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ScorecardThe New Zealanders sent out a warning ahead of the one-day series as Brendon McCullum’s 98-ball 123 led them to a handsome 95-run against Worcestershire.McCullum returned to keeping duties after his back problems at Trent Bridge and New Zealand were back in their comfort zone of limited-overs cricket. Not that McCullum’s game needs much adjusting between formats. He cracked 12 fours and three sixes, his century coming off 83 balls, as Worcestershire’s attack – minus the rested Simon Jones – struggled to contain the hitting.He added 101 in 15 overs for the first wicket with Jamie How and 142 with Ross Taylor, who made a 71-ball 75. Scott Styris, who has arrived to bolster the one-day squad, contributed a useful 36 off 27 balls, and the lower order all scored at a brisk rate, as the total moved past 350.Worcestershire almost managed to match the New Zealanders for scoring rate at the start of their innings, with Vikram Solanki and Steven Davies adding 98 in 18 overs. However, when Davies was run out after a mix-up with Solanki five wickets fell for 29, three of them to Styris who showed the value of his nagging medium pace.Solanki resisted the collapse, but it was now purely a task of damage limitation. He fell to Daniel Vettori for 80, lofting a full toss to long-on, before some free swinging from Kabir Ali and Steve Magoffin reduced the margin into double figures.New Zealand now travel to Old Trafford to prepare for the Twenty20 international on Friday, before the five-match ODI series begins at Chester-le-Street on Sunday.

New Milton’s Southern Electric Premier League, Division 3 promotion bid has received a severe setback. An unexpected eight-run defeat by 13th placed Leckford – on probably the club’s farewell appearance at the Ashley Sports Ground – has left Milton with a huge task in the final three weeks of the season if they are to grab the second promotion slot.Leaders Purbrook have taken a firm grip of the championship race after whipping Waterlooville by eight wickets at The Heath.The maximum 22-point win took them well clear of St Cross Symondians, whose visit to third-placed Hursley Park was one of seven Premier 3 matches to fall to the weather.Those two results mean that New Milton will have to win at Purbrook this Saturday – and beat Waterlooville and Hursley Park in their other games.Skipper Steve Watts blamed New Milton’s out-cricket as the prime reason for the defeat. "That’s probably as poorly as we’ve bowled and fielded for some time," he lamented.New Milton’s fielding stint had barely got under way before key all-rounder Iain Griffiths suffered a recurrence of a long standing back injury."He dived to stop the ball in the field and his back went," Watts explained. "It meant that Iain could neither bowl nor really bat, which effectively reduced us to ten men."Ben Neal (2-48) and Andy Snellgrove (2-48) achieved two early breakthroughs for New Milton, but left-hand opener Martyn Isherwood proved immovable for Leckford and produced a match-winning knock."Martyn dug in and batted very well in trying conditions," Watts added.Isherwood hit a match winning 90 and, with support from Andy Cattle (27), doubled the Leckford score at the crucial mid-innings stage. Eighth-wicket pair Simon Reeves and Steve Bolshow added a precious 25 before tea to take Leckford on to 198-8.Although Ryan Beck went cheaply to the economical Steve Hicks, New Milton got themselves in a good position at 55-1 through Steve Watts (25) and Richard Wilson (28), who both departed in quick succession.But Lee Beck, with his best innings of the season, kept New Milton’s victory bid alive."Lee batted superbly at a stage when we needed seven or eight runs an over," praised Watts.But when he perished – to a Reeves stumping off Nigel Marriott (4-53) – for a splendid 82, Milton’s prospects effectively ended."We needed 27 off about 21 balls at that stage and, with Iain (Griffiths) injured, it was game up," the New Milton skipper admitted. New Milton eventually finished eight runs short at 191-9.Purbrook, meanwhile, took a firm grip at the top, after reducing Waterlooville from a comfortable 56-0 (Chris Baumann 27) to 126 all out at The Heath.Left-armer Mark Stanley (4-29) triggered a top order collapse, Ville plunging to 67-5 and 84-7 after Purbrook had won a key toss.Seasoned off-spinner Kelvan Finch bowled a miserly 12-over spell in mid-innings – and was bowling when Ville’s Mick Hamson was bizarrely dismissed Handled the ball !Ville’s modest tally was never likely to test Purbrook, who romped to an eight-wicket win inside 32 overs, with South African Will Prozesky hitting 64 not out.The other seven Premier 3 matches were called off after the Friday afternoon storms.

