Pakistan 1 - 0 England
England have narrowly lost the first test against Pakistan after an insane batting collapse. From 64-1, England collapsed all out for just 175, chasing 198 on the final day - despite having the better of the first four days. Pakistan haven't exactly fared well either, with just Salman Butt and Inzi making any serious contributions. The bowling was pretty average in the first innings, however the agressive intent was clear this morning and they did bowl brilliantly.
Andrew Miller writes
This Multan match is turning into one of the best-natured Tests in Anglo-Pakistani history. It has compromised two evenly matched sides and four hard days of competitive but scrupulously fair cricket, in front of a crowd so unpartisan that several of the locals have taken to supporting England.
Last year we saw the power that the game can wield in these parts, when Pakistan played host to one of the most cathartic Test tours in history. Thousands of Indians flooded across the border for the first time since Sachin Tendulkar was a 16-year-old debutant, and left a month later with their pre-conceptions quashed and generations of animosity forgotten.
Which is why it's such a shock to be jolted back to the present, as was the case this morning when news of the Karachi bomb blasts began reverberating around the press box. Doubt and speculation soon began filing down the phonelines, and by tea, Shahrayar Khan, the PCB chairman, was seeking to assuage doubts about the security in place for Karachi's one-day international on December 15.
"We will not allow terrorists to undermine what we know to be good," said Shahrayar during a passionate but reasoned appeal to common-sense, and as he spoke, a pair of local newsmen in the front row could be seen nodding their heads vigorously. In normal circumstances, such sycophancy would be frowned upon, but then, what wasn't there to agree to?
A recent bomb blast in Delhi didn't deter Sri Lanka's cricketers. Two bomb blasts in Lahore didn't curtail Australia A's visit. Not even the July bombings in London were enough to postpone the Ashes. Though Shahrayar was perhaps being simplistic to describe it as a "global phenomenon", he was right to underplay the impact that it would have on England's cricketers.
Having travelled within the "presidential" levels of security that accompany this tour, it's fair to say that things will be very different in Karachi in a month's time. Both this attack, and those on Christians in a town near Faisalabad, were random acts of violence at opposite ends of a vast land. The real Pakistan is the one that has turned out in their thousands in the stands, not those that have lurked in their handfuls in the shadows.
Andrew Miller writes
This Multan match is turning into one of the best-natured Tests in Anglo-Pakistani history. It has compromised two evenly matched sides and four hard days of competitive but scrupulously fair cricket, in front of a crowd so unpartisan that several of the locals have taken to supporting England.
Last year we saw the power that the game can wield in these parts, when Pakistan played host to one of the most cathartic Test tours in history. Thousands of Indians flooded across the border for the first time since Sachin Tendulkar was a 16-year-old debutant, and left a month later with their pre-conceptions quashed and generations of animosity forgotten.
Which is why it's such a shock to be jolted back to the present, as was the case this morning when news of the Karachi bomb blasts began reverberating around the press box. Doubt and speculation soon began filing down the phonelines, and by tea, Shahrayar Khan, the PCB chairman, was seeking to assuage doubts about the security in place for Karachi's one-day international on December 15.
"We will not allow terrorists to undermine what we know to be good," said Shahrayar during a passionate but reasoned appeal to common-sense, and as he spoke, a pair of local newsmen in the front row could be seen nodding their heads vigorously. In normal circumstances, such sycophancy would be frowned upon, but then, what wasn't there to agree to?
A recent bomb blast in Delhi didn't deter Sri Lanka's cricketers. Two bomb blasts in Lahore didn't curtail Australia A's visit. Not even the July bombings in London were enough to postpone the Ashes. Though Shahrayar was perhaps being simplistic to describe it as a "global phenomenon", he was right to underplay the impact that it would have on England's cricketers.
Having travelled within the "presidential" levels of security that accompany this tour, it's fair to say that things will be very different in Karachi in a month's time. Both this attack, and those on Christians in a town near Faisalabad, were random acts of violence at opposite ends of a vast land. The real Pakistan is the one that has turned out in their thousands in the stands, not those that have lurked in their handfuls in the shadows.
posted by Dirty Dan at 4:14 PM
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