|
|
| November 1, 2005 | Tuesday | Ramzan 27, 1426 |
Trescothick spares England’s blushes with a century
RAWALPINDI, Oct 31: Marcus Trescothick stuck to his crease all day to score an unbeaten century saving his Ashes-winning England side blushes on the first day of three-day warm-up against a Pakistan Cricket Board’s Patron’s XI on Monday.
The England vice-captain’s patient 209-ball innings of 124 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium lifted the tourists to a respectable 256-9 by the close after they had looked doomed at 61 for six at lunch.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first on a slow wicket with low bounce, the touring side’s warm-up before this month’s first Test appeared in disarray as they lost five wickets in a space of only 19 runs.
Trescothick’s opening partner Andrew Strauss offered no stroke to paceman Najaf Shah while the local lad’s inswinger rapped Michael Vaughan on the pads after the captain had scored just nine.
Another Rawalpindi paceman Yasir Arafat, who along with Najaf had the major haul of wickets, clean bowled all of his four victims — Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, wicket-keeper Geraint Jones and Matt Prior.
Surprisingly, the Patron’s XI management took both Najaf and Yasir Arafat, the chief wreckers, off attack after lunch that allowed Trescothick and Prior to salvage the innings in a 117-run ninth wicket stand.
Prior, the right-handed Sussex batsman and reserve wicket-keeper, batted confidently to reach his 50 off 61 deliveries, his innings featuring eight boundaries. But shortly afterwards he played a Yasir Arafat delivery down the wrong line that ended what was indeed a fruitful partnership for the tourists.
Trescothick batted on till the last ball of the day and when he trudged back along with Alex Loudon who was three not out, he had struck 15 fours and two sixes in marathon 330 minutes in the middle.
“I am just very happy to do well. I just wanted to get in and spend as much time at the crease, which was the main objective today — just be there for a long period of time,” said Trescothick.
“The ball nipped back a little bit and the guy (Arafat) who got wickets, bowled wicket to wicket. He just got the ball to seam a little bit both ways mainly back in, though he bowled pretty well and troubled the guys a lot.”
The talented Arafat bowled 17 overs with five maiden and conceded only 45 runs for his four scalps while Najaf picked up 3-58 in his 18 of which six were maiden.
While both sides have agreed to bat and field with 11 players each, they can try out their bowling resources outside those 11.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND (1st Innings):
M.E. Trescothick not out 124
A.J. Strauss b Najaf 5
M.P. Vaughan lbw b Najaf 9
K.P. Pietersen c Asim b Yasir Ali 2
P.D. Collingwood b Yasir Arafat 0
I.R. Bell b Yasir Arafat 2
G.O. Jones b Yasir Arafat 4
A.F. Giles lbw b Imran 30
S.D. Udal c Ashar b Najaf 14
M.J. Prior b Yasir Arafat 50
A.G.R. Loudon not out 3
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-3, NB-6) 13
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 74 overs) 256
FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-41, 3-53, 4-54, 5-56, 6-60, 7-98, 8-130, 9-247.
TO BAT: L.E. Plunkett, M.J. Hoggard, J.M. Anderson.
BOWLING (to-date): Najaf Shah 18-6-58-3 (1w); Mohammad Irshad 17-0-64-0 (6nb); Yasir Arafat 17-5-45-4; (1w); Yasir Ali 4-2-2-1 (1w); Imran Tahir 12-2-44-1; Tahir Khan 6-0-39-0.
PATRON’S XI: Ashar Zaidi, Yasir Hameed, Bazid Khan, Misbahul Haq, Asim Kamal, Faisal Iqbal, Zulqarnain Haider, Yasir Arafat, Imran Tahir, Mohammad Irshad, Yasir Ali.
UMPIRES: Z.I. Pasha and Riazuddin.
NOTE: 14 players per side (11 bat, 11 field).
|
|
