It was the 1521st Test in cricket history. It was England's 776th and Pakistan's 273rd Test match. It was the 125th Test match on Pakistan soil and 21st between these two sides. It was the 58th Test match between these two sides. The record now reads: England 15, Pakistan 9, drawn 34. Umpires Steve Bucknor and Mohammad Nazir officiated in their 54th and fourth Test respectively. Bucknor has now equalled the tally of Englishman David Shepherd. Now only Dicky Bird (66) has officiated in more Tests than these two. Darren Gough with the wicket of Saeed Anwar in the first innings became the tenth most successful bowler for England as it was his 178th wicket in 46th Test. Gough surged ahead of Angus Fraser's tally of 177 wickets also from 46 Tests. The partnership of 269 runs between Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana is Pakistan's best for fourth wicket against England in Pakistan. This obliterates the previous record stand of 153 between Javed Burki and Mushtaq Mohammad at Lahore in 1961-62. The partnership is also the second best for Pakistan for this wicket against England in all Tests after the record 322 run-partnership between Javed Miandad and Salim Malik at Birmingham in 1992. The hundred was 12th for Inzamam-ul-Haq in his 70th Test. He has now equalled the tally of Hanif Mohammad, Ijaz Ahmed and Zaheer Abbas for Pakistan. Now only Javed Miandad (23 in 124) and Salim Malik (15 in 103) have scored more Test hundreds for Pakistan than Inzamam. Inzamam on 79 became the first batsman to aggregate 1000 runs in Test matches in the year 2000. He was playing his 12th Test and 18th innings this year. Inzamam also became only the second Pakistani to do so after Mohsin Khan who aggregated 1029 runs in 10 matches in 1982. The feat of aggregating 1000 runs in a calendar year has now been achieved by 36 batsmen on 48 occasions. The list includes 12 Australians, 10 Englishmen, 5 Indians, 4 West Indians, 2 Sri Lankans and Pakistanis and one South African. India's Sunil Gavaskar is alone in doing so on as many as four occasions followed by two Australians- Allan Border and Mark Taylor. When he was run-out without scoring in the first innings, Waqar Younis was out for his 15th duck in his 68th Test. Now only Wasim Bari (19 ducks in 81 Tests) and Wasim Akram (17 ducks in 100 Tests) are ahead of Waqar for Pakistan. The wicket of Graham Thorpe in first innings was 150th for Waqar Younis in 'home' Tests. He was playing his 30th Test on Pakistani soil. Waqar became the fourth Pakistani after Abdul Qadir (168 in 40), Imran Khan (163 in 38) and Wasim Akram (153 in 40) and the 20th bowler overall to take 150 or more wickets in 'home' matches. Incidentally Australian Dennis Lillee with 231 wickets in 44 Tests heads the table. By completing his 150 'home' wickets in only his 30th Test Waqar equalled the Pakistani record of Abdul Qadir and Imran Khan. Interestingly India's Anil Kumble , Englishman Alec Bedser and Australian Dennis Lillee jointly hold the record of fastest 150 wickets in least number of Tests - 28. Pakistan's second innings total (158) is its lowest in Pakistan against England. This obliterates the previous lowest of 191 at Faisalabad in 1987-88. Pakistan's defeat in this Test provided only the 17th instance in Test annals of a team losing a Test despite scoring 400 plus runs in first innings of the Test. Pakistan has suffered this ignominy once before. It had lost to West Indies at Georgetown in 1957-58 despite scoring 408 runs in the first innings. The details:
Score For Vs Result Test Venue Season
586 Aus Eng Eng won by 10 runs 1st Sydney (SCG) 1894-95
