Younis Khan the Mighty

As the first Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan heads towards the end of day four, and edges towards a draw, new Pakistan captain, Younis Khan, can stand tall. He has saved the day for his side, having made an undefeated triple century – 306 and still counting. Pakistan have already batted for 40 overs more than Sri Lanka, but are still 78 runs short of Sri Lanka’s mammoth 7/644. But who cares? Not Younis Khan for one – it would be a great relief for the match to be safe after chasing leather for two days.

This match concludes tomorrow but before it ends, Australia and South Africa will be underway, closely followed by the 4th Test between the West Indies and England.

Just another day in paradise

It’s cricket galore at the moment and it’s records galore as well. For starters, Sri Lanka has the record for the bravest cricket team. That’s an unofficial dongles award. The first Test match on Pakistani soil for 14 months is underway and Sri Lanka is the visiting team and I think that deserves some mention.

In the interests of taking one’s opportunities, the groundsman has assisted the PCB in maximising the length of the match by preparing the batsmen’s paradise at the National Stadium in Karachi. This has helped the records to flow as Sri Lanka declared at 7/644. The intrepid Jayawardene (240) and Samaraweera (231) shared a partnership of 437. Not quite Barnes and Bradman (234 apiece) but close – and higher.

What is it with the Sri Lankans and huge partnerships? They seem to have had more than their fair share. In the history of Test cricket, there have been just 14 partnerships of 400 or more. Sri Lankan pairs hold the top two, by a very long way. To put that even more into context, Sri Lanka have been playing test cricket for not much more than 5 minutes and in the past 12 years, there have been seven partnerships of 400 plus and four of those are credited to Sri Lanka. Jayawardene and Sangakkara have both participated in two of those efforts – the only two batsmen, aside from Bradman, to have featured in two partnerships of over 400 runs.

In the Caribbean, a resurgent England wasn’t quite able to overcome an allegedly resurgent West Indies, for whom the wheels didn’t quite fall off. In the third Test (really the 2nd), England fell just one miserable wicket short of squaring the series. The last wicket pair for the Windies held out for the final ten overs. At any rate, it was a far better showing for England, with Andrew Strauss setting the tone with a magnificent captain’s knock of 169. My reference to “2nd Test” was that the official 2nd Test was called off after a few overs. It’s old news now, I know but I had to say something. Only in the West Indies. We’ve had a match called off in the past because of a dangerous pitch. And now it seems Vic Richard’s very own ground has been built on an enormous sand pit. Stay tuned for the next instalment, starting this Thursday.

Also kicking of this Thursday is the much awaited return Test series between Australia and South Africa. The warm up match concluded overnight with Marcus North pressing for a Test spot. He made a brace of fifties and took 6-69 in the second innings. While I don’t see him as a world beater, he must be a better proposition then McDonald as a Test number six. I mean, his first class batting average is comfortably above 40 (44.4). For that matter, his bowling average is also over 40 but number six MUST be a batsman. If McDonald is in the team only to boost the Victorian quota, please know this selectors: North may play for Western Australia but he was born in Victoria.

And in case anyone cares, please note that Victoria lost its third straight domestic limited overs (50) final last night. The Bulls polished them off, winning by 10 runs or something (I can’t be bothered checking).

And one final thing: Steve Bucknor will be retiring from umpiring. Three cheers. His final Test match will be the third Test in the South Africa v Australia series (thank heavens that challenges will be used in that series). He will finish is career with a couple of one dayers in Barbados. He was a character and a good umpire in his day but unfortunately his day is long passed.