Dan Lawrence takes centre stage
by Behram Qazi
Jonathan Norman on talkSPORT commentary called Dan Lawrence one of the most watchable players in world cricket.
He was not talking about his frog-in-a-blender bowling action either.
It was a soggy affair at Lords on Day 3 of a dead Test match. England’s eventual lead at stumps was 357 runs, and the way Pakistan have batted this series, they might not get close to that score even if they were awarded a third dig.
Norman is a Surrey fan. Lawrence is a Surrey player. Some bias might have been at play, but if you tuned into the limited action sandwiched between all the rain, you would not have disagreed with him, entirely.
The Lord’s pitch has been a hot topic in recent times. Diabolical for batting, and a demerit point in the kitty from earlier this summer.
The first two days yielded no such discussion, but uneven bounce on a damp Day 3 meant that it might be all the rage again.
Emilio Gay was trapped LBW by a Mohammad Abbas nip-backer that kissed the floor. Later, our man Lawrence was hit in the rib cage by not the kind of Mohammad Ali who used to do that for a living.
The floodlights were on, the clouds were clouding, and batting was incredibly difficult.
That did not phase Lawrence though. He might have lost a rib, and got hit in the box as well, but still walked back unbeaten on 50 from 66 deliveries.
The first runs he scored were over the slip cordon off Abbas, as a result of charging at him. Rizwan, who might not have fingers left on either hand by the end of the series, came up to the stumps next ball.
Lawrence chose to defend against Abbas, but looked like Martin Lawrence batting when he tried.
He picked his battles wisely, taking on Khurram Shahzad, scoring three fours off his bowling in quick succession.
Against Ali, who had shattered his ribs a few balls earlier, he used his feet again.
The penultimate delivery of the over was carved above the gully fielder for four. Not in a sexy, aesthetically pleasing way though. You would not see anything like it on the Thanksgiving episode of an American sitcom.
The ball after, however, was the shot of the Test. A skip down the track, red cherry met with the full face of the blade, bludgeoned up and over the covers for a gigantic six.
On any other day his methods were questionable. On a Lord’s surface with inconsistent bounce, his tactics were spot on.
He walloped Ali Usman later to reach his second half century in three innings since his comeback. Upset spectators, who had spent 150 quid on their ticket, losing half of them because 15-plus overs were bowled, had something to cheer about.
Jonathan Norman had something to cheer about.
Dan Lawrence is not the most watchable player in world cricket, but on a rain hit day at Lords, he probably was.
***
Pakistan’s much-needed boot camp
by Rob Barron
There was an incredible woman on the tube this morning. She was wearing a massive black woolly cardigan and her face was redder than the beetroot sandwiches they knocked up in the press box at Lord’s during the middle session. There wasn’t any heat for her to have been struggling with but the reason for the redness became apparent very quickly as she got into her routine. And what a routine it was.
Off came the cardigan and she did chin-ups on the hand rail until we got to Earl’s Court. The tube was packed. Then she hung from the bar until we stopped at Gloucester Road. When the train pulled in to South Kensington our heroine got the cardigan, wiped her face with it, put it back on and sat down, profusely apologising to everyone as she did so. Then she did it again.
Next stop- off came the cardigan, chin-ups all the way to Victoria, hanging to St James’s Park, cardigan on to Westminster. As I was getting off, the chin-ups were starting again. Legend. Miss-Bar-Ul-Haq.
Alright, it was press-ups for Misbah, at this ground 10 years ago. He’d made a promise to the ‘army guys’ who took Pakistan’s pre-tour boot camp that he’d bring out the press-ups if he scored a century, which he duly did as a Pakistan side full of substance and style beat England by 75 runs at the London Spirit Stadium.
Maybe Pakistan could do with a boot camp before Edgbaston next week. They could certainly do with some substance, or any style. With the conditions favourable for the bits of cricket we did have, Pakistan got some wickets, but it’s the kind of wickets which have no bearing on the result. Dan Lawrence played beautifully. It’s up to the weather whether England win in four days or five.
Unless we see something more surprising than a woman in a massive woolly cardigan doing chin-ups on the tube.
