Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Pointing Gone and the day comes to an end

At the end of the day Aussies were at 161 for 2 . Bad light had stopped play after lunch between Pakistan and Australia in the first Test at Lord's after damp conditions delayed the toss.
Pakistan capitalised on the overcast conditions to make an early breakthrough with the wicket of Australian opener Shane Watson in the first Test at Lord's.
Watson was bowled off his pads when playing no shot to Mohammad Aamer, the 18-year-old Pakistan left-arm speedster who also had a close lbw appeal turned down against Simon Katich.
Australia reached lunch on 36 for one after captain Ricky Ponting survived a tricky period to reach the interval unbeaten on 14 with Katich 11 not out.
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi had won the toss and put Australia into bat under murky skies at Lord's after questionable light had forced a 90-minute delay.
The floodlights were not employed because second Test venue Headingley does not have them and Pakistan - the designated home team - wanted to ensure consistency across the series.
Aamer made the most of the conditions, moving the ball dangerously both ways to engineer the early breakthrough.
After beating Katich's outside edge, Aamer cut one back into the Australian left-hander and almost squeezed it between bat and pad onto the stumps.
Two balls later, Katich was fortunate to survive a strong lbw shout from Aamer after umpire Rudi Koertzen indicated - incorrectly according to television replays - - ruled that the ball had clipped an inside edge before thudding into his pad.
Watson had got off the mark with a glorious extra cover drive off Mohammad Asif but he was in all sorts of trouble against Aamer's vicious swing.
Aamer, bowling left-arm over, angled three deliveries across Watson before swinging one sharply back in to strike the pad as the Australian played no shot.
Watson survived that appeal because the ball was travelling over the stumps - but he made the same mistake on the very next delivery and was bowled for four.
Watson again shouldered arms and the ball nipped back to thud into his back pad for what would have been a certain lbw decision - umpire Koertzen's finger was already on the rise - had it not then gone on to hit the stumps.
Aamer had another lbw appeal turned down against Ponting before being replaced at the Pavilion End after his five-over spell yielded one for 13.
The two-match series is being played in England because of the security situation in Pakistan, and Lord's is hosting its first neutral Test since 1912.
The umpires were to undertake a further inspection at 11.15am.
The umpires confirmed that the toss was due to take place at 11.30am with play scheduled to begin at 12pm, weather permitting.
Teams
Australia: SR Watson, SM Katich, RT Ponting (Captain), MJ Clarke, MEK Hussey, MJ North, TD Paine(WK), SPD Smith, MG Johnson, BW Hilfenhaus, DE Bollinger

Pakistan: Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Umar Amin, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (Captain), Kamran Akmal (WK), Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif

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