Cricket: Inzamam puts England to the sword

By DEREK PRINGLE

MANCHESTER - Inzamam-ul-Haq scored his third Test century against England and the 14th of his career as he put Alec Stewart's English team to the sword in the second test at Old Trafford.

"Inzi the Impaler" is not always the overriding image that comes to mind when he dons his batting gear but, whenever the bowlers strayed in length or direction, which was often, he was savage in dispatching them.

If England are as scrappy against Australia, the Ashes urn will not be passing to a new owner this summer.

It might have been different had Dominic Cork not overstepped the crease in the first over after lunch when he had Inzamam caught behind on 31.

That no-ball cost England dear after a good start. Even worse it seemed to spur on Pakistan, and their total of 370 for 8, a score littered with 53 boundaries, is large enough to cause England some lost sleep after the first day.

Always looking for maximum gain for his efforts, which loosely translates as an aversion to running singles, Inzamam does not steal when he can plunder and his 114 contained 18 fours and one six.

That form has been with him for some time and in the past two years he has scored eight Test centuries with an average in excess of 60.

Over the same period, only Steve Waugh has matched the hundred count while only Sachin Tendulkar has a better average.

Born in Multan, in the middle of Pakistan, the 31-year-old Inzamam first came to prominence in the 1992 World Cup, propelling Pakistan into the final with a swashbuckling 60 from 37 balls against New Zealand.

It was the moment both man and myth were born for an ungainly mover who is, nevertheless, quick to get his feet into position against spin or pace.

Since then, he has become his country's pre-eminent batsman and yesterday he passed Zaheer Abbas's total of 5,062 runs to move into third place in the Pakistan pantheon of run-scorers.

Yet, as well as Inzi played in Pakistan's hour of need, England did contribute by bowling too short and setting some strange fields.

Only Andrew Caddick, who extracted some steepling bounce, was treated with any kind of respect as he took three of the first four wickets to fall.

Otherwise an obsession with banging the ball in short seemed to overtake even the slowest of England's bowlers.

There was the odd mitigating factor, and a strong northerly wind blowing straight down the ground made bowling from the Warwick Road End much tougher.

Once the new-ball spell had passed, it was left to Cork and Matthew Hoggard to roll up their sleeves, expose their hairlines to ridicule, and put their backs into it.

Hoggard at least took his first Test wicket, a relief after going wicketless on his debut at Lord's last year.

His victim was Younis Khan, who for the second match in succession passed fifty and showed himself to be a batsman of technique and temperament in the process.

Indeed, Younis's stand of 141 with Inzamam was just about to damage England badly when, on the cusp of tea, he padded up to a ball from Hoggard that came back at him from outside off-stump.

It was Hoggard's 143rd ball in Test cricket, and by the close he had removed two more, including Inzamam caught at backward point driving.

But for a side strain, Hoggard would have played in the previous Test at Lord's.

This time the final place was between him and Robert Croft, a choice that went Hoggard's way, though that probably had much to do with getting him over his nerves before the Ashes start.

In fact, with a strong wind and a hard dry pitch, England's lack of a spinner was exposed, something that became apparent when Michael Vaughan's two overs cost 21 runs as Inzamam and Younis treated him like a declaration bowler as Pakistan took control.

The mood, at that point, was in stark contrast to the one at the start when England quickly overcame the loss of yet another toss by removing the stand-in opener, Abdur Razzaq, in the second over of the day's play.

Already dropped by Michael Atherton at first slip off the first ball he faced, Abdur played on to Caddick at the other end.

The fall of Abdur, promoted beyond his means, quickly exposed Faisal Iqbal, who despite showing both verve and resolve was bounced out by Darren Gough.

According to the speedster machine, Faisal fell to the fastest ball of the day (147.5 kmh) and, clearly surprised by it, he could only fend it to short-leg.

Having been sublime in his timing and judgement for most of the morning, Saeed Anwar got in a muddle just before lunch, edging a lifter from Caddick to Atherton at first slip.

After the break, Nick Knight pocketed Yousuf Youhana, another unable to cope with Caddick's lift, at second slip.

Despite a late flurry of wickets, it was the last time England looked like the team who won so convincingly at Lord's. Stewart is an able stand-in as captain, but they miss Nasser Hussain's nose for the kill.

Unless the pitch stays benign, a draw may be the best England can hope for.

Pakistan: 370 for eight wickets (Inzamam-ul-Haq 114, Younis Khan 65, Rashid Latif 64 not out).

- INDEPENDENT