Strauss - From victim to villain in run-out drama
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
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Lord's saw the beauty and the beast as Andrew Strauss' rush of blood proved his undoing, says David Hopps in the Guardian. Mark Nicholas calls it as a moment of madness. Read Martin Johnson's take on the subject here.
You could say that Bell was unlucky to be run out by a direct hit from Inzamam, which is cricket's equivalent to being killed by a falling meteor while out walking the dog on Dartmoor. If International Cricket Council regulations permitted, the Pakistani captain would employ a butler to do his fielding for him.
From supercharged leg-break to swish of the bat Afridi ensures there is never a dull moment, writes Lawrence Booth.
When Afridi is not running an impatient hand through his luxuriant mane, he is generally chuntering at anyone who has had the temerity to steal a single, or throwing his hands up in pantomime-dame despair as a brisk leggie rips unjustly past the outside edge. On Friday he sent down an 80mph bullet to Monty Panesar, which may have been Test cricket's fastest leg-break since Bill O'Reilly called it a day in 1946. It raised eyebrows and oozed irritation.
Simon Briggs, of The Telegraph, watches Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi spin their web at Lords and compares their respective arts - Kaneria, the thinker, vs Afridi, the pounder.
It has been a 12-year wait for England to declare both innings, says Simon Hughes.
Sriram Veera is a former staff writer at ESPNcricinfo