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R Ashwin, who took three wickets for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final, said taking pace off the ball was the key to dismissing Chris Gayle in the first over of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chase

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2011R Ashwin, who took three wickets for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final, said taking pace off the ball was the key to dismissing Chris Gayle in the first over of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chase.”He [Gayle] has been batting really well this year and has been extremely selective in his strokes, which to me was the real difference,” Ashwin told the . “My plan was not to give him any pace as everybody knows what Gayle can do with it. Lack of pace meant that he had to use his feet and mind.”Gayle was the leading run-getter in this IPL and single-handedly transformed Bangalore’s fortunes in the tournament. But Ashwin, who had dismissed Gayle for eight in the first qualifier in Mumbai, said that he was always confident of getting him out. “You can’t plan against someone like Gayle. If you think too much about him, you can get defensive. I was confident that I can get him and I did.”I knew he won’t step out to me at all. I had in mind that at Wankhede he had pulled me for a six.The plan was made in Bangalore that I’d spin a few past him and then slip in an arm ball to get him out lbw or bowled. But on Saturday it spun and bounced and I think Gayle was a little late for his shot.”Ashwin, who was often used used by his Chennai captain MS Dhoni, to bowl with the new ball, admitted he “liked” bowling early on in the match. “I like bowling with a new ball. Secondly, I bowl in the nets with it as well. I just like the feel of it, the seam and lacquer helps it to skid off the wicket.”Ashwin ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker for Chennai with 20 wickets and said that having Dhoni as a wicketkeeper had helped his bowling. “I rely a lot on the bounce, therefore a good wicketkeeper is extremely crucial,” he said. “With Dhoni, the caught-behinds and stumpings have gone up many notches in my bowling. He understands the trajectory, the variation and the bounce that I get.”Chennai’s victory, however, was set up by their batsmen, with a 159-run opening stand between M Vijay and Michael Hussey propelling them towards a total of 205. Vijay, who was declared Man of the Match for his 95 off 52 balls, said that his focus had been to ensure he picked up as many singles as possible. “I was missing a lot of singles in the previous matches,” he said. “I was getting starts but not carrying on. So I worked consciously on running better, helping Hussey get the singles and rotating the strike.”Vijay said that the fact that Chennai had retained the nucleus of the side in the 2011 auction helped in the team’s success. “There are a lot of known faces around since Chennai retained four players and bought back the core group of the squad during the auction, ” Vijay told the . “Everyone knows what is expected and knows each others’ game well. It has helped that MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming have been working together for a while. The sense of familiarity has put players in a comfort zone and brings the best out of them.””There are a lot of quality players in this squad, those who have played Tests and ODIs for their countries. Since they are international stars they know what needs to be done to ensure that the winning momentum is carried forward from one game to another. “

Kevin Pietersen enlivened another day heavily disrupted by the weather at the Rose Bowl with a positive 85 as England moved into the lead on 195 for 4

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan18-Jun-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKevin Pietersen batted with great fluency on a rain-hit third day•Getty ImagesKevin Pietersen enlivened another heavily weather-disrupted day at the Rose Bowl with a positive 85 as England moved into the lead on 195 for 4. The hosts had quickly wrapped up Sri Lanka for 184, but their reply was a stop-start affair until the skies eventually cleared then Pietersen and Alastair Cook added 106 for the third wicket before Ian Bell added his own swift contribution.It was a day of huge frustration for a good crowd as frequent showers moved across the ground, especially during the afternoon session. Their good humour began to abate when the umpires called tea in bright sunshine only for another heavy shower to delay the resumption of the final session. However, the prospect of Pietersen was enough to keep many in their seats during the rain and they were rewarded as England played positively until the close.Pietersen had looked set for three figures – perhaps even before stumps – and the shot he played to edge Thisara Perera behind, which handed the bowler a notable maiden Test wicket, showed he wasn’t in the mood to hold back. There was a hint of width from Perera as Pietersen threw his hands into a drive and his disappointment was clear, but after a hard-working 72 at Lord’s this was a clear sign that his game is getting back to full working order.He had come in with England wobbling on 14 for 2 as Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowlers exploited conditions and was quickly into his stride with a straight drive that ricocheted off the stumps and beat mid-on. Further sweet drives followed and in the last over before lunch he made a statement by using his feet to Rangana Herath and drilling him through the covers.There was more than a hint of the old Pietersen swagger returning and even his defensive shots carried an air of authority about them. Strangely he wasn’t tested by left-arm spin again until the final half hour of the day by which time he was well past fifty, which had come from a swift 56 deliveries.Smart Stats

