2010 Australia in 'Pakistan'

[gimctas]

But due to the turmoil in Pakistan, it will be held in England!

Itinerary:

Twenty20 v Pakistan:
Jul 5 (Mon): Edgbaston, Birmingham
Jul 6 (Tue): Edgbaston, Birmingham

Practice:
Jul 8(Thu) - 9: v Derbyshire, Derby

Tests v Pakistan:
1st: Jul 13(Tue) - 17: Lords, London
2nd: Jul 21(Wed) - 25: Headingley, Leeds

[I say old boy.]

The test at Headingley should be rather amusing. It will be interesting to see who the home crowd supports.

[gimctas]

Bats: David Warner, Michael Clarke (c), Cameron White, David Hussey, Michael Hussey
Allrounders: Shane Watson, Steven Smith, James Hopes (for injured Daniel Christian)
Keeper: Brad Haddin
Pace: Mitchell Johnson, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger (for injured Ryan Harris)
Spin: Steve O'Keefe (for injured Nathan Hauritz)

Michael Clarke kept the captaincy.
No place for Brett Lee.

Aussie Test squad to be named later, after Aust A v Sri Lanka A series.

[gimctas]

Twenty20:

Bats: Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan (RHB), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Amin (LHB), Fawad Alam
Keeper: Kamran Akmal
Allrounders: Shahid Afridi (c), Abdul Razzaq
Pace: Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz (LFM)
Spin: Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal

Test:

Bats: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali (RHB), Yasir Hameed, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin (LHB), Shoaib Malik
Allrounders: Shahid Afridi (c)
Keeper: Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider
Pace: Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Wahab Riaz (LFM), Tanvir Ahmed (RFM)
Spin: Saeed Ajmal, Danish Kaneria

[gimctas]

Bats: Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Usman Khawaja
Allrounders: Shane Watson, Steven Smith
Keeper: Tim Paine (for the injured Brad Haddin)
Spin: Steve O'Keefe (for injured Nathan Hauritz)
Pace: Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter George (for injured Ryan Harris), Doug Bollinger

Ben Hilfenhaus is back from injury (and after his 5/63 v Sri Lanka A).
Mitchell Johnson's elbow has been passed fit.
Brad Haddin was selected, but failed a fitness test the next day.
Steven Smith is the 'extra' spinner - will he be putting pressure on Marcus North?
With Phil Hughes injured, the extra batsman is Usman Khawaja (born in Islamabad, Pakistan) after 9 & 30 for Australia A; selected ahead of George Bailey (19 & 87).
And then Nathan Hauritz got a foot injury in the 2nd ODI.

[gimctas]

Mohammad Yousuf recently said that Pakistan was only producing Twenty20 cricketers, who struggle in Tests.

At the startup of the Pakistan 'home' series v Australia in England, they won the two warmup T20I matches.

1st T20I:
Pak 8/167: Kamran Akmal 23 (19 b 2 4s 1 6s), Shoaib Malik 21 (18 b 3 4s), MoM: Umar Akmal 64 (31 b 7 4s 3 6s) (5th: 51 in 4.2 overs), Nannes 2/41 (4), Tait 2/25 (4), S.Smith 1/34 (4)
beat Aust 144 (18.4 overs): Warner 41 (31 b 6 4s), D.Hussey 34 (28 b 4 4s 1 6s) (3rd: 52 in 7.2 overs), Mohammad Aamer 3/27 (4), Shoaib Akhtar 0/34 (2), Abdul Razzaq 1/15 (2), Shahid Afridi 1/26 (4), Umar Gul 2/13 (3), Saeed Ajmal 3/26 (3.4)
by 23 runs

