Bugger. Pakistan won the toss and will bat first.

morning Mani, same problem here! Hoggy bowls first ball…

I’m sure these 2 teams will give us another fantastic game.

not helped by Freddy sending down no-balls. Expensive start this. 15-0 off 2 overs. Grrrrr.

malik’s edge dies and goes for 4
shows how dead the pitch is

butt gets his first six in test cricket off giles
earlier malik hit a six too off giles..
putting pressure on a spinner is good..
but they need to be a bit more reserved before they get 100

Vaughen had to try with GiLo but it didn’t get us far so no wonder Hoggy is back on. He seems to be getting some movement, I really hope he tricks Malik before he gets too settled in.

I have just been playing with the timesonline coverage where you get dinky little cartoons to show play. How sweet.

And Hoggy sends down another no-ball. NOOO!

my apology to pk fans…
i like eating crisps while watching the match.. when i’m done..i go wash my hands..
this was the 4th time pk lost a wicket while i was washing hands..
no more washing hands for me.. i will write comments here with my grubby greasy fingers!

Mani, have you been washing your hands again? Thanks!

once again pak proves that a flat pitch will in no way be an impediment to their batting implosion

just like noballs i realise my spelling mistakes after i have crossed the line of hitting the submit button.. batsman not batsmen in my previous post.. now that the english players are also bowling noballs.. i hope they can master the pakistani skill of getting wickets off noballs.. like akhtars slower ball wicket off a noball in the last match

what a scare… around the wicket from giles.. pitching inline and straightened.. looked out to me.. thankfully the umpire gave moe a respite

really good bowling and field placings this morning. Vaughen is such a clever captain, which is why we are so happy to have him back, fit or not.
Knowing that Vaughen will be playing this way, are you now surprised, Mani, that Inzy goes in at 4?

Mani caught you there, Will. Well spotted. Of course we are following cricinfo too!

How do you decide when to update?

moe* is looking vulnerable against the yorker length balls.. he needs to reduce his extravagantly high bat lift..

*yousaf’s name change has deprived me of using my favourite nickname for him = yoyo.. so now moe will have to do..

inzi is doing ok so far. i just can’t get over his body language in the middle. he’s almost sleeping out there in the middle.. he’s certainly sleep walking as opposed to running his singles.. he gets over the line just in time for every single which results in the english fielders firing the ball in trying to get him off guard.. then again what am i going on about.. this is how inzi has been ever since he came on to the international scene and we don’t have anybody else who could step in to the captaincy position

In England last season, in the Minor Counties League, Wiltshire were captained by the magnificent galleon of a man called (honestly!) Russel Rowe. Not exactly fast on his feet.
The team made T-shirts, “I ran 3 with Rowe” which was a sort of gold medal. This occasion was so rare.

Do you have the same thing with Inzy?

our team made t-shirts that said: “i didn’t get run out playing with inzi”..
the t-shirts only see the light of day on 1st april

a narrow LBW call there!

Anyway, laugh!, according to stats, Boycs and S.Waugh were among the top 10 worst offenders for running partners out. Boycs seems strangely proud of the fact …??

read it early this morning, Will. Nice piece

Moe also nicked one down the legside there. Dropped by GoJo. Not easy to take but tough on Bell.

IMHO good umpirng today. Bell might get a wicket sooner or later, preferably sooner.

Kids calling for breakfast now. Back soon.

inzi is getting across his stumps to the offside too early and making himself a candidate for lbw if hoggy fires one in with a bit of reverse.
i would like inzi to hold his ground and not get across so far and fall over when the ball cuts back
then again all pak fans want dish out advice as if they’re bradman.. sorry can’t help myself

i have to say i am impressed by waqar’s commentary on the telly.. when he first came on to the scene he could hardly speak a word of english.. ramiz raja is not good at all .. he just repeats what the other commentator is saying..

moe has some nerve to hit the last ball before tea for a six! would have looked like a complete looney if he had mishit it for a catch

Just got back from shopping, Mani. What happened with Moe? I see Afridi is playing his normal game.

watching afridi play is a recipe for heart attack for a pakfan..
i love his sixes in one dayers but here when he goes for a six with all fielders on the boundary.. my heart skips a beat
can’t even enjoy the shots he does get over the boundary..

afridi is hitting some monster sixes..
i don’t think he got the memo… this is a test match afridi!

Hello gentleman - it’s fair to say that was our day once again, so one more day of gloating for me!

Afridi totally rocks, along with Inzi, he was to be my favorite player in the team. I’m still outraged he was dropped in the first test, this is a man who had previous to this test scored 400+ plus runs in this year, at an average of 40+, just how he got dropped was totally beyond me. Thank God they found their brains back and he’s playing this one.

We’ll get 400 for all money, and pretty quickly too I reckon, and if we really, really play well, then may be 500.

BTW it turned out Youhanna getting out at that point was actually good for us, but why did Simon Taufel reffer that to the third umpire?

So now we are in Faislabad
many 4s and 6s are being had
Afridi went beserk
inzy was captain kirk
For England events were very sad.

