Pakistan lose quick wickets after Ponting’s double

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: January 16, 2010

commentComment     Email This Post Email This Post     Printable version

Pakistan lose quick wickets after Ponting’s double thumbnail

Hobart: Australian captain Ricky Ponting scored his fifth double hundred in test cricket, and Peter Siddle, along with the Pakistan batsmen themselves, who threw two wickets away with disastrous run outs, set Australia on track for their record 12th straight win over Pakistan in the third and final test of the series.

Pakistan were in dire straits at stumps on Day 2 with the score reading 94 for 4 in reply to Australia’s 519 for 8 declared after Ponting and Clarke amassed a 352 runs stand for the fourth wicket.

Ponting’s 209 is now the highest test score at Hobart, overtaking Kumar Sangakarra’s 192 that he made a couple of years ago. Michael Clarke also notched up his highest test score scoring 166 and bettering his previous best of 151 against India that he made on his test debut.

The sixth highest Australian test partnership ever ended when Danish Kaneria castled the stumps of Michael Clarke. Ponting, meanwhile, continued to ride his luck. After being dropped on 0, he was once again dropped, this time by Farhat, when he was on 167. Ponting was finally dismissed by Aamer when the Australia captain spooned a catch to Mohammad Yousuf at extra cover. He scored 209 off 354 balls in an innings laced with 25 splendid boundaries.

As if having a humungous task of chasing down 519 was not enough, Pakistan were rocked by two needless run outs. Opener Salman Butt was involved in both of them as Mohammad Yousuf (7) and youngster Umar Akmal (8) were run out in a collapse that saw Pakistan slump to 21-4.

Yousuf went looking for a third run from a straight drive but was sent back late by Butt and was caught short by a typically-strong outfield throw by Mitchell Johnson. The Pakistani captain was furious, giving Butt a prolonged stare before leaving the field.

It was, however, Siddle, who started the rout for Australia. The Victorian (2-20 off 10 overs) took two wickets in four balls by having Farhat caught behind and Khurrum Manzoor edging to Ponting at second slip for a duck to trigger the collapse.

Match Summary:

Pakistan 4 for 94 (Farhat 38) trail Australia 8 for 519 dec (Ponting 209, Clarke 166) by 425 runs

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,


WPSN comments




Related News Headlines

Cricketain Latest