Chris Tremlett’s 6 for 48 is the third-best bowling performance by an English bowler in Tests against Sri Lanka. The best remains Phil Defreitas’ 7 for 70 at Lord’s in 1991

Sri Lanka’s 184 is their sixth total below 200 in the first innings in Tests since 2005. Their lowest in the same period remains 141 against England in Birmingham in 2006

The 106-run stand between Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook is the joint sixth-highest partnership for the third wicket for England in Tests against Sri Lanka

Since the beginning of 2009, this is Pietersen’s 12th half-century. He has two centuries in the same period and averages 43.63

Dilhara Fernando’s 39 is the third-highest score by a Sri Lankan No. 10 batsman in Tests against England. Chaminda Vaas holds the record with 50 at Lord’s in 2006

England’s intent to make up for lost time was clear and 126 runs came in the 31-overs up to the close. Bell played his part, as he has so often of late, with a breezy innings filled with his usual fine timing. Sri Lanka’s bowlers had begun reasonably impressively but struggled to maintain pressure as they have throughout the series while the fielding didn’t offer great support.Cook, meanwhile, picked up from where he’s been for the last two series with an innings studded with crisp boundaries. There was even a touch of flamboyance when he pulled a boundary on one leg, while he rarely missed an opportunity to drive or cut. His fifty came from 92 balls, equalling the English record of six consecutive Test fifties, and there was a stunned silence when he skewed an outside edge to gully where Thilan Samaraweera held the catch at the second attempt. Shortly after the wicket the successful bowler, Dilhara Fernando, limped out of the action although he briefly returned to the field later in the session.The contrast between Cook and his opener partner is fairly stark at the moment and Andrew Strauss’s problems continued with another cheap dismissal against left-arm quick Chanaka Welegedara. This time it was an edge to slip, instead of lbw, as Strauss pushed outside off to a ball he could have left which meant three single-figure scores in a row and 26 runs in the series. The perils of the new ball is part of the lot of an opening batsman, but Strauss’s lean run can’t be brushed off forever especially now he only has one format to focus on.Jonathan Trott also fell to the new ball when Suranga Lakmal switched to the unusual angle of a right-arm seamer around the wicket to a right hander and Trott played a loose drive. Whether it was a last-ditch gamble against Trott or a well-worked plan from stand-in captain Kumar Sangakkara it certainly had the desired effect for Sri Lanka. That, though, was the pinnacle of the visitors’ day and if England make the most of a good forecast on Sunday it could be a battle to save the Test.

Fidel Edwards, the West Indies fast bowler, has said that he is mastering the art of reverse swing and wants to be the world’s best bowler

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2011Fidel Edwards, the West Indies fast bowler, has said that he is mastering the art of reverse swing and wants to be the world’s best bowler. Edwards, 29, made his comeback in the series against India after two years in the wilderness and, since his return, he has taken 13 wickets in two Tests.”My aim has always been to be at the top,” Edwards said. “Now that I’m back my goal is to be the No.1 bowler in the world. I was away from the game for a few years and it feels good to be back. I’m bowling quite well and also getting the ball to reverse swing. During the time off I worked a lot on getting the ball to reverse swing, now it’s working well for me.”Edwards said the wait out of the side – he didn’t play a Test from May 2009 until last month – had made him hungrier to succeed. He took eight wickets in the second Test, including a five-for in the second innings, and produced spells of reverse swing.Fidel Edwards has taken 13 wickets in his first two Tests back in the side•AFPThat effort has pushed him up the ICC’s bowling rankings and at No.18, he is higher than any of his current West Indies team-mates. Edwards bowled long spells in the Tests and said he was happy with the workload, and he was slowly returning to his best form.”I’ve played back-to-back Test matches and my back has been holding up very well. I have been doing a lot of strength work with the trainer and things have been going well so far. I won’t say I’m back to my best, but I have been taking wickets and it’s the wickets the team needs. If I can keep taking wickets and keep improving, I believe I will be back to my best quite soon. I have to improve my consistency, so hopefully I will be able to put it together even more in the match here [Dominica] and get more wickets.”Edwards replaced Kemar Roach, who played the Tests against Pakistan, and has partnered Ravi Rampaul against India. He said it was a positive experience to share the new ball with Rampaul. “It has been great. He has been great throughout the season and has been getting early wickets for us. We just want to keep improving. It has been a good partnership with the new ball.”