2nd T20I:
Pak 9/162: Salman Butt 31 (21 b 6 4s), Kamran Akmal 33 (25 b 4 4s 1 6s) (2nd: 61 in 6.2 overs), Umar Akmal 25 (21 b 4 4s), MoM: Mohammad Aamer 21* (11 b 1 4s 2 6s), D.Hussey 1/16 (3-1 mdn - opening bowler), Tait 0/37 (4), Nannes 3/30 (4), debutant O'Keefe 3/29 (4)
beat Aust 151 (19.4 overs): Clarke 30 (17 b 6 4s - opening), Hopes 30 (28 b 3 4s), D.Hussey 33 (27 b 3 4s) (4th: 50 in 7.2 overs), M.Hussey 25 (14 b 4 4s), Shoaib Akhtar 1/29 (4), Mohammad Aamer 3/27 (4), Saeed Ajmal 1/26 (4), Shahid Afridi 2/30 (4)
by 11 runs

[gimctas]

Simon Katich scored a fifty in his 9th consecutive Test - only Edrich (10), Gambhir (11) & Viv Richards (11) ahead of him - can he go one more at Headingley?

Ricky Ponting worked Mohammad Aamer to midwkt for a single, to get to 26 and pass Brian Lara's aggregrate - to become 2nd on the list of Test run-makers - behind Sachin Tendulkar (1 493 ahead). Then promptly got out, got a duck in the 2nd innings and is still 46 short of 12 000 Test runs.

Shane Watson took his first 5 wkt haul in Tests (5/40), three wkts in his first 3 overs - and 31 runs from Shahid Afridi. He got his name on the 'neutral' honour board.

In the 2nd innings, Umar Gul bowled Johnson, with a full toss, to bring up his 100th Test wkt in his 27th Test.

[i]Marcus North[/b] took his first 5 wkt haul in Tests (6/55), and his best in 1st class cricket - can Hauritz get back in? He got his name on the 'neutral' honour board as well!

Shahid Afridi came out of Test retirement to captain this team, slogged with the bat, then promptly retired (from Tests) after the loss.

This was Australia's 13th consecutive Test win against Pakistan - back to 1999.

[I say old boy.]

Originally Posted by I say old boy.

The test at Headingley should be rather amusing.

Even more so than I anticipated. What was Ponting thinking batting first?

Some excellent bowling from the Pakistani seamers.

[gimctas]

Originally Posted by I say old boy.

Even more so than I anticipated. What was Ponting thinking batting first?

Some excellent bowling from the Pakistani seamers.

I 'seam' to remember Strauss making the same decision last year (at Headingley), even with an extra pace bowler in his side (Harmison - after Flintoff's non selection due to 'injury').

They struggled to score runs in both innings - barely made 100 in the 1st (Siddle 5/21, S.Clark 3/18) and left to the tail (Broad 61, Swann 62) in the 2nd innings (Hilfenhaus 4/60, Johnson 5/69) to try to prevent an innings loss - which they couldn't.

The Aussies took 3 quick Pakistani wkts and at 6/161 - it could still have been an Aussie win. Kamran Akmal got some streaky boundaries and they crossed the line (Kamran's batting getting them there, whereas his keeping cost them in Sydney)

[gimctas]

Kamran Akmal played in his 50th Test match, whereas the Sydney Test looked like being his last.

Ricky Ponting steered Mohammad Aamer to 3rd man for a boundary, to bring up 40 runs in the 2nd innings, and his 12 000th Test run (only the 2nd player to do - behind Sachin Tendulkar - now on 13 539 runs). Can Ricky catch him? dependent on Sachin retiring very soon?

Mike Hussey took his 50th Test catch - and it was Kamran Akmal off Johnson, in the 2nd innings, with scores level for the match. If only he had held him in the 1st innings (when on 10) - the Pakistan lead might have been smaller, and the Pakistani chase larger. Or, been given the low catch (again off Kamran Akmal) just 5 runs short of victory.

On the Test ladder, this has dropped Australia to 116 pts (3rd), just 1 pt ahead of Sri Lanka, with India 1st (on 124) and South Africa 2nd (120). But India could drop back with further losses to Sri Lanka.

Rudi Koertzen umpired his 108th Test match - his final one before retirement. (We remember those howlers in the 2nd innings of last year's Lords Test).