530 Aus SA drawn 4th Adelaide 1952-53
526-7d WI Eng Eng won by 7 wkts 4th Port-of-Spain 1967-68
496 Eng Aus Aus won by 7 wkts 4th Leeds 1948
490 Aus WI WI won by 1 wkt 3rd Bridgetown 1998-99
445 Eng SL SL won by 10 wkts 1st The Oval 1998
435 Aus Eng Eng won by 8 wkts 5th Sydney (SCG) 1932-33
429 Aus WI WI won by 10 wkts 3rd Bridgetown 1983-84
425 Eng Aus Aus won by 7 wkts 2nd Lord's 1930
424 Ind Aus Aus won by 8 wkts 3rd Bangalore 1997-98
422-9d Zim Ind Ind won by 7 wkts 1st Delhi 2000-01
408 Pak WI WI won by 8 wkts 4th Georgetown 1957-58
405 Eng Aus Aus won by inn & 39 5th The Oval 1930
405 Pak Eng Eng won by 6 wkts 3rd Karachi 2000-01
402 Ind Aus Aus won by 2 wkts 2nd Perth (WACA) 1977-78
401-9d Aus Eng Eng won by 18 runs 3rd Leeds 1981
400 Ban Ind Ind won by 9 wkts only Dhaka 2000-01
Ashley Giles' 17 wickets in the series is a new record for England against Pakistan in Pakistan. Nick Cook with 14 wickets (ave.31.71) in 1983-84 series was the previous record holder. England's win ended Pakistan's unbeaten sequence at National Stadium, Karachi. Before this Test match Pakistan had never faced defeat on this ground in a Test match since the inaugural Test against India in 1954-55. Out of the 34 Tests that Pakistan played on this ground (prior to this one) the host nation won as many as 17 and succeeded in drawing the remaining 17. Pakistan's undefeated run in 34 Tests at National Stadium is the record of longest sequence for a country without defeat at a particular venue. West Indies had a undefeated run of 27 Tests at Bridgetown from 1947-48 to 1992-93. However the record of not losing a Test match at a particular venue for the longest period remains with England. It had not lost a single Test at Edgbaston for 72 years (from 1902 to 1974). The accompanying table lists the instances of longest undefeated runs at a particular venue with Australia being the only visiting team to remain unbeaten at a venue on 15 consecutive occasions.
Stadium/ Venue Tests W D T From To
National Stadium, Karachi 34 17 17 Pak v Ind 1954-55 v SL 1999-00
Bridgetown, Barbados 27 16 11 WI v Eng 1947-48 v Pak 1992-93
Old Trafford, Manchester 25 8 17 Eng v Aus 1905 v Pak 1954
Kingston, Jamaica 19 11 8 WI v Pak 1957-58 v Ind 1988-89
The Oval, London 18 10 8 Eng v Aus 1884 v SA 1929
Basin Reserve, Wellington 18 6 12 NZ v WI 1968-69 v Aus 1992-93
Edgbaston, Birmingham 16 9 7 Eng v Aus 1902 v Pak 1974
Lord's, London 15 7 8 Aus v Eng 1938 v Eng 1993
SCG, Sydney 15 7 8 Aus v Eng 1979-80 v WI 1992-93
PS: Pakistan also won the only match played at Defence Stadium in Karachi (v Zimbabwe in 1993-94) which extends its tally of consecutive unbeaten matches in Karachi to 35.
The win in this Test also sealed the series in England's favour 1-0. It was England's first series win against Pakistan in Pakistan since 1961-62 when Ted Dexter led English side defeated Pakistan by identical margin. Pakistan now has not won a Test series at home soil since beating West Indies 3-0 in 1998-99. Pakistan has played five series since then losing four and drawing one.A detailed look into Pakistan's performance at home reveals the fact that it has played 43 series since 1954-55 winning 21, drawing 12 and losing 10. Infact Pakistan had faced series defeats on only four occasions in its first 33 series at home and six in last ten. At the end of the series:Overall Test record:
England: played 776, won 262, lost 223, drawn 291
Pakistan: played 273, won 77, lost 66, drawn 130
Captaincy record:
Nasser Hussain: played 17, won 6, lost 5, drawn 6
Moin Khan: played 11, won 3, lost 2, drawn 6.
