Pakistan vs Australia – Pakistan seamers tear Australia apart
Published:Pakistan’s bowlers ripped through the Australian batting order to leave Ricky Ponting’s men reeling on 73 for 6 at lunch on the first day of the second Test at Headingley.
Seamers Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul took two wickets each, while there was a wicket apiece for Mohammad Aamer and Umar Amin.
The Headingley pitch is notoriously receptive to seam bowling, but when Ponting won the toss and decided to bat, he could not have dreamt of such a dramatic batting collapse.
Compiling a big innings on this pitch is proving to be a difficult task, and Pakistan’s best source of runs could be the explosive Umar Akmal, who is 4/1 to be their top runscorer.
In his first match as Pakistan captain following Shahid Afridi’s shock resignation, Salman Butt will be buoyed by his side’s first session, and he is 11/4 to top-score for Pakistan in this Test.
Marcus North was the top-scoring Australian at lunch with a modest 16, while only two of his team-mates managed to reach double figures before the break.
Aamer sparked the Australians’ downfall when he trapped the opening batsman Simon Katich lbw with just 20 runs on the board. Shane Watson followed almost immediately, falling by the same manner to Asif.
Vice captain Michael Clarke fared no better as he was clean bowled by Gul with the score on 27, while the skipper Ponting joined him in the pavilion, out lbw to Asif.
Who will make Pakistan’s advantage count? Big-hitting wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal is 9/1 to be their top-scoring batsman. See the full Pakistan vs Australia market.