Mitchell Johnson produced the fourth-best figures in Australia’s one-day history to set his team on the path to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Pallekele

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Aug-2011Mitchell Johnson is rapidly becoming Australia’s subcontinent specialist, after his six-wicket haul set up Australia’s victory in the first ODI in Pallekele. Sri Lanka’s batsmen struggled to handle Johnson, who has also proved himself dangerous man in India, where of foreign bowlers only Muttiah Muralitharan has more one-day wickets than Johnson.In his third ODI in Sri Lanka, the other two having come during this year’s World Cup, Johnson struck in his first over when Mahela Jayawardene flashed at a fullish ball outside off stump and edged behind. The key wicket of Kumar Sangakkara followed when he prodded a slower ball to short cover, and it was the best possible start Johnson could have hoped for in his 100th ODI.”You know it’s always going to be a challenge in these conditions,” Johnson said after the game. “It’s always hot, the wickets are always pretty flat and slow. You get yourself up for these challenges. I felt pretty calm today. I was a bit nervous through those Twenty20 games and I think that got the little jitters out. It was my hundredth game today, [which was] pretty exciting for me.”[The pitch] looked a little slower, a little drier [than in the two Twenty20 losses]. It didn’t get dewy tonight I don’t think. I didn’t mind bowling on it. I got the ball to tail a bit away from the right-handers, which is always handy.”Johnson’s 6 for 31 placed him fourth on Australia’s all-time list of best figures in a one-day international, behind only the seven-wicket hauls from Glenn McGrath and Andy Bichel at the 2003 World Cup, and a six-for from Gary Gilmour in 1975. It was a fine effort given that Johnson was the sixth bowler used, the only time in his hundred games he had been that far down the bowling list.”It’s exciting to be ranked against those guys,” he said. “But to be able to go out there and do what we needed for the team [was the main thing]. I didn’t know if I was getting a bowl today. But that was what was needed at the time. Sri Lanka got off to a very good start with the new ball and the spinners came on and slowed things up a bit. It gave me an opportunity to use my skills. In the end, the result that we won the game was the more pleasing thing.”The captain, Michael Clarke, used his spinners to make the initial breakthroughs after Sri Lanka’s openers put together a good partnership, and he rotated his bowlers well throughout the innings. Clarke said keeping Johnson up his sleeve had been a conscious plan, and the idea paid off.”I was just trying to get the ball a little bit older and he could use his strength, which is pace, and also he could use his angle to take the ball across the right-handers,” Clarke said. “He bowled beautifully. I thought he really executed his skill very well today and we looked after him in the field. The boys fielded really well today, we hung on to our catches, which is great to see because we’ve been training really hard.”Australia’s batsmen had little trouble chasing 192 and they had some valuable time in the middle to get used to the mystery spin of Ajantha Mendis, who could play a major role throughout the series. Clarke said learning how to handle Mendis would be an ongoing process, but he was confident they could avoid the kind of capitulation that took place in the second Twenty20, when Mendis took six wickets.”He’s a very good bowler and especially in conditions like this, where there’s enough spin for him,” Clarke said. “All of our batters know we’re going to be facing a lot of spin throughout this one-day series and into the Test series, and we saw it in the Twenty20 as well.”We have to continue to practice, continue to look at a lot of footage, because a lot of their bowlers have so many different variations that it takes some time to adjust and get used to it. I think what we did really well today was we allowed ourselves a little bit of extra time to get used to the variations of the bowlers and then have the courage to play our way and play our shots.”The series continues with matches in Hambantota on Sunday and Tuesday, before the teams head to Colombo for the final two one-dayers.

