Pakistan forge ahead

After a wobbly first day for Pakistan, their bowlers finally found form and managed to bowl out Northamptonshire for 140 having declared earlier in the day. At stumps, the Pakistanis are well positioned: they require 136 runs with all ten wickets to spare. However, Northamptonshire’s seamer David Wigley was arguably the player of the day: he took five Pakistani wickets for just 77 runs.

The Pakistanis controlled play from early on, despite beginning the day at 97 for 3. Younis Kahn made his way to a half-century before he became Wigley’s first victim having been caught-and-bowled; Faisal Iqbal was trapped LBW by the same man for 17; and Younis Kahn declared Pakistan’s innings closed at a seemingly below-par 250 for nine wickets with small contributions from the lower-order.

Northamptonshire, 19 ahead when Stephen Peters, who hit 142 in the first innings, took guard and prepared to face the first ball, needed to score in excess of 250 to give themselves a realistic chance of beating Pakistan. However, Peters, having faced just a single delivery from Iftikhar Anjum, was adjudged LBW and an upper-order collapse ensued with only one of their top six batsmen braking into double-figures.

Unfortunately for the home side, the lower-order didn?t wield many runs either, Ben Philips, 39, was their only significant contributant. When Jason Brown fell to Arshad Kahn, Pakistan’s bowlers had performed a wonderful turnaround, leaving the visitors a gaping window of opportunity which their batsman must exploit in the final innings of the match.

Northamptonshire 269/3 declared
Stephen Peters 142, Usman Afzaal 71*
Samiullah Khan 2/35, Jannisar Khan 1/28

Pakistan 250/9 declared
Younis Khan 58, Kamran Akmal 38
David Wigley 5/77, Sourav Ganguly 1/19

Northamptonshire 140 all out
Ben Phillips 39, Charl Pietersen 20
Shahid Nazir 3/33, Imran Farhat 2/15

Pakistan 24/0
Salman Butt 15, Imran Farhat 9