Where was I? I was watching the match, although I wasn’t at home, so couldn’t use the internet.

You’re right Afridi did look a bit vulnerable against the new ball, but the good thing is that very soon after the new ball was taken the day’s play ended, I’m sure over night and tomorrow morning Bob and Inzi will have had a good chat with him about what they expect him to do, with a few tips on how to deal with the swing (if Hoggard and co find more tomorrow) …so ideally, he should be better prepaired to deal with this situation tomorrow.

That shot you mention from Inzi, that was practically the only false shot he played all his innings , although my heart was in my mouth at that stage, I’d back him totally to not repeat such an attempt. It will be test for England if we put a big score on the board, not only KP and Flintoff, but all their batsman, because I expect Afridi and Flintoff to much way, way more affective then Giles and Udal were today.

I’d be happy with 400+ too, 500 will be a bit like a dream. Kamran Akmal can bat very well though, he looked in good touch on both occasions in Multan, although he did play a poor shot in the 1st innings. And Rana, he can bat as well, in fact, he hit a 100 this season for Sussex if I’m not wrong. I’d back these too to score a few runs, or at least hang around with Inzi/Afridi.

now that the match has ended i would like to get the opinion of english fans on the catch of ian bell. who saw the catch? On the slomo it clearly shows that the ball hit the ground and then ian regrabbed it and threw it up in the air to claim a catch. In my opinion he knew that he had grounded it but in the excitement of it all appealed for a proper catch and got his first wicket in test cricket. claiming a catch that has grounded is a very serious offense which has resulted in bans for some ppl. even his expression as he appealed suggested that he had grounded it. i don’t have a problem with the umpires. i don’t think they are biased in any way. i am talking about the honesty of fielders which is much more under scrutiny than batsmen who don’t walk when they are out. moreover, fielders who claim grounded catches can face bans as opposed to batsmen that don’t walk when there is a clear nick.

I don’t suppose this, and the series in India will be released on DVD? Anyone know?

I didn’t see the catch so can’t really comment. Except that my own experience tells me that on a very line ball catch, when everything happens quickly, the fielder may not necessarily think the ball has touched the ground even if it is has.
But I can understand your frustration if there is not seen to be consistency on rulings and the punishment of offences.
One way or another I’m happy to see Pakistan teaching England that there is still another lesson that they can learn from the Aussies. After victories they must limit their celebrations to two or three days of drinking - not two or three weeks!
It will be interesting to see if England can dig themselves out of this hole that is getting deeper by the day on this tour. Their recent history suggests they’ll find a way but once you get behind on the subcontinent…..

SpryCorpse, you summed up my view about the bell issue=”But I can understand your frustration if there is not seen to be consistency on rulings and the punishment of offences.”
That is my only concern. I have no problems with bad lbws, nicks that go to go keeper or slip that weren’t really nicked. the only problem i have is fielders claiming grounded catches because our player was accused of that and was punished harshly by the icc. at the time i was totally disgusted with the pk player even though his defense was that he “felt” he had held on to the ball long enough for it to be a catch. so i would really like some consistency from the icc. in bell’s defense all i can say is that this was his first wicket and it happened so quick that bell’s appeal came before he fully realised that he had grounded it and from there it was hard for him to stop appealing. in his position as this being his first wicket chance i wonder how many players would be honest but that is something that the icc needs to enforce.
anyway, from what i saw on the telly, the crowd couldn’t care less about the issue because it brought afidi to the crease. for a second i thought the crowd was getting delirious for moe’s 78 and then i realised all the cheer was for afridi walking in to bat.

Reminds me of when Geraint Jones started appealing for that runout in the Ashes. However, he realised that he may have disturbed the bails with his gloves and hastened to the umpire to inform him that he wasn’t sure. This was exactly how a player should be expected to behave in that type of circumstance.
Bell obviously didn’t react that way….

what’s happening? The receptio on my radio suddenly just disappeared and now I can only hear Radio France!

good morning! 400 looks very likely at the moment, the way those 6’s are flying!

It’s not often you see a batsman scoring as many sixes as fours in a decent innings!
Looks like the 400 should be easy from here. If the second half of the order can bat at all they’d be hoping for closer to 500. Particularly with Inzamam still there.

Well played, Inzy! His first Test century at Faisalabad, his 4th against England and his 23rd century overall, equalling Javed Miandad’s record. An excellent innings.

wraye, the english are going to find it very easy to bat on this surface. hopefully, we will see some fireworks from flintoff and pietersen
we are only at 362-5. one more wicket and england are into the pakistani walking wickets

Wraye, I’d reply en Francais if I could.
But I got the gist, I think.
And, as an Aussie, I can’t help feeling just a tad pleased that England are struggling (dans le merde) and the Aussies are walloping away under our friendly home conditions.
Mind you, I imagine that the likes of Trescothick and Vaughan are salivating at the prospects of having a bat on this track.

yay.. 400 up for pk.
lets get this up to 450

well, gents, have to go to work now. Catch up with you later

And the series hopes gone for England now?

you know it’s a good pitch when no9 tonks harmison for a straight six
make that 2 sixes.. another one as i was typing

Wraye actually the top order batting was always sensible. And as far as KP and Freddie are concerned, the only hope that Eng have in this match is that they play their normal game and *succeed* at that.

