Test #1814 Pakistan in England (4th Test) at The Brit Oval, Kennington.
This test match, no doubt will go down into the record books, but for all the wrong reasons and as the first ever forfeited test match which was marred by chaotic scenes, deafening boos by the spectators and unbelievable turn of events and finally the way it concluded with four sessions still remaned to be played. This definitely will occupy the number one position in my book of cricket controversies and will surely be recorded as one of the darkest chapters in the annals of test cricket.
Paul Collingwood’s completion of 1000 runs in test cricket making him the 90th Englishman and 425th test cricket to reach that milestone, Mohammad Yousuf’s 19th century of his test career taking him past the 1000 run mark for this calendar year at 1123 runs from eight tests at an average of 86.38 with five hundreds and two fifties, both the Pakistani openers getting dismissed with 90+ scores and Kevin Pietersen’s 1st ball duck followed by a nervous 90s dismissal may have been considered as the statistical highlights of this test had it been proceeded in its normal course rather than ending in chaos referring to the books of cricket laws.
Younis Khan missed the opportunity to reach the 1000 runs in calendar year milestone by just two runs. Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal for the 2nd time in his test career had 16 dismissals in a series (14 catches & 2 stumpings). Earlier against West Indies in 2004/05 test series he took 15 catches and made 1 stumping. It is Kamran Akmal's second series of 4 or fewer test matches with 16+ dismissals. Thus he joins four other wicket keepers Adam Gilchrist & Rodney Marsh of Australia, Dave Richardson of South Africa and Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India who have all achieved the same record with every one except Dhoni and Akmal doing it thrice in their careers.
In the previous test at Leeds, Kamran Akmal claimed his 100th test victim behind the stumps thus becoming the 32nd test cricketer and fifth Pakistani wicket keeper after Wasim Bari, Salim Yousuf, Rashid Latif and Moin Khan to have done so. Incidentally except Australia’s Wally Grout (890 runs) and West Indies’ Junior Murray (918 runs) , all the wicket keepers who had 100 or more dismissals in their career also aggregated 100 or more runs in their test careers to achieve the double of 1000 runs & 100 victims.
Danish Kaneria finally removed his name from the record books by making 15 runs in 1st innings which puts his test career aggregate of 175 runs from 40 tests above his 167 tally of test wickets. Now only BS Chandrasekhar of India and Bruce Reid of Australia holds the record of taking more test wickets than making more test runs among those players who have taken 100 wickets or more in their test career
So finally curtains are drawn on 2006 season of Test cricket, though not in a way one would have expected. But this test match made sure that there will be enough material to ponder upon for everyone assosicated with the game of cricket. The media or cricket fans or administrators around the world can not complain for shortage of topics to debate and argue upon till the next season kicks off.
This test match, no doubt will go down into the record books, but for all the wrong reasons and as the first ever forfeited test match which was marred by chaotic scenes, deafening boos by the spectators and unbelievable turn of events and finally the way it concluded with four sessions still remaned to be played. This definitely will occupy the number one position in my book of cricket controversies and will surely be recorded as one of the darkest chapters in the annals of test cricket.Paul Collingwood’s completion of 1000 runs in test cricket making him the 90th Englishman and 425th test cricket to reach that milestone, Mohammad Yousuf’s 19th century of his test career taking him past the 1000 run mark for this calendar year at 1123 runs from eight tests at an average of 86.38 with five hundreds and two fifties, both the Pakistani openers getting dismissed with 90+ scores and Kevin Pietersen’s 1st ball duck followed by a nervous 90s dismissal may have been considered as the statistical highlights of this test had it been proceeded in its normal course rather than ending in chaos referring to the books of cricket laws.
Younis Khan missed the opportunity to reach the 1000 runs in calendar year milestone by just two runs. Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal for the 2nd time in his test career had 16 dismissals in a series (14 catches & 2 stumpings). Earlier against West Indies in 2004/05 test series he took 15 catches and made 1 stumping. It is Kamran Akmal's second series of 4 or fewer test matches with 16+ dismissals. Thus he joins four other wicket keepers Adam Gilchrist & Rodney Marsh of Australia, Dave Richardson of South Africa and Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India who have all achieved the same record with every one except Dhoni and Akmal doing it thrice in their careers.
In the previous test at Leeds, Kamran Akmal claimed his 100th test victim behind the stumps thus becoming the 32nd test cricketer and fifth Pakistani wicket keeper after Wasim Bari, Salim Yousuf, Rashid Latif and Moin Khan to have done so. Incidentally except Australia’s Wally Grout (890 runs) and West Indies’ Junior Murray (918 runs) , all the wicket keepers who had 100 or more dismissals in their career also aggregated 100 or more runs in their test careers to achieve the double of 1000 runs & 100 victims.
Danish Kaneria finally removed his name from the record books by making 15 runs in 1st innings which puts his test career aggregate of 175 runs from 40 tests above his 167 tally of test wickets. Now only BS Chandrasekhar of India and Bruce Reid of Australia holds the record of taking more test wickets than making more test runs among those players who have taken 100 wickets or more in their test career
So finally curtains are drawn on 2006 season of Test cricket, though not in a way one would have expected. But this test match made sure that there will be enough material to ponder upon for everyone assosicated with the game of cricket. The media or cricket fans or administrators around the world can not complain for shortage of topics to debate and argue upon till the next season kicks off.
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