It is hard to think of a direct contest between Shoaib Akhtar and Brian Lara as being low key, but there was a distinct lack of edge about Pakistan’s start to their visit to England as they overcame a hotch-potch MCC side only 24 hours after arriving in the country.
About 3,000 spectators eschewed the traditional masochistic pleasure of seeing England fail at a leading football tournament to watch a Twenty20 contest that represented a gentle introduction to a trip embracing international matches against Australia and England.
The serious business begins a week today with the first of two 20-over contests with Australia at Edgbaston before six Tests against Australia and England crammed between July 13 and August 30, a schedule that is staggering even in these demanding times.
With countries reluctant to play in Pakistan in the near future because of safety concerns, the ECB will take a keen interest in support for the neutral matches. More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for the first Test against Australia at Lord’s.
Yorkshire, who have a big target audience, promoted the second Test, at Headingley Carnegie, directly to the Pakistan market at a carnival in Bradford a fortnight ago.
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MCC decided against following the example of some counties by altering the start time to avoid a clash with the football. It had been enough simply to bring together players from seven nationalities to make up their side in the first place. But they made the Pakistanis fight hard to open their tour with success as they fell narrowly short of the 18 required from the final over bowled by Mohammad Aamer.
Umar Akmal carried the Pakistanis to a defendable total of 165 for five with three sixes in his unbeaten 51, from 30 balls, but the reply was underpinned by Aiden Blizzard, a left-hander from Victoria who figured as an overseas player in Bangladesh last winter and boasts a formidable strike-rate of 157.76 in the format. His 73 came from 59 balls and only when he played on with three balls left was MCC’s game up.
Lara, 41, had not played a first-class game for more than two years, but practised hard in the previous week having been turned down by Surrey Lions as an option for their campaign in the Friends Provident t20. Lalit Modi, before his suspension as chairman of the Indian Premier League, was keen for Lara to play in the event next year and any time at the crease will be useful.
In the circumstances he made a pretty good fist of things. The high backlift is still there and a neat little clip off his legs off Mohammad Aamer for the first of five fours suggested that hand-eye co-ordination is also working. He hit 37 from 32 balls before Umar Gul hit his middle stump, a dismissal that Sourav Ganguly was to suffer in Gul’s next over.
Shoaib moves in and out of favour like flared trousers. He is in the Twenty20 squad only, but it would be no surprise if he were to return to the Test side this summer. He laid down an impressive marker yesterday, conceding 11 runs in his first three-over spell and then returning for the nineteenth over to york Ian Harvey and put MCC farther behind the required run-rate.
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There was also a sight of two of the Afghanistan team who captured hearts at the recent World Twenty20: Hamid Hassan, the pace bowler, and Mohammad Nabi, the off spinner whose trajectory and economy recalled the style of John Emburey. Both are due to join Afghanistan for an ICC event in the Netherlands this week, if they get visas in time.
Pakistanis
Salman Butt c Hassan b Harris 21 (off 27 balls)
Shahzaib Hasan c Vaas b Querl 34 (19)
†Kamran Akmal c Vaas b Nabi 2 (5)
Fawad Alam lbw b Harris 14 (23)
Umar Akmal not out 51 (30)
*Shahid Afridi c Vaas b Harris 11 (7)
Abdul Razzaq not out 20 (11)
Extras (lb 6, w 1, nb 5) 12
Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 165
Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-61, 3-68, 4-96, 5-127.
Bowling: Vaas 4-0-31-0; Hassan 3-0-42-0; Nabi 4-0-18-1; Querl 4-0-27-1; Harris 4-0-26-3; Harvey 1-0-15-0.
MCC
†J A Simpson c Gul b Shoaib 4 (10)
A C Blizzard not out 73 (59)
B C Lara b Gul 37 (32)
*S C Ganguly b Gul 2 (5)
I J Harvey b Shoaib 18 (13)
C Z Harris not out 2 (1)
Mohammad Nabi not out 1 (1)
Extras (lb 8, w 10, nb 4) 22
Total (5 wkts, 20 overs)159
M W Alleyne, R G Querl, W P U C J Vaas and Hamid Hassan did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-101, 3-111, 4-148, 5-156.
Bowling: Shoaib 4-0-19-2; Aamer 3-0-23-1; Gul 4-0-35-2; Razzaq 2-0-25-0; Afridi 3-0-29-0; Ajmal 4-0-20-0.
Umpires: A Hicks and S J O’Shaughnessy.