Uncapped pace bowler, Manny Aulakh, has been included in Canada’s squad for the upcoming Intercontinental Cup game against Ireland and the two ODIs that follow

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2011The uncapped pace bowler Manny Aulakh has been included in Canada’s squad for the upcoming Intercontinental Cup game against Ireland and the two ODIs that follow against the same opposition.The 19-year-old Aulakh was part of Canada’s Under-19 squad that played the recent ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier and was joint-highest wicket-taker with 21 wickets from nine games. The 14-man squad, led by Jimmy Hansra, also includes Nitish Kumar, 17, who makes a comeback to the side, after missing Canada’s recent home series with Afghanistan as he was part of the U-19 squad at the Qualifier.The team will play a two-day warm-up match in Toronto on September 6 and 7. The Intercontinental Cup game will be played in Dublin from September 13-16 and will be followed by the two ODIs on September 19 and 20.Canada squad: Jimmy Hansra (capt), Rizwan Cheema, Harvir Baidwan, Usman Limbada, Hamza Tariq (wk), Henry Osinde, Hiral Patel, Junaid Siddiqui, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Khurram Chohan, Manny Aulakh, Nitish Kumar, Zahid Hussain.

For the second time in two days, Scotland prevailed in a rain-affected game at Windhoek where the Duckworth-Lewis method was pressed into service

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2011
Scorecard
For the second time in two days, Scotland prevailed in a rain-affected game at Windhoek where the Duckworth-Lewis method was pressed into service.Winning the toss and batting first, Namibia overcame the cheap loss of their openers to build steadily. Sarel Burger guided their progress with 82 off 109 balls, but the mainstay of the innings was the captain Craig Williams, who powered away to 116 off 117 balls. The pair added 191 off 35.3 overs to set Namibia on course for a big total. Williams smote five sixes and eight fours in his innings. Gordon Goudie intervened with a flurry of late wickets to keep Namibia to 266 for 8, and in hindsight, the lack of a finishing flourish might have cost them the game.Scotland made a solid start to the chase despite the early loss of Fraser Watts, and were bustling along at 101 for 2 in 24 overs when the rain came down. The revised target of 247 off 45 overs meant Kyle Coetzer and Josh Davey had to step up the scoring-rate after the interruption. Coetzer hung in to get within two runs of a century, but his exit heralded a mid-innings slump as Davey struggled to keep up with the requirement. Richie Berrington (41 off 27 balls) and Gordon Drummond (19 off 9) turned the game around with sprightly cameos, though, before Goudie lashed a couple of boundaries to haul Scotland home with a ball to spare.

England allrounder Samit Patel has admitted that his fitness problems are not behind him yet, but insisted that his work ethic has changed and he’s headed in the right direction

