Inzamam leads Pak fightback

Tony Lawrence

Inzamam-ul-Haq struck a scintillating 114 as Pakistan counter-attacked to amass 370 for eight by the close on the first day of the second and final Test against England on Thursday.

Inzamam, who came in with Pakistan struggling on 39 for two, produced boundaries with each of his first six scoring shots and played an innings more reminiscent of one-day cricket to transform the mood at Old Trafford.

His fifth-wicket partnership of 141 with Younis Khan turned the game on its head after the touring team, opting to bat, had slipped to 92 for four just after lunch.

Inzamam, who passed 5,000 test runs near the start of his innings and subsequently became the third highest scorer in Pakistan cricket history, scored 70 of his first 100 runs in boundaries, before he failed to get to the pitch of the ball and was caught at point while driving at pace bowler Matthew Hoggard.

Exploiting a batting pitch, he occupied the crease for just over three-and-a-half hours and faced 153 balls.

Pakistan, who need to win to level the two-match series after being routed in the first test, finished the day in thrilling style with partnerships of 53 for the seventh wicket and 49 for the eighth, in which wicketkeeper Rashid Latif played a key role on his way to an unbeaten 64.

In all, Pakistan scored an extraordinary 216 in boundaries -- 51 fours and two sixes -- in their 90 overs. Andrew Caddick took three for 93 and Hoggard three for 79.

TELLING MOMENT

The home team must have felt they were set for a Lord's repeat after Caddick, man of the match in the first test, claimed his first victim in only the second over.

The telling moment, however, was to come much later, with Dominic Cork's first loosener after lunch.

Inzamam edged the ball to wicketkeeper and stand-in captain Alec Stewart, only for the bowler to be no-balled for overstepping.

With the batsman on 31 at the time, that single error cost England 83 runs, and Pakistan took full advantage, scoring at almost four-and-a-half runs an over while Inzamam remained at the crease.

A run feast had looked unlikely in the morning, when play was delayed for half-an-hour, then interrupted again by a brief spell of rain.

It looked less likely still when Abdur Razzaq, dropped off the fourth ball of the match atfirst slip off Darren Gough, played on to Caddick with the score on six.

With injured captain Nasser Hussain watching from the pavilion, Gough then removed the nervous-looking Faisal Iqbal, the batsman jabbing a short delivery to a leaping Michael Vaughan at short leg.

FINAL DELIVERY

The touring team looked to have repaired the damage only for Saeed Anwar (29) to dangle his bat outside off stump and edge Caddick to Michael Atherton to make it 86 for three.

That dismissal came off the final delivery before lunch, a crime Pakistan were to commit again at the next break.

Yousuf Youhana had already fallen cheaply to Caddick when Younis was given out lbw on the stroke of tea to Hoggard for 65, failing to play a shot at a ball angled in to him.

When Hoggard, without a Test wicket before Thursday, removed Inzamam he had taken two wickets in 15 balls.

The Yorkshireman took a third when removing all-rounder Azhar Mahmood for 37, caught at a wide second slip by Knight to break a 53-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

Inzamam, though, deserved the final plaudits after turning a Test into a carnival, no more so than when England, their support bowlers looking as ineffective as they had done at Lord's, dared to confront him with occasional bowlers.

Inzamam, who finished with one six and 18 fours, hooked Marcus Trescothick's first ball into the pavilion stand and pulled Vaughan's first off-spinner for four.

England left out off-spinner Robert Croft as they had at Lord's but Pakistan opted for Saqlain Mushtaq in preference to Shoaib Akhtar's pace.

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Mail Cricket Editor