Pakistan already beleaguered team suffered another blow when all-rounder Abdul Razzaq was ruled out for six weeks after his wrist X-ray revealed transverse fracture of left styloid.Razzaq was struck by a Brett Lee thunderbolt in Pakistan’s second innings when he ducked into a short-pitched delivery.On Friday wicket-keeper Rashid Latif was incapacitated by a hamstring injury which forced the team management to ask Taufiq Umer to don the gloves.Rashid came in to bat Saturday with a runner but lasted few balls and was out for a duck.It is also reported that even skipper Waqar Younis is not fully fit and was doubtful for the third and final Test.Whether he will be fully fit for the Test starting from Oct 19 is anybody’s guess considering the past experience of Pakistani players who are unfit one day and then declared by themselves or the team doctors unfit during the Test match.Although there has been no official confirmation of sending replacements but it is reported that the tour management had asked for Yousuf Youhana and might possibly also request for all-rounder Shahid Afridi to replace opener Imran Nazir and middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq as they were fully exposed in the two Tests despite ideal batting conditions.

Man has split the atom, landed on the moon and found the Titanic, but no team has ever scored 474 to win a Test match and the present West Indies team, with its glaring limitations, certainly wasn’t going to make history at Kensington Oval yesterday.Instead, history was written by New Zealand.They completed their first victory in 12 Tests in the Caribbean, since their first 30 years ago, sweeping aside their opponents for 269 to win the first Cable & Wireless Test by the resounding margin of 204 runs with 11 overs and a full day remaining.The last six West Indies wickets tumbled in familiar fashion for 65, three of them to the exciting Shane Bond, who generated pace over 90 miles an hour and whose overall return of five for 78 in his fifth Test was simply an indication of things to come.The relevant West Indies resistance came only at the top of the order and towards the end from a rampant Brian Lara when it hardly mattered.The outcome was neither flattering to New Zealand nor unjust to the West Indies.It was an utterly fair representation of the difference between the teams in purpose, intensity, all-round strength and sheer cricketing common sense and confirmed their respective ratings of third and sixth on the International Cricket Council Test championship table.As jubilant New Zealand supporters, who have flown in for the series, celebrated with their flags and their famous haka war dance in front of the team rooms, the few West Indians who stayed for the final rites were left to reflect on only the fourth defeat in 39 Tests on the ground.Although they, and everyone else, knew that it was an inevitable result, they had a right to expect more of a fight.They had watched in disbelief and disappointment as rank carelessness, unbecoming of a professional team of international repute, led to the first innings collapse to 107 that virtually determined the issue.Throughout the first session and 20 minutes into the second yesterday, there was gutsy resistance from openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds and then, for just over an hour, from Ramnaresh Sarwan that kept the anxious New Zealanders at bay.But then one of the several perceptive moves by captain Stephen Fleming and another of the thoughtless absurdities that continue to afflict this West Indies team changed the course of the innings.Daniel Vettori, the tall, bespectacled left-arm spinner, removed Hinds for 37 to a bat-pad catch at forward short-leg with his third ball, after a first-wicket stand of 63, and looked the likeliest wicket-taker on a worn pitch. But Fleming replaced him at the northern end with the pacy Bond on resumption.Bond had induced a limp hook shot that accounted for Sarwan first ball in the first innings and twice at the start of his innings Sarwan created a buzz around the ground by twice trying the shot against Ian Butler.The second went for four, after which Sarwan established himself in a partnership of 65 with Gayle. But the young Guyanese seems addicted to the hook and, as with most addictions, it once more proved his downfall.Bond is a few miles an hour quicker than Butler and Sarwan was in no position for the shot to a ball too close to him.The resulting catch spiralled to Vettori at mid-on, a replay of his first innings recklessness.Sarwan is a fine young player but, unless he overcomes the inexcusable indiscretions that have repeatedly brought his downfall, he won’t have the long and productive career indicated by his obvious talent.His dismissal provided an obvious charge for Bond and the New Zealanders who tenaciously went after their prize.Observing a fuller length than he managed before lunch, Bond bothered Gayle on the legs and, nine runs and six overs later, won umpire Rudy Koertzen’s clearcut agreement on an lbw appeal as he beat the tall left-hander for pace.Gayle had overcome an uncertain start to strike 12 certain boundaries from 131 balls in a stay that lasted 10 minutes short of three hours.The departure of the three young batsmen at the top of the order left the old hands to take on the New Zealanders.Only Lara made a fair fist of it and most of his 73 runs (119 balls, a six and 11 fours) came in a flurry of shots with the tailenders as his partners.Carl Hooper stayed with him for an hour-and-a-quarter, carefully adding 46, but he relaxed when Fleming brought back the wayward Daryl Tuffey.Tuffey is the least threatening of the three fast bowlers but induced one of those indiscretions from the captain that was once an annoying part of his game. It was an unnecessary cut to a wide, bouncing ball that found the top edge on its way to first slip.By tea, Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had pushed the total past 200 but they represented the last of the batting. After Vettori accounted for the latter with a clever piece of deception, the end was swift and only enlivened for the small crowd by Lara’s strokes.Fleming starved Chanderpaul of early runs by blocking his favoured areas with a short mid-wicket and a leg gully. But the solid left-hander has been full of confidence all season and skilfully used his feet to clip Vettori to the mid-wicket boundary.When he moved down the pitch next ball, Vettori sent it wider and straighter and Chanderpaul edged it low to first slip, a quality piece of bowling.Ridley Jacobs soon repeated the stroke that got him out in the first innings by topedging a pull against Vettori. Nathan Astle didn’t have to move an inch to collect the catch then. Now he ran back 20 yards and made a sensational, tumbling take with the ball coming over his shoulder.It was a signal for Lara to open up, launching Vettori for a straight six and, when the new ball was taken, attacking Butler and Bond.But Bond had the last laugh, breaching Lara’s defence the ball after two rasping off-side boundaries to disturb off and middle stumps.Butler took care of Darren Powell to a slip catch, Bond had Pedro Collins lbw and Merv Dillon put a full stop to the match by slicing his first ball to gully.