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2011England allrounder Samit Patel has admitted that his fitness problems are not behind him yet, but insisted that his work ethic has changed and he’s headed in the right direction.Before he was recalled this summer, Patel had been out of the England set-up since their last tour of India in 2008. It was made clear by the England management that it was his attitude to fitness that was keeping him out of the side, and there was always the feeling that he had the talent to be an England cricketer if only he take on board the team’s strict work ethic.”If I did the right stuff I was very confident of getting back and I had good vibes from the management,” Patel told reporters in India after England’s arrival for their limited-overs series. “I knew my cricket wasn’t the issue, it was the other stuff.”There is no place for complacency in the England team under coach Andy Flower’s tutelage, and the attitudinal shift to accept the mantra of constant self-evaluation and improvement has been perhaps the hardest challenge for Patel. “It’s a big one really,” he added. “To be willing to do the work and show the attitude to do it was a big thing for me. I hope I’ve overcome that now. Not fully yet. It doesn’t change overnight, there is a long way to go.””It’s a combination [of things], training harder, doing the hours. The willingness to train was probably one of the issues, but attitude-wise I’m back on track and going in the right direction.”You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. But things are going quite well. I’ve lost a bit of weight and attitude-wise, training is the big one for the ECB and England, the willingness to do the work. Maybe I didn’t show that but now I’m doing it.”Patel’s change in direction did not come in time for him to win a World Cup place with England earlier this year, however, and he admits there is no-one to blame for that regret but himself. “It was huge, very disappointing,” he added. “The fact that I should have been there was so disappointing. But I can’t blame anyone else but myself.”Despite spending much of the last three years in the international wilderness, Patel was kept informed by the England management and always knew what was required of him. “They always kept me in the loop and told me what to do. They wouldn’t have picked me in the summer otherwise.”The issue of discipline will not apply only to Patel as England seek to extend their successful summer overseas. The bowling attack will be without James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and there will be plenty of pressure on a young seam attack featuring Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach, Chris Woakes and the uncapped Stuart Meaker.Bresnan, who has built a reputation for metronomic accuracy with the new ball, will have to take up to role of senior bowler in the absence of Anderson and Broad. “It’s obviously different bowling in England than in India,” said Bresnan. “In England, you may gather some seam when the ball is new. With wickets playing different in India, I view it as a challenge.”We have to bowl very tightly with the new ball. We have to bowl very accurately and very straight. Otherwise, you will be hit for runs. We have young bowlers who have a lot of talent. If we bowl well, we can pick up early wickets.”It’s a fresh start and a new challenge for us. We are going into this series with exactly the same mentality with which we won in England. We are still looking to improve and looking forward to the challenge.”

A round-up of the fourth day of the first round of matches in the Ranji Trophy Elite 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2011Group AMumbai took 65 overs on the fourth day to complete a ten-wicket victory against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. It was the only outright win in the first round of matches in the Elite division and Mumbai have a headstart on the competition as they picked up six points. Railways had batted with resolve on the third day to give themselves a chance of saving the match but it started to go wrong from the second ball of the final day, when Suryakumar Yadav dismissed Anureet Singh for a duck. When Shivakant Shukla, who started the day 64 not out, was dismissed by Ramesh Powar for 77, Railways were in trouble.Sanjay Bangar and Nitin Bille battled, batting out 39 overs together, but Iqbal Abdulla dismissed them in quick succession, and then got another wicket two balls after Bille was dismissed to break Railways’ resistance. Mumbai did not waste time getting rid of the tail and bowled Railways out for 244, leaving themselves just 18 to win, which they knocked off in 4.2 overs.

Rajasthan’s batsmen battled through the whole of the fourth day and hung on for a draw against Karnataka at the Field Club Ground in Udaipur. Rajasthan had got through 27 overs at the end of the third day but still had another whole day to survive, after Karnataka had managed a 368-run first-innings lead and made them follow on. The top order saw out the first two sessions but in the final one Karnataka’s seamers picked up four wickets within eight overs to set up a tense finish. Karnataka needed four wickets in just under 20 overs, but Robin Bist lasted 51 balls and wicketkeeper Rohit Jhalani stayed unbeaten off 60 balls to stave of defeat.The early work had been done by openers Vineet Saxena, who scored 99 off 283 balls, and Vaibhav Deshpande (52 off 150). After Deshpande departed 21.2 overs into the fourth day, captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar made a solid 45 off 84 and Ashok Menaria lasted 38 balls too. It was only when Saxena and Menaria fell in consecutive overs that Rajasthan began to wobble but luckily for them the lower-middle order saw things out.

In another battling performance, Punjab earned a draw against Uttar Pradesh by losing just five wickets on the final day in Mohali and wiping out the first-innings deficit. Punjab started the day on 26 for 2, still trailing by 220 runs, and managed to get to 280 for 7. They lost opener Sarul Kanwar in the fourth over of the day but Karan Goel played steadily and scored 55 off 153 balls. Mandeep Singh did not completely curb his natural attacking instincts and hit five fours and two sixes in his 79-ball 51. Unlike in Rajasthan’s case, runs mattered as much as time for Punjab as they had a chance to wipe out the deficit and avoid some awkward overs at the end of the day. Their batsmen’s contrasting approaches served them well.Mayank Sidhana came to the crease at the fall of Mandeep’s wicket and scored a crucial 76 not out off 146 balls. Punjab kept managing to string together partnerships and finally took a lead when Sidhana was batting with captain Harbhajan Singh, who scored 24 off 35. UP had to settle for three points for the first-innings lead.

