England leave Pakistan gasping by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Edgbaston, Birmingham
Scorecard:	England v Pakistan
Player:	Saeed Ajmal, KP Pietersen
Event:	Pakistan in England 2010

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DateLine: 7th August 2010

 

Another day of English domination passed and Pakistan is faced with a huge task to save the Test. It is only the second day and a result is highly possible provided the weather does not play the spoilsport. Things never looked bright for the Pakistani side barring the half an hour of play after the tea break where the wickets fell in a cluster.

 

Resuming at 112 for 2 the the two overnight batsmen Pietersen and Trott batted with flair and guts as they led England to a huge lead. The Pakistani side seemed to be mentally switched off during the shortened first session as it was full of errors. Kevin Pietersen lived a charmed life on the second day at Edgbaston. Pietersen shared a 133-run stand with Jonathan Trott and the belligerent right-hander was also involved in a controversial moment. The moment occurred as Mohammad Asif ran in for the fifth ball of his 12th over and he was well into his delivery stride when Pietersen backed away. The batsman is allowed to back away if he is distracted, but Pietersen played a shot and lobbed a gentle catch to mid-off. The umpire Marais Erasmus called dead ball moments before the ball was struck, but Salman Butt protested that it was too late.

 

Trott on the other hand looked calm as he was happy to get the singles and the occasional boundaries. The first and the second sessions were short as there were frequent rain-interruptions. Pakistan suffered another major set-back as Umar Gul was forced to leave the field with a suspected hamstring injury. Umar Amin who was called into the attack removed Trott who was caught at the gully.

 

That was the breakthrough the Pakistani side required and the bowlers led by off-spinner Ajmal tore apart the English batting line-up. Pietersen after living a charmed life finally popped a simple catch to Ajmal who then spun a web of deception around the English batsmen. The off-spinner claimed his first five wicket haul in Tests.

 

Pakistan in reply once again had the worst possible start as they lost their skipper Salman Butt for no score. Imran Farhat and Azhar Ali had a torrid time at the crease as the English seamers bowled an excellent testing spell. Once again bad light played a role forcing the umpires to take the players of the field before the scheduled close of play.