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Pakistan tour of England and Ireland

Pakistan vs Ireland

1st ODI (18 August 2016)

At Malahide Cricket stadium, Dublin, Ireland

Match hadn't started at its actual time because of wet conditions due to rain. After half of an hour toss took place which was won by Ireland's Captain and he decided to bowl first. It was a good decision to bowl first on a greenish track. It was a perfect track for bowlers to bowl on. Due to late start, the match was reduced to 47 overs instead of 50 overs. Pakistani openers Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan came to face the Ireland's bowlers. Azhar Ali, captain of Pakistan got out early after scoring just one run. After the dismissal of Azhar Ali, Sharjeel Khan kept the conditions in his hand and started to smash the bowlers. He was looking in a glorious form. His timing was great yesterday. He played a blistering knock of 152 runs. He was hitting the bowl so beautifully. It was a great innings to watch. He got out on 152 runs. After his wicket, the total score of Pakistan was 226-4. Then Shoaib Malik and debutant Nawaz took the responsibility and raised the score to 337 runs. Both batsmen scored a half Century. Pakistan ended their innings on 337-6. BJ McCarthy picked up 4 wickets. It was a huge target and Pakistanis were 80% in the game.

        Now the time had come when the Ireland's batsmen had to face the Pakistani Bowling Attack. Ireland batsmen were struggling against the Pakistani Attack from the start. Their wickets were falling down gradually. Umar Gul and Amir disturbed the furniture. Not only against fast bowlers, batsmen were also struggling against spin. Imad Wasim the left arm off Spinner made it very difficult for batsmen to touch the bowl. He bowled exceptionally well and picked up his first fifer of ODI career. Ireland were all out on just 82 runs. Their supporters were not expecting this from their team mates. Their was a great support for Pakistan too. Crowd were clicking selfies with Pakistani Players. It was a great atmosphere for cricket. People were enjoying every ball of the game.

In my opinion, it was not very good performance from Ireland. They are playing Cricket for a long time and they have learned very small yet. They need to improve now otherwise they were outta here.

      Ireland lost the match. Pakistan won it by 255 runs. Man of the match was given to Sharjeel Khan.

      It was the post of today. We'll meet again, for now Good Bye.

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq

Pakistan tour of England and Ireland 2016

Investec Test Series 2016

(England vs Pakistan)

1st Test Match at Lords.

First test match was played at Lord cricket stadium, historical cricket ground, named as "Home of Cricket". In that test, Pakistani Captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the coin toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan in their first innings managed to score 339 runs. Captain Misbah scored a great century there. Asad Shafiq also played an good innings of 73 runs. Chris Woakes sent 6 Pakistani batsmen towards pavilion. England got all out in their 1st innings on 272 runs. It was not usual that English batsmen failed to score big on their home soil. Captain Cook played a good innings of 81 runs. Yasir Shah picked up 6 wickets. So, Pakistan got the lead of 67 runs. Pakistan started their first innings and got all out on 215 runs. It was not the first time that Pakistani batsmen failed to produce a good total. Chris Woakes completed his 5 wickets haul and got 11 wickets in the match. England in their 2nd innings got a total of 282 runs to chase down. They had to chase it to win this match but it was not an easy task against the mighty Pakistani bowling attack. They were well aware of it. Anyhow, the start was not good. 3 of their main batsmen got out on just 47 runs. Wickets were falling down on regular intervals. In short, all English Batsmen went to pavilion after scoring 207 runs. England lost the first test at Lords. Yasir Shah again produced an outstanding spell. He picked up 4 wickts in 2nd innings. It was a very good win for Pakistan. They played good Cricket at Lords. Their style of celebration was also very intresting to watch as the whole team did 10 push-ups and paid tribute to their army for training them. So, Pakistan won the first test by 75 runs.

Yasir Shah was named man of the match award for his outstanding bowling figures. He picked up 10 wickets in that test.

So, that's it for today. Tomorrow I'll come with the review of 2nd test between Pakistan vs England. Good Bye. #ENGvPAK

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq

Cricket Field

Pitch

In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets – 1 chain or 20.12 m (22 yards) long and 3.05 m (10 feet) wide. The surface is flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the pitch.

Cricket Pitch.

Boundary

The boundary is the edge of the playing field, or the physical object marking the edge of the field, such as a rope or fence. In low-level matches, a series of plastic cones are often used. Since the early 2000s the boundaries at professional matches are often a series of padded cushions carrying sponsors' logos strung along a rope. If it is moved during play (such as by a fielder sliding into the rope) the boundary is considered to remain at the point where that object first stood.

A Player trying to catch the ball while staying inside the boundary.

Stumps

The stumps are three vertical posts which support two bails. The stumps and bails are usually made of wood, most commonly ash, and together form a wicket at each end of the pitch.

Wooden Stumps.

30 Yard Circle

 A painted oval is made by drawing a semicircle of 30 yards (27.4 m) radius from the centre of each wicket with respect to the breadth of the pitch and joining them with lines parallel, 30 yards (27.4 m) to the length of the pitch. This line, commonly known as the circle, divides the field into an infield and outfield. Two circles of radius 15 yards (13.7 m), centred at middle stump guard on the popping crease and often marked by dots, define the close-infield. The infield, outfield, and the close-infield are used to enforce fielding restrictions.