Orissa and Saurashtra both took no points from their match at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack after Orissa’s first innings was left incomplete and they had not managed to pass Saurashtra’s first-innings score. Saurashtra needed six wickets at the start of the day to secure three points for a first-innings lead while Orissa needed an unlikely 300 runs to get the first-innings points. Natraj Behera converted his century into a double-hundred and Orissa’s middle and lower-middle order batted gutsily to take them to 494 for 7 in response to Saurashtra’s 545, meaning both sides are still on 0 points after the first round of matches.After Ravinra Jadeja’s triple-hundred over the first two days, Orissa had crawled along at a snail’s pace on the third day and started the final one on 246 for 4. Behera and Abhilash Mallick started at a slightly brisker pace on Sunday and Mallick was eventually dismissed for 64 off 175 balls. Saurashtra could not make use of that opening though and Paresh Patel came in and played a stodgy hand of 48 off 149 balls. Behera reached his maiden first-class double-hundred and when he was dismissed for 209 Saurashtra needed to take four wickets in just under 30 overs. Deepak Behera and Alok Sahoo resisted with an unbeaten 60-run stand.Group BFour wickets from Ashok Dinda helped Bengal bowl Gujarat out for 495 on the fourth day at Eden Gardens and secure three points for a first-innings lead. After having amassed 560 in their first innings, Bengal were given cause for worry on the third day when Gujarat played their way to 315 for 2. However, on the fourth day they picked wickets in clusters and made sure Gujarat fell 65 runs short of their first-innings score.Bengal got off to the ideal start on Sunday, with Ranadeb Bose dismissing Rikin Chauhan in the third over of the day and Dinda bowling Niraj Patel in the fourth. Gujarat did not collapse though, and Bhavik Thaker and Pratharesh Parmar both scored half-centuries and got the visitors to 430 for 4. Bengal would have been worried at that stage but Dinda gave them the breakthrough, trapping Parmar lbw and bowling Sunny Patel for a two-ball duck. Thaker was removed by Bose shortly after and there was not much more resistance from Gujarat as Dinda finished with 4 for 87.

With Haryana having already conceded the first-innings lead against Delhi at the Roshanara Club Ground in Delhi, they used the final day as batting practice and Sunny Singh helped himself to a century. Haryana started the day on 94 for 2 in their second innings and with the first-innings lead just 59 it would have taken a dramatic collapse to give Delhi any chance of an outright win. Delhi got an early wicket but Sunny Singh and Sachin Rana stitched together a 111-run stand to kill the game off. Sunny Singh scored 157 out of Haryana’s 318 for 8 in the second innings but had to retire hurt in the afternoon.

After three days of rain, there was finally some play between Tamil Nadu and Baroda at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai but it was only 12 overs before the match was called off. Baroda won the toss and reached 38 for 0. Both teams were awarded two points each since the match was affected by weather.

Ray Flockton, the former New South Wales allrounder, has died at the age of 81 in his hometown of Port Macquarie

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Nov-2011Ray Flockton, the former New South Wales allrounder, has died at the age of 81 in his hometown of Port Macquarie, a coastal city in east Australia. He played 35 first-class matches between 1951 and 1963, a career that was interrupted by his work as a traffic policeman.Flockton was a middle-order batsman who made 1695 runs at an average of 41.34, with an unbeaten 264 against South Australia as his personal best. He initially bowled legspin, before switching to medium-pace, and took 27 wickets at 38.03.

