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| November 17, 2005 | Thursday | Shawwal 14, 1426 |
Inzamam hails triumph
MULTAN, Nov 16: Pakistan skipper Inzamamul Haq compared Wednesday’s first Test success over England to his team’s memorable recent victories over India.
“It is surely one of our best wins. It is nice to win against a team that has beaten Australia and won the Ashes and it can be compared to our wins over India in Lahore and Bangalore in recent times. It is memorable,” he said.
“It is nice to beat a strong team like England but this victory does not mean we have won the series. They are a very good team and they are still two games to go,” he cautioned.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy against them today but I knew (Danish) Kaneria would get turn because he has been really bowling well for the last year and has won us matches,” said Multan-born Inzamam.
Opener Salman Butt was named Man-of-the-Match for his scores of 74 and 122. “England are a good side but we were confident after working hard over the last 12 months. “I would love to carry this form into the next Test at Faisalabad starting on Sunday,” said Salman.
England’s stand-in skipper Marcus Trescothick, admitted that his team’s batting had failed on the final day.
“Coming into the final day I thought we would knock the runs off comfortably. I thought we would face a few problems here and there against the leg spinner on a last day pitch. But it is disappointing to lose after having played well for four days.
“We lacked application today and we should have occupied the crease and the runs would have come easily,” said Trescothick, who top-scored in the match with his first-innings 193.
“We needed one good partnership in the middle. But it didn’t happen. They bowled very well and Kaneria is a world class spinner.
“Kaneria broke the back of it really by taking a couple of quick wickets. The defeat is not going to knock us down. There are still two games to go and we can come back if we play like we have done since last year. Our team has character and we can always fall back on it.” —Agencies
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