Date-stamped : 23 Jul96 - 02:16 Tetley's Challenge Series Warwickshire v Pakistanis Edgbaston 17,18,19 July 1996 ====> REPORT (Day 1, 17 Jul 1996) (Electronic Telegraph, UK) Tour match: Anwar displays unique class By Peter Deeley at Edgbaston First day of three: Warwicks (99-2) trail the Pakistanis (297) by 198 runs IT was the best of all worlds when Saeed Anwar was batting yes- terday, scoring his third tour century in six innings with such grace and power that one wonders if there are limits to his prowess. But from the tourists` point of view it was the worst of all worlds once he had been dismissed after scoring 131 at a run a ball in 2.5 hours. They collapsed in the next two hours, the remaining seven wickets adding only 75 runs. Warwickshire, following the disappointing example set by so many counties these days, chose to field a weakened attack with three uncapped bowlers. There was a suggestion Allan Donald might like to make up the numbers but he declined. In the event, after the home side had been thrashed to all parts of the field and beyond when Anwar was in full flight, the attack ex- tracted its full measure of revenge. Three times bowlers were on a hat-trick as wickets fell in clus- ters and if Ashley Giles, who did not come on until the final act, had been used earlier Pakistan might have struggled to reach 297. The morning belonged to the left-handed Anwar who reached his century 10 minutes before the break with a six off Neil Smith over extra cover. Earlier he greeted Dougie Brown`s opening delivery by hooking it deep into the crowd for six and pulling the next ball for four. Anwar was dismissed in the third over after the resumption, flashing at Brown. He has now scored 568 runs in six innings at an average of 113.60. On the debit side for Pakistan Salim Malik, in his first serious innings of the tour, was out next ball, shuffling across the stumps to drive Brown. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) ====> REPORT (Day 1, 17 Jul 1996) (Rediff On The NeT, India) Saeed Anwar in sparkling form By Our Correspondent True, Warwickshire were without their premier bowlers Shaun Pollock and Gladstone Small (the latter, it will be recalled, being the one who had blasted the touring Indians out not so long ago. But the relative lack of teeth in the Warwicks bowling does not detract a jot from the sparkling run-a-ball century before lunch registered by Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar on day one of the three day Tetley Challenge series between the two sides at Edgbaston. Pakistan have been looking for outright wins in these tour games, preferring neck or nothing cricket to cautious `batting practise`. And its first innings against Warwicks was no ex- ception - Anwar in particular playing with glorious freedom and striking 20 fours and three sixes to score 131, his third century in six first class innings on tour so far. If Anwar`s huge appetite for runs is one indication of the form the touring Pakistanis are in, then Inzamam ul Haq pro- vided another when he lashed a contemptuous 51 in a partnership, with the left- handed opener, of 129. On the debit side, Ijaz Ahmed and Salim Malik remained short of form and runs - particularly worrying concerns for the tourists, as Ijaz fills the crucial number three slot in the batting order behind free-stroking Anwar and Aamir Sohail, and it is to him the team will look to weather any early setback. However, it would be unwise to make too much of the scorecard - it was pretty evident that speed of scoring, as opposed to longevity at the crease, was the main concern for the Pakistanis on the day. Thus, the tourists rattled up 187 runs in 36 overs before lunch, for the loss of two wickets, and then lost another eight wickets while hammering 110 runs from 37.4 overs after that, with the batsmen appearing to be willing to fling their bats at most things that came their way. For the home side, England opener Nick Knight, who missed the second and third Tests against India due to injury, made a strong bid for a recall to the opener`s role with a composed, un- beaten 42 out of the Warwicks closing score of 99 for two at the end of day one, in reply to Pakistan`s 297 all out. Mohammad Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed claimed a wicket each as Pakistan, led by Aamir Sohail while skipper Wasim Akram sat this one out, pressed for a win with attacking bowling and fielding. The tourists` efforts to pouch the 2,500-pound purse offered by Tetley`s for a win against a county side could, however, be hampered by the fact that Waqar Younis, whose very close LBW appeal against Knight in his opening over was turned down, limped off the field with a hamstring strain after bowling only three overs. Source :: Rediff On The NeT (http://www.rediff.co.in) ====> REPORT (Day 2, 18 Jul 1996) (Electronic Telegraph, UK) Tour Match: Anwar`s illness hits Pakistan By Peter Deeley at Edgbaston Second day of three: Pakistanis (297 & 147-8) lead Warwicks (310) by 134 THE tourists were in all sorts of trouble on and off the field yesterday. A combination of illness, injury and an ill- disciplined batting display was hardly the preparation they want- ed with the first Test looming. Unless Mushtaq Ahmed can wreak further havoc, Warwickshire - with five uncapped players, can look forward to pocketing #7,500 prize money. The Pakistanis took the field without Waqar Younis, who had limped off the previous evening with hamstring trouble, but with rest it is said he will be fit for Lord`s in a week`s time. Equally serious was the stomach bug which struck down their in-form opening bat Saeed Anwar after his first day century. Anwar missed almost all last season at home - and the Test series in Australia - with a form of malaria. So concerned were Pakistan at what could be a gastro-related complaint that he went to hospital for blood tests and may go for more in London. But in the middle, affairs reached such a pass that Anwar had to rise from his sick bed to stave off the ram- pant Warwickshire spinners. Coming in sixth wicket down and looking far from well he still managed to despatch Neil Smith for a superbly struck six. Warwickshire themselves had struggled until Trevor Penny and Dougie Brown compiled a sixth wicket stand of 142 in 34 overs. The inimitable Mushtaq, on a slow and low pitch, removed both and then the tail with five wickets in 28 balls. He finished with seven for 91, and has now taken 20 wickets in three games. No wonder he says he is looking forward to get- ting to grips with our Test batsmen. If the home side looked largely anaemic at the crease, the Pakistanis batted like a bunch of beginners. Ijaz Ahmed held them together with a half-century but the home spinners, Smith and Ashley Giles, reduced the remainder to a rab- ble. At a time when it was important he should stay, Salim Malik was guilty of a wild swish. His first-class run to- tal on tour is nine. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) ====> REPORT (Day 2, 18 Jul 1996) (Rediff On The NeT, India) Pakistan in trouble against Warwicks By A Correspondent County champions Warwickshire have not had a very good season of it so far. But now comes the opportunity to redeem lost pres- tige, as it ended day two of the three day game against the tour- ing Pakistan side in a position to force a win and pocket the 7,500 pound purse Tetley offers to any county side that can de- feat a touring Test nation. The last time Pakistan lost to a county side was in 1992, when in its first tour match it collapsed dramatically against Wor- cestershire and lost by five wickets. On Thursday, a similar col- lapse at Edgbaston saw Pakistan, 13 runs behind on the first in- nings, losing seven wickets in the last session of the day`s play. Even more worrying than the sceptre of defeat was the fact that Saeed Anwar, the 27-year-old opener who a day before had lashed a century before lunch off the Warwickshire bowling, ahd to be taken to hospital for blood tests. Anwar has been in great form on this tour, hammering three centuries in his six outings so far. On Wednesday night, he suf- fered a stomach upset and bouts of vomiting which recalled the typhoid-type ailment that caused him to miss the tour to Aus- tralia in late 1995. Anwar returned to the side for the Wills World Cup in February-March this year, and has been in tremendous form ever since. "We have sent him to hospital to find out what is wrong with him," said Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed. "It is not connected to what happened to him before - that was a malaria-type com- plaint but we would like to make sure." In the second innings, Anwar was forced to come on to bat at number eight, to lead a rearguard action against the Warwicks bowlers. After scoring 297 all out in the first in- nings, Pakistan, without Waqar Younis in the bowling lineup, were thwarted by late order heroics by Trevor Penney, who scored 66, and Doug Brown, with 76. The two powered the home county to 310 all out, a lead of 13 on the first innings. And then came an inexplicable collapse, with none of the batsmen save Asif Mujtaba and Ijaz Ahmed showing any applica- tion. Ahmed hammered a half century but the likes of Salim Malik and Inzamam ul Haq perished to wild strokes, necessitating that Saeed Anwar get up off his sick bed and go out to try and stave off defeat. At the time of writing this, Pakistan are 147 for eight, with a day`s play remaining. Anwar will have to play a rearguard ac- tion and bat as long as he can, following which ace leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed will need to reproduce his first innings form (Mushie claimed seven for 91 in the Warwicks first innings, and now has taken 20 wickets in three tour games) if Pakistan are not to go down to defeat. What the tourists will find most worrying, in the run-up to the first Test against England at Lord`s on July 25, is not a pos- sible defeat to a county side, but the lack of fitness of some key members. Saeed`s illness is yet to be diagnosed, Waqar Younis limped off the field with hamstring problems after bowling just three overs in the Warwicks first innings and captain Wasim Akram is suffer- ing from muscle strain in his suspect back. Source :: Rediff On The NeT ====> REPORT (Day 3, 19 Jul 1996) (Rediff On The NeT, India) Anwar fit, but Pakistan goes down to Warwicks By Our Correspondent Thus far, it has been the touring Pakistan side that, through brilliant individual performances by the likes of batsmen Saeed Anwar and Inzamam ul Haq and ace leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, sent out warnings to England ahead of the first Test at Lord`s beginning Thursday. Now it is the turn of England opener Nick Knight to underline the fact that the tourists will not have it all their own way when the two sides begin the three-Test Cornhill series next week. And this Knight did with a brilliant innings of 90 not out, in the process guiding county champions Warwickshire to a seven wicket win over Pakistan at Edgbaston. More than the fact of the win, what must be making the Eng- land selectors happy was the ease with which Knight handled Mush- taq. The cherubic leggie, who had taken seven for 91 in the county`s first innings to bring his tally to 20 wickets in three games on this tour so far, was handled with ease and comfort by the left-handed opener. Pakistan were 147 for eight at close on the second day, with the ailing Saeed Anwar recalled from the sickbed to fight a rear- guard action. However Anwar, still showing the after-effects of a bout of stomach trouble and spells of vomiting, was unable to reproduce the form of the first innings with the result that the Pakistan innings folded for 159, early in the morning of the third day. This gave Warwicks a victory target of 146 - a target that the elegant Knight made mock of when he raced to his fifty off just 52 deliveries. With Waqar Younis out of the firing line and Mushtaq`s wiles being ably countered by Knight, the home county had no trouble getting to the target for the loss of only three wickets. This win qualifies Warwickshire, the reigning county cham- pions, for the 7,500 purse offered by Tetley`s to any county that defeats a touring side, as part of the Tetley Challenge Series. "We batted badly," Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, who rested himself in order to recover from a back strain and hay fever, said after the game. "We had a meeting this morning, and the batsmen apologised to the rest of the side." They will have to do more than go mea maxima culpa, though, when Pakistan takes on England at Lord`s in the first of the three-Test Cornhill series. Though their star batsmen Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail and In- zamam ul Haq ran into form early in the tour, Pakistan has been beset with health and fitness problems. The touring side, however, breathed a sigh of relief when Anwar, who was taken to hospital for blood tests on Thursday evening, was given the all clear by the doctors attending on him. Anwar, who hit a century before lunch on the opening day of the match against Warwicks to take his tally to three from six in- nings, was taken by stomach cramps and intermittent vomitting, necessitating a check up. "The tests showed nothing," said tour manager Yawar Saeed. "It is a big relief for all of us." Anwar has been prone to such ailments, having already spent a year and more on the sidelines with a typhoid-like complaint. He returned to the side just in time for the World Cup, and has been in flamboyant form ever since. Anwar will now play for the tourists against Kent - the Pakistan side`s last warm-up match before the first Test - this weekend at Canterbury. Meanwhile, pace spearheads Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are also reportedly recovering from their respective injuries. Waqar could only bowl three overs on the first day of the Warwicks game, before limping off with a strained hamstring. Akram, for his part, rested himself in order to recover from a back strain and a bad case of hay fever. "Both Waqar and Wasim are much better now," Yawar Saeed told the media. Younis, however, is expected to give his hamstring a rest and sit out the game against Kent, while Akram will return to lead the side in the weekend game. Source :: Rediff On The NeT Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)