AGAINST Tests Won Lost Drawn Success%AUSTRALIA 3 0 3 0 0.00SRI LANKA 7 3 3 1 50.00WEST INDIES 5 2 1 2 60.00ENGLAND 5 1 2 2 40.00NEW ZEALAND 4 2 1 1 62.50BANGLADESH 3 3 0 0 100.00Total 27 11 10 6 51.85Individual performers in TestsBattingPlayer Inns NO 50s 100s HS Runs Ave Ct StInzamam-ul-Haq 42 2 9 9 329 2,472 61.80 16 0Yousuf Youhana 43 4 8 8 *204 2,133 54.69 27 0Rashid Latif 13 2 2 1 150 503 45.73 26 2Younis Khan 32 2 6 5 153 1,344 44.80 18 0Saeed Anwar 22 0 6 3 123 968 44.00 4 0Imran Nazir 7 0 0 2 131 294 42.00 1 0Taufeeq Umar 9 0 2 1 104 353 39.22 5 0Wasim Akram 23 4 3 1 100 628 33.05 8 0Shahid Afridi 14 1 3 1 107 426 32.77 4 0Abdul Razzaq 32 3 4 3 134 938 32.34 7 0Shadab Kabir 2 0 1 0 55 59 29.50 7 0Faisal Iqbal 8 1 2 0 63 201 28.71 3 0Saleem Elahi 9 0 1 0 72 253 28.11 1 0Humayun Farhat 2 0 0 0 28 54 27.00 0 0Mohammad Wasim 12 0 2 0 91 320 26.67 8 0Moin Khan 24 1 3 0 70 583 25.35 31 7Imran Farhat 5 0 1 0 63 115 23.00 4 0Ijaz Ahmed 11 0 1 1 115 252 22.91 4 0Azhar Mahmood 11 0 0 0 39 213 19.36 3 0Saqlain Mushtaq 27 6 0 1 *101 406 19.33 5 0Misbah-ul-Haq 2 0 0 0 28 38 19.00 0 0Shoaib Malik 2 0 0 0 21 34 17.00 1 0Naved Ashraf 2 0 0 0 27 32 16.00 0 0Atiq-Uz-Zaman 2 0 0 0 25 26 13.00 5 0Aamer Sohail 4 0 0 0 24 46 11.50 2 0Waqar Younis 31 4 0 0 39 306 11.33 10 0Shoaib Akhtar 18 5 0 0 37 142 10.92 2 0Naved Latif 2 0 0 0 20 20 10.00 0 0Wajahatullah Wasti 5 0 0 0 17 38 7.60 2 0Danish Kaneria 8 5 0 0 *8 19 6.33 3 0Mohammad Akram 6 3 0 0 *10 16 5.33 0 0Arshad Khan 4 1 0 0 *9 16 5.33 0 0Mushtaq Ahmed 9 3 0 0 19 31 5.17 3 0Irfan Fazil 2 1 0 0 3 4 4.00 2 0Qaiser Abbas 1 0 0 0 2 2 2.00 0 0Fazl-e-Akbar 3 2 0 0 *0 0 – 0 0Mohammad Sami 3 2 0 0 *0 0 – 0 0BowlingPlayer O M R W 5wI 10wM Best AveAamer Sohail 42.2 9 99 5 0 0 2/20 19.80Danish Kaneria 292.4 69 814 38 4 1 7/77 21.42Waqar Younis 639 109 2074 78 1 0 6/55 26.59Shoaib Akhtar 295.3 52 1091 41 3 0 6/11 26.61Saqlain Mushtaq 869.1 232 1953 72 4 0 8/164 27.13Arshad Khan 242 69 528 19 0 0 4/62 27.79Mohammad Sami 133.3 26 380 13 1 0 5/36 29.23Azhar Mahmood 129.5 27 398 13 0 0 4/50 30.62Abdul Razzaq 515 105 1427 44 0 0 4/24 32.43Irfan Fazil 8 0 65 2 0 0 1/30 32.50Fazl-e-Akbar 66.2 12 198 6 0 0 3/85 33.00Shahid Afridi 110.1 18 334 10 0 0 3/50 33.40Wasim Akram 471.5 115 1205 36 3 1 6/61 33.47Shoaib Malik 20.1 3 81 2 0 0 2/18 40.50Mohammad Akram 74 5 337 7 1 0 5/138 48.14Mushtaq Ahmed 279 41 963 14 0 0 3/91 68.79Younis Khan 33 7 115 1 0 0 1/47 115.00Ijaz Ahmed 2 0 8 0 0 0 – -Yousuf Youhana 1 0 3 0 0 0 – -Wajahatullah Wasti 2 2 0 0 0 0 – -Qaiser Abbas 16 3 35 0 0 0 – -Faisal Iqbal 1 0 7 0 0 0 – -Taufeeq Umar 2 0 6 0 0 0 – –

Glamorgan Cricket today confirmed that Australian quick bowler Michael Kasprowicz has been signed to play for the county for the 2002 season on a one-year contract.Kasprowicz, 30, has played in 17 Test matches and 16 One-Day Internationals for Australia and will be available for the county for the whole season. He is currently playing for Queensland in the Pura Milk Cup Final.Glamorgan Captain Steve James said: "We’re delighted to have recruited a player of Michael’s quality and we look forward to him joining up with us in mid-April. He has been a consistently solid performer in first class cricket, both in Australia, where he is again amongst the leading wicket takers this season, and also in county cricket, when he played for Essex and Leicestershire.”It was important to us that he was available for the whole season and the fact that he has a good track record in terms of fitness and can also bat effectively as well is a bonus. Like David Hemp, our other main signing this winter, I think he’ll prove to be an excellent acquisition and I’m very happy to be welcoming him on board.”Glamorgan Chief Executive Mike Fatkin said: “Naturally we’re pleased to be able to confirm our overseas player for the summer. There has been a great deal of speculation over the past couple of months and we seem to have been linked with any number of potential signings but having decided on Michael the details were sorted out pretty quickly.”It’s proving difficult for a number of counties now that there is so much cricket taking place that clashes with our domestic season, one of the reasons why it’s taken until now to confirm everything. It’s good to know that his Queensland team mate Jimmy Maher, who played for us last year, gave the Club such a glowing reference and I know Michael is anticipating an enjoyable and successful season with Glamorgan.”The Glamorgan players are due to travel to Cape Town for their pre-season practice next Thursday, March 28th, returning on 12th April. Their first match is against Derbyshire at Sophia Gardens on 19th April.

The Glamorgan Dragons opened their Norwich Union League season with a welldeserved 20 run victory against the Durham Dynamos at Sophia Gardens.Such a result though had seemed unlikely in the first hour of the game as Glamorgan slumped to 49-5. But an attractive 58 run partnership between Mike Powell and Mark Wallace restored the Welsh county`s fortunes, and by the end of their 45 over allocation, they had reached a more respectable total of161-8.In reply, the Durham batsmen never got into their stride as Mike Kasprowicz had a dream debut in the Dragons colours, with the Australian taking three wickets in a fiery spell with the new ball.With Andrew Davies in miserly form at the other end, Durham stuttered to 27-3 in the opening 12 overs – a start from which they never recovered.Spinners Robert Croft and Dean Cosker further contained the Durham batsmen,and a measure of their control over the visitors was that the two spinners onlyconceded three boundaries during their 18 over spell.Andy Pratt, the Durham wicket-keeper, made a belated bid to up the tempo, buthe fell to Andrew Davies who returned to pick up two wickets in a disciplinedcomeback spell which helped to settle the game in the Dragons favour.

Sheikhupura, the winners of all their Pool B matches, have to face the tough challenge by Rawalpindi, as the two teams meet in the first semi-final of the One-day tournament (Associations), at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. Rawalpindi finished the preliminary round as the second best team in Pool A. Karachi Whites, the winners of this Pool will clash with Karachi Blues in the second semi, to be played at National Stadium, Karachi.Led by Test veteran Aaqib Javed, Sheikhupura have given an impressive performance in all their Pool matches, beating formidable opponents like Lahore and Karachi Blues by considerable margins.Although Sheikhupura has performed like a well-knit unit, their victories haven’t been devoid of some eye-catching individual performances. Imran Nazir has easily been the pick of their batsmen, scoring 294 runs off 188 balls in three matches played. After missing out the first two matches of the competition, the stylish right-hander started his campaign with a magnificent 148 off only 110 balls against Karachi Blues. He followed this up by a magnificent 102 off 63 balls against Sargodha and then went on to impose a 15-ball blitz of 44 on Lahore Blues in the last encounter.Qaiser Abbas is another name that Rawalpindi will have to look out for. The left-handed all-rounder has been quite impressive with both bat and ball, scoring 141 runs, with the help of two fifties, and taking 9 wickets in five matches.Rawalpindi, on the other hand, enjoy an 80% success rate in Pool A, where they were pitted against the likes of Karachi Whites and Lahore Whites. They have the likes of experienced Naved Ashraf along with all-rounders Naeem Akhtar and Yasir Arafat in their ranks.The second match of the knockout stage is between the two teams hailing from Karachi, i.e., Whites and Blues.Karachi Blues, who earned the semi-final berth after surpassing Faisalabad and Gujranwala on net run rate, boast of some very talented players in their side. Tariq Haroon, the opening batsmen, has already showed his class with two hundreds against his name. Skipper Mansoor Khan has been quite an inspiration for the side with both bat and ball. After scoring two fifties in the first two matches, he showed his bowling prowess by taking four wickets against Sargodha in the last Pool match.Karachi Whites certainly look a lot stronger than their opponents, with Shahid Afridi, Hasan Raza and Saeed Bin Nasir all in excellent form. Moreover, they have turned out to be the only side to have beaten a hitherto unconquerable Rawalpindi in the last Pool match. And that wasn’t a modest win by any standards.After hammering 322 for 6 in 50 overs, which contained a superb 115 by Hasan Raza and a 28-ball 64 by the belligerent Afridi, Karachi Whites restricted Rawalpindi to 234 for 7 in their allotted overs, thus, winning the match by 88 runs.The semi-finals, thus, promise a lot of thrill and excitement for cricket fans. Weather permits, there are chances of enough crowd presence in the two matches, which would decide the finalists of the tournament.

A couple of months ago in New Zealand, Pakistan Cricket touched rock bottom. Captained by Moin, Pakistan was defeated in the ODI’s 3-2. More, plagued by injuries, the stand-in captain Inzamam was desperately short of resources and Pakistan went down in the Hamilton Test. The margin of ODI series loss does not look nearly as decisive as in fact, it was.Then first signs after some years of undisputed unpredictability, Pakistan might be less unpredictable, came at Sharjah. In fact, after having seen the toughs and roughs, after having been subjected to player power, marred by many in-house intrigues, the PCB at last began rebuilding a team that might satisfy Pakistan’s exacting demands. With four straight wins at Sharjah, the expectant fans in the country dreamt about a climb to pre-eminence. Not to be! Unfortunately, hopes were dashed as a rather young side sweltering under pressure presented the title to Sri Lanka, seemingly without a fight.

For the England tour, the selectors were adamant on finding a young, enthusiastic and talented team, or so they claimed. They first chose Waqar Younis as the captain. Whether selected, or chosen by the cricketing hierarchy was a question that erupted immediately after Moin was neglected for the Sharjah tournament. In retrospect, there was no one else to be chosen from and presumably Waqar became a compulsive choice as Inzamam decided to stay away for reasons best known to him.Obviously, having been a top performer he was offered the captaincy on his return from New Zealand but as expected he refrained. One can guess this probably was to allow himself another couple of years at the cricketing helm without being targeted from left right and center. However, as it is, Waqar has taken the team to England following the humiliating defeats and escapes suffered in New Zealand and to some extent at Sharjah. Waqar’s is a difficult assignment. His has the task of blending what remains of the old Pakistan XI with a large bunch of youngsters. In Saeed Anwar, Yousaf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed he has the nucleus of experienced players. However, some like Saeed, Wasim and Mushtaq are far from what they have been in the yesteryears.In trying to understand how Pakistan won four matches in succession at Sharjah, it is well to know something of the approach developed under Waqar and very likely to be retained and strengthened in England. This is one view – maybe utterly optimistic. Waqar’s philosophy, first and above all, is not to look on cricket matches as a cutthroat business where anything goes. His guiding principle has been to give pleasure, to find it, and bring this about by playing fine cricket, always with the intention of taking every match to a definite result. He accepts personal success with the team, only if achieved through winning the match. A batsman dithers around thinking only of his own aggregate and not of the team’s position will receive short shrift.

Yousuf and Inzamam, without fail, always set the example that the only batting that matters is that which either prepares the way for others or gets along with the business at hand. Waqar has been insisting persistently that on England tours, winning on big occasions cannot be done unless periods of intensive training were taken and even some enjoyment in-between.Recently it’s interesting that Pakistan teams have toured with no set rules or regulations. A man who preferred to stay up late might do so, if it so suited him. If he preferred to take breakfast in bed, then that was his affair. It was equally his affair to be in good shape when he arrived on the ground and able to stay the hardest course. The Pakistanis did last the course and pulled out that little bit extra when the going was hardest. Equally, they shared whatever benefits accrued to individual members of the team. It was true that the rewards from player prizes or individual performances all went into the pool.On one tour a young player got into the habit of keeping a young thing out a little late at night. Came a morning when the captain rang up the cricketer and asked him to come and see him in his hotel room. Fearing the worst, the cricketer kept his appointment. Captain, far from handing out a reprimand, wanted only to express his thanks to him for being able to attend the practice sessions wholeheartedly, despite his late night frivolities. He was requested to host a dinner that the whole team attended.Now things are not the same. With Yawar Saeed as the Manager and Waqar, obviously showing a rapid change after becoming the captain, most of the players, even the seniors have been asked to follow the code of conduct religiously. This has certainly pained few of those who have seen the earlier times. The man with the responsibility obviously needs to view things his own way and requires to stick to what suits him. Waqar is a wonderful bloke, who believes in his abilities and to some extent spreads his contagious habit of helping others.Yawar obviously has his own style too and is presumably a rare breed. He has no detractors, no enemies and everyone known to him always praises his goodnessisn’t that amazing? Either he is a supernatural human or believes in outright diplomacy, that’s what makes him a popular manager. Whether he is a diplomat or whatever, fact is, he has a tendency of keeping everyone happy and amazingly he has never been caught on the wrong foot. Is he a right choice for a difficult tour? With his style, one can only say yes, may be and may be not?The choice of the Lord’s team was horrifying. Knowing the limitations of his pacers, Waqar still went in without a spinner. First, playing a Test with four bowlers is normally considered wise and reducing one batsman meant that he had taken a big risk. Considering the fragility of Pakistan’s batting, which it is, and with Rashid Latif coming back after three year lapse, practically, Waqar has gone in with five specialist batsmen. And if it comes to analysis, we must know that Saleem Elahi and Saeed Anwar are suspect outside the off stump.

