Manchester Evening News
Lancashire Make It Two From Two
Good Fielding And Gritty Batting Keys, Says Moerk
Hakon Moerk's side celebrated another victory, this time at Old Trafford, as the visiting PIA side crumbled to patient bowling and batting and saw off the traditional Manchester rain. Lancashire had opted to bat on the first day, and ground to 71 for 1 at lunch, losing Marcus Trescothick just before the interval. However, the PIA bowlers struggled to bowl with any consistency, and the Lancashire batsmen applied themselves well to get starts - crucial in the four-day game. Though only two men converted their double-figure score into a half-century (Crawley, with a patient 70, and Glen Chapple with a blistering 52) the scores were still enough to total 345. Fazl-e-Akbar got the best bowling figures, nicking Chapple, Dean and Anderson midway through the second day's afternoon session, but there was agreement around the stadium that Umar Gul and Aizaz Cheema looked by far the most threatening.
When PIA batted, their lower order lacked the samee application. Kevin Dean and Chapple took wickets amid the showers on day two, and James Anderson had the crucial partnership between Asif Mujtaba and Imran Fasil broken for 60 when Mujtaba slapped a wide full toss down the throat of Kulkarni - a classic Anderson dismissal. Kulkarni then took three middle order wickets, and Anderson cleaned up the tail to see PIA all out for 167 - 29 short of the follow-on target.
In the very first over of PIA's following on, Anderson rapped Fasil on the pad with an inswinger - however, it was not to be a wicket. It didn't matter much; Fasil was caught and bowled by Dean for 10 shortly after tea, and PIA were staring down the barrel at 27 for 3. Anderson and Kulkarni chipped in with more wickets as PIA crashed to 117 for 6, but Yasir Hameed and Tahir Khan threatened to take the game away on the fourth morning with aggressive hitting. Yasir reached 43 before a smart stumping by Crawley undid him, but clouds then fell over Old Trafford and it looked as though the rain would save PIA. However, the skies cleared again around two o'clock, Anderson cleaned up once again by removing Khan and Fazl-e-Akbar, and though Lancashire lost Trescothick for 8 in the chase, they were never threatened by the target of 36.
