commonly afflicts English sport In the era of rapidly arriving reinforcements, being an original member of a tour party is no guarantee of anything. Dean Headley, who has suddenly moved ahead of Giddins in the fast bowlers` pecking order, whistled a few down at the other end, but his length was a fraction on the short side. John Emburey marched round the boundary to have a word with him at long leg. This was good to see. Being wise after the event is a malaise that common- ly afflicts English sport. Obviously this practice is harder to carry out in a Test match if the player in question is fielding half a mile away on the other side of the MCG, but it is a good habit to get into. Headley`s next ball, incidentally, was much fuller and nearly won an lbw verdict. This was the closest England came to taking a wicket until Salis- bury was introduced, rather belatedly in the 22nd over. His fourth ball turned, flicked the glove of the obdurate opener Anwar, and Keith Piper took a good catch chest high. Having aban- doned his attempt to ape Shane Warne`s languid approach to the crease, Salisbury was now running in more purposefully and bowl- ing with greater zip and control. He did not serve up a loose ball until his seventh over. Craig White was rather less frugal, disappearing for 12 in his first over, which caused Emburey`s temper- ature to rise alarm- ingly. White has genuine pace and enthusiasm but needs to develop something in between a fizzing bouncer and a dipping yorker if he is to be recognised as a front-line bowler. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu) ====> Day 3, 2 Dec 95 Headley stature at new heights - Simon Hughes Second day: England A (8-1) trail Pakistan (214) by 206 runs YOU could call arriving back from a spectacular early morning flight around K2 and other great Himalayan mountains to a desert- ed cricket ground where honest English seamers trundled to the wicket, something of an anti-climax. Still, it is not as deflating as taking a second consecutive five-wicket haul for England A and then discovering you are not destined to figure in the future plans of the senior team. Dean Headley bowled his heart out for the second successive Test match, took six for 73 on a dead pitch and had every right to feel aggrieved that he had not been included in England`s initial squad of 20 for the World Cup. Headley was given considerable assistance by an assiduous Ian Salisbury and some errant Pakistan batting, but he deserved the major spoils for bowling unchanged in the 2.5 hours between lunch and tea. His fast-bowling spell in this session was 17-3-42-5. The weather was pleasantly cool, which enhanced his staying power, but there was nothing in the wicket to help him. Good old-fashioned persev- erance made up for that. Salisbury, too, stuck to the basics. Having at last shrugged off a lingering shoulder injury, the leg-spinner has more purpose in his run up and delivery and is consequently more accurate. Salisbury put this down to a number of factors. He has reached a physical peak and his mental approach has been put in order by the Australian leg-spin coach Peter Philpott when they met brief- ly at Scarborough last summer. "He said `It`s all there, just think of the simple things, con- centrate really hard on one ball at a time, where you want to land it. Block everything else out.` He`s made me more focused," said Salisbury. The sight of international batsmen in Sydney being mesmerised by the leg-spin of Mustaq Ahmed and Shane Warne on morning televi- sion has also helped Salisbury this week. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu) ====> Day 4, 3 Dec 95 Hussain held back as Salisbury hangs on - Simon Hughes Third day: England A (281) lead Pakistan (214) by 67 runs IT IS not often an English captain expresses disappointment be- cause his team batted too well. Nasser Hussain was, of course, only jesting when he ticked off nightwatchman Ian Salisbury for surviving two sessions yesterday, but Hussain himself had been hoping to get to the wicket rather sooner than 10 minutes after tea. He made up for lost time by scampering a quick unbeaten 40 before the close to build on the excellent foundations laid by Salisbury and Jason Gallian, making his first hundred in England colours. Because of the placid pitch and moderate quality of the Pakistan attack, Salisbury had virtually bitten off Hussain`s hand when invited to protect the recognised batsmen on Saturday night. No wickets fell before lunch and, with the Pakistanis already dispirited, Hussain was probably ruing the decision to hold him- self back. A bounceless wicket and thatched outfield made boundaries hard to come by, but Gallian and Salisbury missed no opportunities for singles and when leg-spinner Anwar Ali came on, Gallian smote him into the sightscreen. A dismissive smash over extra cover in the leg-spinner`s next over caused him to be swiftly removed from the attack. The Pakistanis seemed lulled by the soporific nature of the ground and showed little initiative. The manager of Pakistan`s senior team, Intikhab Alam, has recently bemoaned the poor crick- eting education of his young charges. Their lack of strategy and nous yesterday emphasised the point. However, the game is being played in an excellent spirit and the umpiring is first class. If anything it has favoured the English, for instance when Salisbury looked lucky to get away with gloving an attempted sweep. He had passed 50 by then, with a reverse sweep, and had reached a career-best 86 when he sliced a catch to cover. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu) ====> Day 5, 4 Dec 95 England slowed down - Simon Hughes THINGS never happen quickly in Pakistan, particularly if a crick- et match is going against them. Only 69 overs were delivered on the last day of the second Test as the hosts went through the whole gamut of delaying tactics to ensure a draw here and a vague chance of levelling the series. England take a 1-0 lead into the third Test, which starts in the gun-toting town of Peshawar on Friday. That contest should be more exciting than this one, played on a benign pitch at a ground adjacent to the main runway of Islamabad airport. With the regular take-offs and landings, tasteless near- by buildings and areas of wasteland, it could have been West Drayton. The inevitable sequence of extended drinks intervals, ferrying on and off of helmets and adjustment of sightscreens reduced a po- tential 78 overs to 58, whereupon the 12th man was dispatched to the umpire bearing a scrap of paper. A few balls later, the bats- men were offered the light, and that was that. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu)