But in all fairness, Mohammed Aamer is only 17. He only got 15 but he faced 89 balls and got 2 boundaries. Not bad, really.
Credit must go also to Umar Akmal who, at the grand old age of 19, stood up to the Aussie bowlers pretty damn well. He got 51.
Despite this, and a few fielding mishaps, we cleaned them up for only 258. Johnson took 3, despite having really bad hair, and Bolly took 3. My Lord got smacked around a bit and Siddle seemed to get more and more frustrated as he went on - I think he probably wanted to beat Captain Kat with a mars bar after that not-quite-catch, which would have been the final wicket of the Pakistani's first innings.
So we went out to bat and Watson is giving that maiden test century another bash - he is currently on 64 not out. We did manage to lose 3 wickets before close of play (Captain Kat for 2, Punter for 12 and the Muss for 4) leaving us with 111 - 3 at close of play.
Notice Clarke didn't let them send out the God of Nightwatchmen Hauritz this time around ... he went out there with himself and is currently on 21.
The bad news of the day, apart from Mitchy's dodgy hair, is that Punter's elbow is still giving him gip. To quote him: "Had a lot of trouble with my arm today ... am having difficulty getting the full range of movement." Let's hope he gets that sorted by the 2nd test.
And let's hope Mitchy gets a haircut.
Or bowls badly and they hold him down and shave him.
6 thoughts on this post:
H-a-t-e to argue with you Sid, especially about My Lord, but surely if nightwatchmen were having a God, especially God-of-nightwatchmen-sent-in-before-Clarke, it'd have to be Gillespie. Don't get me wrong, great score, just, maybe, a demi-god, praps?
With you on the shaving Mitch, though.
Positives:
Bolly, good boy, he will take wickets with a beach ball, if it is new. Hilf might find it difficult to return.
Mitch, simple and effective, pleasant to watch... is this the real Mitchell Johnson now? :)
Shane, once more the man to do the job and brave the storm like a German oak. Ahem. :P
Misbah, who would have thought? Puts his hand up just in time.
Aamer, struggled with the ball first, batted superbly according to plan, admirable self-control, took crucial wickets. The problem is though, he is heaps expensive, and has produced 12 (twelve) no balls so far o.O
I think, at this price, he has to take more wickets really. But let's give him another 5 years. He will be sensational 22, and who knows what he will be able to pull off then :D
Meh:
Umar. Why? I like this guy heaps and it hurts when he kicks himself out. When the top order crumbled, much weight was on his young shoulders. But without Yousuf to tell him off after each over, he got overexcited once more and it was only a matter of Mitch when he would depart with a stupid shot.
Yes he was the senior player, had to guide a 17-year-old partner, had to provide the runs while Aamer defended, but he knows his problem, he gets carried away sometimes, and this time he got himself out when his team needed him most. But, he is the guy who has the potential to make a century on Aussie ground and I wish him so much he will stay calm and do it. His brother was unfortuntely no big help, and without the control of Misbah and watchfulness of Aamer and Saeed Ajmal Pakistan could have ended up in a really embarrassing situation.
It's gonna be a great 4th match day now with the Paksie quicks on fire.
We shall see. Maybe Oz even manage to implode before that. But in all honesty, I hope Danish will be back soon. I so wish for spinning wickets. Maybe Ajmal will get a couple more but in fact I would like to see Farhat :(
Nevertheless it is certainly more exciting than the dreary SA-Eng test, which has started to annoy me as fork :/
Wes, it was a pleasant interlude but Mitch will be back bowling dross soon enough. Won't stop him taking wickets though. Nothing stops him taking wickets short of his mum bitching in the press and then that only slows him down for a couple of matches.
I like Bolly in the team too. He is a dork, not quite at Watto's level, but he really fires the ball in and makes them play. I think it might be Sids or Hilf that are dicing for a spot if Bolly keeps on this way.
I like the way Pakistan let teenagers into their teams and them let them do what they want. Their U19 teams usually look so much more talented and mature than everyone elses.
Apart from India.
Punter's reflexes are going. They really are. Drops a sitter then gets out to his bread and butter shot. Says it all really. He also seemed to have trouble with MJ's hair. Punter has talked himself into the fantasy of being MJ's dad. Or maybe his mum. You could see with the way he tried to sort MJ's hair out.
MJ just stood there and let him like the 8 year old he is.
Their nightwatchman is better. Five wicket haul. In a test. Against Australia. In Australia. At 17. With such a face.
And as if this wasn't adorable enough, he was so nice to provide Shane with the last run needed for his goddarned century.
Also... is there anybody else in this world who makes you wish you were Shane Watson ? :D
I dare doubt it.
OK, maybe a demi-god to most people, but My Lord will always be a god to me.
Probably only me though.
Well to be honest, Aamer has been free to do anything that makes him happy, since the first time I saw him play. If he takes 20 wicket within 20 balls and thus kills Oz singlehandedly, then be it. Anything that makes him smile.
You may have found it impressive that he survived for 80 balls.
But.
The first time his batting talent stuck out to me was in Abu Dhabi in the short format games against the Kiwis, when I, supporting the NZers, completely lost it during his last wicket stand with Saeed Ajmal. NZ were leading by more than 100 runs when he came to the crease, the Paksies had suffered a phenomenal collapse, most of the audience had left in disappointment, and when the 9th wicket (Razzaq) had fallen, it was "only" the partnership of Ajmal and Aamer which stood between the NZers and victory, and the handy lead of about 100 runs should be more than enough to take one of the tailenders out, no?
How wrong can you be. Lil Mohammad had so much fun at the crease, he whacked it so delightfully that the Kiwis got more and more desperate and Millsy even copped a fine for an excessive appeal, which turned out to be unsuccessful and led to him using very inappropriate language...
Kindly, Saeed Ajmal threw his wicket away in the very last over and spared the Kiwis total humiliation. But the damage had been done, the entire Pakistani top order had got embarrassed by a little kid. Sometimes when the camera wanders around a bit you can see a shocked Umar Akmal or other speechless Pakistanis.
If you want to see the entire sweaty bowling elite of Kiwiland (The Bond God, Timmy Sunshine II, Kyle "Lips of Doom" Mills, Jake Oram, Vettori...) go absolutely desperate over a 17-year-old tailender, then check out the highlights of the match here, he comes to the crease in part VI.
Another thing that strengthened my bond to him was... I saw him vomit. But this is almost too personal to share *lol*
Btw don't worry about The Eternal Church Of Nathan! Only last night I praised his beautiful feet excessively :D
Also, he bowled Faisal Iqbal and will hopefully take some more wickets today, although I suspect that Mitch will not allow him to take the butter of his bread *lol*
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