Mohammad Hafeez strolled unimpeded to a century, and Younis Khan got to within touching distance of one, as Pakistan subjected Bangladesh to a comprehensive lesson in crease-occupation

The Report by Nitin Sundar10-Dec-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsYounis Khan closed in on his second century in two Tests•AFPMohammad Hafeez strolled unimpeded to a century, and Younis Khan got to within touching distance of one, as Pakistan subjected Bangladesh to a comprehensive lesson in crease-occupation. After the chaotic batting from Bangladesh on the first day, the action swung to the other extreme on the second morning as Pakistan blunted the minimal threat posed by their opponents, before gradually moving out of their sight.Despite it being the weekend, the home fans chose to stay away as their side took a beating for the second day running. Bangladesh had neither the skill nor the discipline to dent Pakistan’s now customary Test-match resolve. The seamers, Shahadat Hossain and Rubel Hossain, bowled spells of ornamental value, but the spinners – Elias Sunny and Mahmudullah, in particular – tested the rougher patches on the pitch with flight and rip. However, they couldn’t accomplish much against batsmen well-versed in the art of milking spin.While Shahadat bowled pedestrian lines, Mahmudullah resumed his overnight battle with Taufeeq Umar from the other end, and persevered with loop and turn. Having edged several times while leaning out on the first evening, Taufeeq chose to play Mahmudullah off the back foot as much as possible. More than once, he left alone balls alarmingly close to offstump, and looked at his most vulnerable when reaching out. Hafeez stayed put to defend a series of length balls from Shahadat’s end, and Bangladesh strung together five successive maidens to create an illusion of control.Hafeez resumed progress with a languid cover-driven boundary off Shahadat, but Taufeeq needed 23 balls to score his first run for the day. He even summoned the spirit to advance down the track and loft Mahmudullah for a straight four, but the bowler deservedly had him leg-before with a quick, flat offbreak.Hafeez carried on as if he hadn’t noticed his partner’s struggles, steering Rubel past gully before threading Mahmudullah through the covers to reach his fourth Test ton. His celebration was almost mechanical as he pulled off his helmet and kneeled down to perform the , before breaking into a smile.Azhar Ali was uncharacteristically edgy to start off. He repeatedly charged out of the crease to the spinners, and on one such instance barely cleared mid-on. He was also beaten comprehensively by a huge spinner from Sunny, before being pegged on the back foot by an arm-ball that took a thin inside edge onto the pad. Shahadat finally got him to bottom edge a wide ball to the wicketkeeper to leave Pakistan 220 for 2.Younis walked in with his accumulation-mode turned on, and rolled into gear with a smooth cover drive off Sunny. Hafeez thumped a Rubel Hossain bouncer in the 80th over so effortlessly that Mushfiqur Rahim took the second new ball as soon as it was available. Younis should have been run out immediately, but Shahriar Nafees missed the stumps and the two fielders backing up comically let the ball escape for four overthrows. Shahadat kept bowling inexplicably short, without the pace or trajectory to back it up. Hafeez took him for fours on either side of the stumps before pulling uppishly to Sunny, who couldn’t even get his hands to a tumbling chance at midwicket.With the bowlers and the fielders looking helpless, Bangladesh needed a poor umpiring call to get a wicket. Hafeez inside-edged a Sunny arm-ball onto his pad, but Billy Doctrove adjudged him lbw. Misbah-ul-Haq pulled his first ball straight at Nafees who had no chance of holding on at short leg, before edging a drive off Shahadat straight past Nafees at slip, who, like Sunny earlier, didn’t manage to even touch it.Misbah couldn’t cash in, though, and missed a loopy Sunny full toss to be caught plumb in front. The loss of his favoured partner in defence seemed to ignite a spark of aggression in Younis, and he dispatched Shakib through point, cover and fine-leg to reach his fifty. He then skated out of the crease to dump him for a straight six, in the process chugging past 6000 Test runs, as Bangladeshi shoulders began to slump. It was the moment Pakistan were waiting for, after staying cautious for much of the day.Sensing the slackening intensity, Asad Shafiq kicked off by heaving Sunny over extra cover, and launching Shakib straight for sixes. Suddenly, Bangladesh were forced to do away with the extra catchers they had employed through the day. That didn’t stop the run-flow, though, as both batsmen swept and steered efficiently to pick up boundaries. With stumps approaching, Younis made a concerted dash towards his ton, slamming Mohammad Ashraful straight and slapping Shakib to midwicket for boundaries to reach 96. Shafiq couldn’t give him the strike in the day’s final over, though, but Younis didn’t seem too perturbed.