Australia v Pakistan, 1st Test at Lord’s, Day Three: Plays of the day
Australia may have fancied their chances of winning the Test match after setting Pakistan a target of 440 runs on the third day of the first Test match at Lord’s, but at 114/1 at stumps on the third day, Pakistan seemed to have fought back well. What were the defining moments of the day?
When the Sun is away, the Batsmen will play!
There were two days of clouds, intermittent rains, and perennially overcast conditions. The result was there for everyone to see. Australia lost nine wickets in a rain-curtailed first day’s play whereas 15 wickets fell on the second day – Pakistan were bowled out, while Australia had lost five.
On Thursday, that was the third day of the play, the sun was out for most part of the day and the ball had stopped seaming around as much as it had earlier. The result was again there for everyone to see. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 added 234 runs from their last six wickets, including 126 from their last two wickets, whereas Pakistan batted like they had just got off an innings where they had scored 700 runs – ending on 114/1.
Tomorrow’s play could again be decided on whether or not the English sun decides to take a sneak-peek, or whether the clouds prevent that from happening! Pakistan will desperately pray for it to remain out all the time, given their brittle batting line-up will be up against a decent Australian bowling attack.
Bowlers have a Ball...with the Bat!
For most part of the last summer, Ben Hilfenhaus was out of the game, trying to get back into the side after being laid low with an injury. He missed most of the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 tour, before returning back in time for this game. On the second day, it was Hilfenhaus who had started off the Pakistani collapse with a couple of wickets, but what would have pleased him the most would be his batting on the third day.
In the near-fifty first class games, and 53 List A matches that he has played in, Hilfenhaus has scored one fifty before today, and that was an exact 50. Today, he surprised everyone with an innings of substance and of great value for his team as he scored an 84-ball 56 and added 74 for the ninth wicket with Tim Paine, and 52 for the tenth wicket with Doug Bollinger!
Earlier, Mitchell Johnson had made a 30 as a night watchman, and Bollinger himself scored 22 at the number 11 position. Quite clearly, the day of the bowlers, but with the bat in their hands!
Katich’s Glass...
This is the one record that Simon Katich may or may not be too proud of. Katich has ten centuries to his name, and 25 half centuries. Out of those 25 fifties, 14 have been efforts in which he has got to a score of 75 or more, which means that almost 60% of the time, he has failed to convert a 75 plus score into a century!
Worse still, in the last eight Test matches, he has had two centuries and eight half centuries, and all his half centuries have been innings of 79 or more! There are scores of 92, 80, 99, 98, 79, 88, 80 and 83, all of which would have augured well to most, but would have also left a sour taste given that he could have easily converted at least two or three of those into centuries.
It also depends on whether he sees the glass as half-empty or half-full, isn’t it!
Tags: