Pakistan and Blues dominate ball
Pakistan XI vs Cricket Web Blue
at the PDV Dome
Bat thoroughly punished ball as Pakistan opened their tour of CWLand with a highly entertaining draw against Cricket Web Blue. The crowd was never short of a cheer as a total of 1338 runs were scored for the loss of 30 wickets in the 3-day affair.
Inzamam-ul-Haq called wrongly and his opposite number, Sean Fuller elected to bat first on a perfect strip. Cribb was removed early on by an Asif corker, but Pete Young proceeded to set straight the Pakistani bowling, which proved to be rather erroneous for the most part. The pitch gave no assistance to the bowlers, and punishment was harsh in totaling 375 all out over 76.2 overs. Young's 120 was the centrepiece, but quickfire half-centuries from Goff and Cloete did not go unnoticed.
In reply Pakistan were met with the raw pace and enthusiasm of Travis Demeza. He was to prove the key to the Blue attack, for whilst he leaked 92 runs in 13.2 overs, he also claimed 5 wickets. Pakistan's reply was limited to 366. Mohammad Yousuf (105) was the lone centurion for the visitors, but it was the innings of 96 by Shahid Afridi that truly stood out. Taking full advantage of the conditions and an inexperienced attack, Afridi faced just 62 balls, hitting 11 fours and 5 massive sixes, losing the ball thrice.
Entirely unwilling to diminish the festival atmosphere of the game, the Blues took the aggressive route too the second time around. Young added 78 to his match tally, and he and Goff got off to a flying start. Shoaib Akhtar then found some rhythm, taking 3 wickets early on day three.
At 151-5 then 218-6, the Blues looked indecisive. However, a most remarkable partnership was in the making. Sean Fuller and Alex Crampton played with chanceless ease en route to centuries. For Crampton it was a maiden ton, and the partnership of 188 unbroken established a total of 406-6 declared.
Set 416 runs to win in just over a session, Demeza removed Salman Butt first ball, but Mohammad Hafeez and Mohammad Yousuf struck 60s in a total of 191-4.
How out:
CW XI
PE Young – edged a tired offdrive behind / ditto
RGEWS Cribb – knocked over by a quick in-nipper / bowled by a sharp legcutter
MW DeSilva – top-edged hook shot to long leg / played over legbreak, attempting an on-drive
BJ Goff – lofted square drive, caught at backward point / pushed a slower ball back to bowler
AP Cloete – run out backing up too far / edged to second slip
SE Fuller – leading edge to midoff / not out
A Crampton – stumped off an arm ball / not out
MJC Currie – not out
MS Smith – leading edge to bowler / swing and a miss, bowled
RD Dunn – gloved a quick short ball
TJ Demeza – bowled by a low full toss
Pakistan XI
Imran Farhat – played on off a back foot defensive shot / beaten by a full inswinger
Salman Butt – beaten by a beautiful leg cutter / played on
Mohammad Hafeez – loose drive outside offstump / lofted to extra cover
Mohammad Yousuf – flicked ball low to square leg / not out
Inzamam-ul-Haq – guided ball straight to gully / not out
Shahid Afridi – caught at deep midwicket / mistimed loft, towering ball caught at cover
Kamran Akmal – top-edged sweep, caught at short fine leg
Shahid Nazir – gloved a quick short ball, popped up and caught by bowler
Shoaib Akhtar – edged defensive shot to third slip
Mohammad Asif – bowled by perfectly pitched arm ball
Danish Kaneria – not out