Harmison pitches in

It was 50 years ago yesterday that a Test match started at Old Trafford that went down in history for the exploits of Jim Laker. What is forgotten these days is that but for Laker’s feat of taking 19 wickets, the match would be remembered for controversy over the pitch which the Australians bitterly complained was not fit for Test cricket. Half a century on, and little changes.

Yesterday, however, Steve Harmison blasted out Pakistan. While the pitch was poor, it was the fast bowling that grabbed the headlines.

Derek Pringle in The Daily Telegraph was blunt, arguing that “it was a gutless display by the visitors, with many of the later order backing away”.

But he also pointed out that while the pitch may not have been perfect, Harmison’s performance was, nevertheless, a great one.

“With his height and pace, Harmison can be a handful on most surfaces, but when given conditions that amplify his gifts he brings a fear factor that make batsmen do foolish things. Of his victims only Inzamam-ul-Haq was dismissed by a ball that did anything unexpected, in his case climbing sharply from a good length after hitting one of the many cracks pitting the surface of the pitch.”

In The Guardian, Mike Selvey was in no doubt that groundsman Peter Marron’s work was not good enough.

“The pitch did not quite play to order. It had promised pace, which it delivered, and ditto good carry. What should not have been evident yet was a nasty, if occasional, variation in bounce as the ball struck either side of the cracks, which, if the sun continues to bake the surface, will only get wider and more influential.”

Selvey was also critical of the Pakistan batsmen who, he wrote, “batted with questionable commitment and a negative mindset”.

In The Independent, Angus Fraser followed the same line:

“Harmison and England were aided by a fast, bouncy and slightly unpredictable pitch, and a woeful batting display from Pakistan. The venom of Harmison and the steep bounce he extracted from the helpful surface unsettled the tourists who showed minimal resistance.”

In Dawn, Kamran Abbasi pondered Inzamam’s decision to bat:

“Winning the toss turned into a nightmare for Inzamam-ul Haq. He is unlikely to see a quick end to the public debate about his decision to bat first on a hard, greenish track, under gloomy skies and a humid day. Forgive my meteorology but weren't those once known as ideal bowling conditions?”

He also had little time for the Pakistan batsmen:

“Most of these fair-weather youths have grown fat on the plunder of lifeless pitches. They have indeed pulled Pakistan out of some desperate situations but those rescue missions have been in conditions that have offered little for bowlers. Yesterday, a more testing examination questioned the quality of their defence. The same examination that is failed each time we tour Australia, and particularly at Perth. On this evidence we are no more ready.”