That's it for today. Good Bye viewers.

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq

Cricket Bat

Cricket Bat

The wooden thing that batsmen use to hit the ball is called Cricket Bat. A cricket bat, typically consists of a cane handle attached to a flat-fronted willow-wood blade. The length of the bat may be no more than 38 inches (965 mm) and the width no more than 4.25 inches (108 mm). Modern bats are usually hand made in India or Pakistan due to the low cost of labour. However a few specialists in England, Australia, and New Zealand still make bats, mostly with use of a CNC lathe.

Revolution of Cricket Bats:

History of Bats for T20 Cricket:

In 2004 Newbery created the Uzi, with a truncated blade and elongated handle for the new Twenty20 format of the game. This change allowed more wood to be placed in the middle, as more attacking shots are played in the shorter version of the game.

In 2009 an extreme version of the Newbery Uzi shape named the MMi3 was launched by Mongoose. The design is unusual in that the blade is 33% shorter than a conventional bat and the handle is 43% longer. Launched with a fanfare of publicity it proclaimed the idea of not defending the ball in the T20 format and purely playing attacking shots.

On 11 March 2010, Mongoose launched its range in India with the announcement of Matthew Hayden as the brand ambassador. Stuart Law, the former Australian Test player, called it "a half-brick on a stick". The bat was used by Anuraag in the 2010 version of the IPL. Gareth Andrew, the Worcestershire all-rounder, scored the maiden 100 with an MMi3 in professional cricket, when he hit 100 off 58 balls at the Oval in 2010 against Surrey.

In 2008 Lekka Cricket launched a T20 format bat, the Big Hitter. Black Cat Cricket then launched a T20 format bat, the Joker, in 2009. These worked on a similar principle to other T20 bats with the blade length reduced by one inch and an inch longer handle, but uniquely reduced the width of the bat to 4 inches in an adult bat.

That's it for today. Tomorrow is Independence day of Pakistan. So. Happy Independence day to all Pakistanis. (Thanks)

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq

Cricket Ball

Cricket Ball

As you guys have known that Cricket is played with a bat and a ball. So now, I'll tell you that how this ball is made and what type of material is used to make a Cricket ball. 

A Cricket ball is hard, solid ball used to play Cricket. It consists of a cork covered by leather. A cricket ball is made with a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam. In a top-quality ball suitable for the highest levels of competition, the covering is constructed of four pieces of leather shaped similar to the peel of a quartered orange, but one hemisphere is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the other. The "equator" of the ball is stitched with string to form the ball's prominent seam, with six rows of stitches. The remaining two joins between the leather pieces are stitched internally. Lower-quality balls with a two-piece covering are also popular for practice and lower-level competition due to their lower cost.

Two types of cricket balls used in International Cricket. In test Cricket red ball is used to play. As shown in the picture below:

In One Day Internationals, players play with white ball. Picture of white Cricket Ball is given below:

Now some guys will ask me that whats the difference between these two balls. I won't disappoint them by saying that I don't know. First let me explain something about manufacturers of Cricket balls. There are two recognized manufacturers of Cricket ball:  

Kookaburra maintains that their red and white balls are manufactured using the same process apart from the dye used for coloring. They claim that the swing properties of both the balls are similar - as everything, apart from the color, are the same. This, however, is disputed by the players and researchers who claim that the white ball swings more.

Dukes has a different manufacturing process for each of the balls. They claim and tests have proven that the white ball swings more than their traditional red balls. This is due to a polyurethane coating on top of the white-dyed leather to ensure that the ball does not get dirty quickly. This coating makes the ball smoother and changes its aerodynamics thereby assisting swing. 
So there is not much difference between red and white balls. 

Third type of ball is also introduced in some parts of world. Yes, you are right I'm talking about Pink Ball. In Day and Night test matches, players will play with pink Cricket Ball. Australia and New Zealand have played with it last year. In October, Windies will come to UAE to play a series against Pakistan and in that series Day and Night test matches are also included. So, Pakistan and West Indies will play their first match with pink Cricket Ball. Picture of Pink Ball is given below:

These are the 3 balls that are used in cricket history. Good Bye for now. Tomorrow I'll come with a new topic about Cricket.

Thanks!!!

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq 

What is Cricket?

What is Cricket?

This question is not very much asked, some people will say that is he mad? But in some parts of the world cricket is not as famous as here in Pakistan. So, yes I'm a Pakistani and very passionate about Cricket. In Pakistan Cricket is like a religion, people get mad when a Cricket match is being played. They watch it with great zeal. But some people who don't know anything about Cricket can get information about this addictive sport. In this post, I'll explain How this game is played.
So lets start:
 Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, at the center of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket, a set of three wooden stumps sited at each end. One team, designated the batting team, attempts to score as many runs as possible, whilst their opponents field. Each phase of play is called an innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a set number of overs have been completed, the innings ends and the two teams then swap roles. The winning team is the one that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, during their period batting.
This is not ended yet, I'll explain much more to them who don't know what cricket is. Good Bye for now.

Blogger: Umair Mushtaq