Furthermore, Yousuf Youhana has lost his recent form and his habit of squaring on and playing late might see him guessing outside the line. As it happened, Younis Khan got in and Faisal Iqbal with far better technique for England was kept out. Without doubt, Younis is a performer and Faisal a starter but the truth is, that either Mohammad Wasim or Faisal would have been a better choice considering the deficiencies in Younis’ method under seaming and swinging conditions. Younis crouches a bit, gets on either feet, and often plays away from his body – this can cost Pakistan much more than what is being anticipated.Disheartening it was to note the body language of the Pakistan fielders. Having put England into bat, instead of charging and showing sustained aggression, the bowlers seemed sluggish and no support or cheers from behind the wicket was offered to them from rest of the team. After having seen his decision backfiring, Waqar had little or no clue about what to do next. Something was missing – there was no feeling of cohesion and the ground fielding obviously left much to be desired.One can envision an amusing scene: in a somber mood, continuously inhaling and exhaling cigarette smoke, Yawar must be cogitating in his own definite method: `all is well that ends well; all is well that is not going to end well and all is well that doesn’t end well’.

ScorecardMark Davies was miserly and menacing, with 5 for 27 off 18 overs•Getty Images

Can history repeat itself? Derbyshire are left hoping that it will after Mark Davies collected his first five-wicket bag of the season to given Kent a clear but certainly not decisive advantage at the halfway stage of this crucial contest between two promotion contenders.A month ago, in the reverse fixture, Derbyshire managed to come from a long way behind to secure a thrilling two-wicket victory that kept them top of the second division table and prevented Kent from moving to the head of affairs.Now, with just one more round of fixtures remaining, the stakes are higher still. And it may take an equally spectacular fightback to deny Kent, who were wonderfully served today by the impressive Davies.Released from his contract by Durham, shortly before the season began, the 31-year-old opening bowler has been a model of consistency all campaign. Spell after spell has ended with him conceding fewer than two runs an over and that relentless pressure must have helped Charlie Shreck, his new-ball partner, to prosper. But while Shreck has more than 50 Championship wickets in the bank, Davies had to settle for slimmer picking – until today.Having totalled 261 – a competitive but not commanding first-innings total on a pitch providing a good contest between bat and ball – Kent knew they had to bowl with great discipline when Derbyshire resumed on 32 for 1. And there are few better bowlers than Davies for that sort of job.Despite having his career plagued by injuries, he has captured the thick end of 300 first-class wickets at a cost of little more than 22 runs apiece and with an economy rate of around 2.5 an over. No wonder England seriously considered him three years ago – and little surprise that he put the squeeze on Derbyshire here.Shreck did not give much away. He was almost generous, though, compared to Davies who began the second day with six consecutive maidens – one of them the wicketed variety. Wes Durston, trying to knock the bowler off his length, went for a lofted drive over mid-on but succeeded only in skying a catch to mid-off where the back-pedalling Alex Blake did well to hang on.In all, the first hour produced 18 runs from 16 overs and, well though Wayne Madsen, the Derbyshire captain, was playing, Kent had applied a suffocating hold from which they did not escape until it was almost too late.Vitally, the leaders lost five wickets for 23 runs either side of lunch. And, deservedly, three of them went to Davies, in the space of 11 deliveries. The most significant victim was Madsen, who chopped on for 64 while looking to fashion a cut.Davies finished with 5 for 27 from 18 overs, figures which will no doubt have at least some Durham supporters wondering whether a good ‘un has been allowed to get away too soon.But while Davies had done more than his bit, Derbyshire were not ready to roll over. They have shown their fighting qualities all season, not just against Kent a month ago, and here they managed to turn 112 for 7 into 200 all out, earning a precious batting point in the process.Kent helped a bit, mind. Rob Key dropped a relatively straightforward catch at first slip when Tom Poynton had scored 6 – and the wicketkeeper, who posted his maiden first-class century, against Northants a fortnight ago, went on to contribute 45.The generosity did not end there, either. Tim Groenewald converted 2 into 22 after Adam Riley had grassed a lower, more difficult opportunity in the slip cordon with both chances being missed off the bowling of medium-pacer Darren Stevens.Kent had a first-innings lead of 61, but even that began to look a little shaky as three wickets in the last five or so overs of the day allowed Derbyshire to leave the field with a spring in their step.The ball is turning for Wes Durston, who bowled Key behind his legs and ‘gated’ the nightwatchman Davies, and for David Wainwright, who had Alex Blake caught behind off the final delivery. And the match itself could yet turn several more ways before it is done and dusted.