Hoggard strikes again as 3-day tie is drawn
Lahore, Nov 25: The PCB XI narrowly escaped defeat after Matthew Hoggard looked to steer England to an unlikely victory in the threedayer at the Bagh-e-Jinnah which ended in a draw on Saturday
Samiul Hasan
26-Nov-2000
Lahore, Nov 25: The PCB XI narrowly escaped defeat after Matthew
Hoggard looked to steer England to an unlikely victory in the threedayer at the Bagh-e-Jinnah which ended in a draw on Saturday.
Hoggard followed up his first innings effort of four for 13 with four
for 17 as the PCB XI finished at 71 for six after England had declared
their first innings at 237 for seven to earn a first innings lead of
120 runs.
The second day of the match was washed out without a ball being
bowled. At stumps on the first day, England were 76 for two in reply
to PCB XI's 117.
The home team had slumped to 18 for four in 10.4 overs before being
rescued by teenager Faisal Iqbal who celebrated his recall for the
Faisalabad Test with a defiant unbeaten 27. He kept the one end intact
during his 103-minute innings during which he faced 70 balls as
wickets fell around him.
Hoggard, who has taken his tally of wickets to 17 in two matches, was
quick, accurate and deadly in his 11-over burst. After Alex Tudor
dismissed Mohammad Ramazan for his second duck of the match, Hoggard
got his acts together to dismiss Salman Butt, Bazid Khan, Shoaib Malik
and Faisal Naveed.
He was on a hat trick after accounting for Bazid and skipper Shoaib
off successive balls. But was denied by 17-year-old wicketkeeper
Kamran Akmal who finished the day at 10 not out. Nevertheless, despite
a splendid performance, Hoggard received no good news from skipper
Nasser Hussain who didn't guarantee him a place in the second Test
starting at Faisalabad from Nov 29.
Hussain, who himself is struggling for form, said: "He has played just
one Test match. We will see how things go because we have to see the
pitch as well. "We got the warning in the one-dayers what lay ahead
for us," he added with reference to the expected spinning pitch at the
industrial city of the country.
Once again it were the out-swingers that carpeted the Pakistan
hopefuls as five of the six batsmen were demised behind wickets. Hasan
Raza, world's youngst Test player, was caught hooking Tudor.
Earlier, England batted watchfully in an extended first session of the
play before accelerating the proceedings in the second half when they
scored run-a-minute 70 before declaring.
Wicket-keeper Paul Nixon scored a 62-ball 47 not out with two fours
and a six and Ashley Giles contributed 28 off 61 deliveries.
Marcus Trescothick tuned up for the back-to-back Tests with 50 before
retiring after a 125-ball innings that comprised six boundaries. Alec
Stewart scored 47 with eight fours and added 90 runs for the third
wicket with the left-handed opener. But there was disappointment for
Test aspirants Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff. Vaughan, who
missed the first Test because of calf injury, spent just 32 minutes at
the crease while scoring four and Flintoff, who flew in as a
replacement, lasted for just one delivery.
Left-arm Islamabad pacer Stephen John was the most successful PCB XI
bowler with figures of four for 73. He bowled well within his
limitations thought the grassy wicket at times tempted to put in extra
which result in him becoming wayward.
Test discard Fazl-i-Akbar finished with two for 91 - expensive figures
considering the seamer's friendly surface.
England leave for Faisalabad on Sunday morning where they will have a
training session later in the day.