For anything less than a huge mountain of runs from Eng here would mean end of the road. Can’t hope to chase down much more than 100+ on this track.

I mean, limping?

you mean both the bowlers are limping? Shoaib I can understand, but ‘both’?

And yes..they(the top order) would have to graft for a while, atleast now. What I meant was that this match situation is a bit more desperate than last time when they should have played more cautiously till the advantage was sealed. Here actually they are already down…and its more of a gambling cause…otherwise its lost anyways. Thats what I feel.

you see what I mean? There goes Strauss

Wraye, yes I surely see now what you meant Poor shot by Eng. Sad, since they are capable of doing better.

Fletcher rightly said at the end of first test, its not the spinners he is worried about, its the wickets they’re losing to seamers.

tresco escaped a runout by the skin of his teeth..

the radio is bad enough, Mani :(

I knew it, I knew it.

and I bet Fletcher is going mad!

Hi Christopher, I think Mani and Worma must have TV. I’m listening to TMS on my little radio in the office.
Being an England fan has rarely been easy. Why do the boys always have to play the game the hard way?

Is there any internet radio feed of the match?

up to now, we haven’t found any free commentary.

Well, where would be the fun in easy victories? After following England through thick and mostly thin through the last fifteen years, I kind of miss the predictable capitulation. Now they have also given us the most agonising virtue - hope. Oh for the days when we knew the inevtable was coming! Now it just turns into a week or so of nervous tension.

only in the UK, they somehow block it going overseas. How do they do that?
In north Europe, you can pick up R4LW on a good radio, but they have just stopped coverage for the daily service.

Hi Elliott, nice to have you back! How was Hobart?

It was great. Pitting about the spot of rain we had. but it didn’t effect the resault
I had a good time.
How have you guys been?

oh God has there been a bomb or has the board just collapsed?

Well that was scary!!
i was worried about the two Australians out in the middle!

That’s a bit harsh. Every fast food outlet in every ground in the world has propane tanks for cooking purposes. They generally don’t explode and I don’t think they were high on the security checklist.

Maybe everyone should eat cold food at the cricket from now on? Strictly in the interests of security, of course.

a cylinder powering a soft drink dispenser blew up due to some short circuit.. and nobody was hurt according to the security ppl..
BUT even then.. why in the world do you have that anywhere near the boundary line..
so pissed off.. as if pk didn’t have a bad image problem already..
we didn’t need this panic..
i say remove all these pepsi dispensers etc.. anything that has any potential of creating a noise or going bang

hahaha! Thats good Caroline! You must be Australian ;)

Did u see Afridi the cheating little….
Just when he thought knowone was wathcing, did he forget about the 20 odd t.v cameras around the ground

pathetic move by afridi.. good that he was caught.. sick of all the bad play…
like harmy throwing at inzi when he was not trying to take a run
this stuff is just not cricket

Mani, I would say don’t panic - these things happen. But I’m afraid I can’t claim responsibility for ‘my’ last two posts. My husband snuck in whilst I was bathing the kids, and expressed his opinions. I would never be so opinionated in public!! He used to work in hospitality at a sports ground and so has some sympathy for the poor people trying to sell drinks, etc. And as for you Elliot . . . No I’m still English, but hubby takes any opportunity to refute his Englishness (he’s only been in Aust 35 years, after all . . .) and abuse the Barmy Army. Glad you were amused . . . I’m just going to beat him up . . .

What did Afridi do that was so naughty?

Afridi walked on the pitch, deliberately. And with spikes on, apparently. Hair went up and inspected the damage, called up Inzy and brought it to his attention. Probably 20% match fees gone for Afridi. Ahh well..he can make it up with MoM award, maybe?

that was really stupid on afridi’s part…
he’s going to get it too..
for doing something against the laws.. and just plain pathetic
nothing good would come out of it for pk..
just reflects badly on afridi
interruption in play for something serious like a bang.. is no time to make hay and walk down the middle of the pitch

seems like I missed half the fun by being forced to do some honest work here. That was really naughty of Afridi and really not necessary, seems like we’ll be heading for a draw if England can hold through tomorrow - not likely.
A contact with Aunty Beeb told me the canister was there to put the fizz in the Pepsi, that’s what went boom. Of course, they will play it down, apparently at least 2 people were injured.

harmison firing the ball at inzi and the umpires messing up the decision sets a very wrong precedent. this will only encourage the practice of firing the ball at batsmen who are well within their crease(and not trying to take a run) and could result in serious injury if a spinner fires one back to a batsman not wearing a helmet. it is totally against the spirit of cricket and the most unsporting way of getting your wickets. reflects very negatively on the bowler. in the ashes series i think jones hit haden with a throw.. but jones was very quick to apologise.
the afridi issue: he deserves punishment for sheer stupidity if nothing else