Cowan completes collective Aussie effort

Updated April 27, 2012 07:59:05

When the post-mortem on the Australia tour of the Caribbean is concluded after the third Test, one of the positives is sure to be the ability of the team's top-line batsmen to all make a key contribution at some stage.

Left hander Ed Cowan joined the club, a little belatedly, in the second innings as he helped the team towards an imposing 310-run lead.

While West Indies, whose opening pair have just one-half century performance between them, have struggled to find the batting displays to back up their improved bowling, Australia has shown it has a solid collective unit with the bat.

There may not have been a single dominating figure in the top order, but each of the top seven have come up with at least one half-century during the tour.

Left-hander Ed Cowan's' 55, was a timely one given the questions in some quarters about his inability on this tour to get beyond the twenties and thirties.

"I'm satisfied to overcome that hurdle of mid 20s, a nothing score, to get a 50 on what is a bloody challenging wicket," he told reporters.

"Fifty for me feels like a really good contribution and I'm really happy that I feel like I've been improving certain aspects of my game and haven't got the rewards and today I got some reward for a lot of hard work."

Cowan batted with an injured wrist, picked up when he was struck by the ball in a close catching position on Tuesday and faced a surface that was turning sharply and bouncing, particularly from the off-spin of Shane Shillingford.

"Fifty on a wicket like that can be as good as 100. Sure the runs don't show in the scorebook but over 300 to chase is a hell of a lot of runs and I think the contributions from guys have been huge," he said.

Cowan, who made his debut against India last December, is only in his seventh Test but it is clear he had been feeling a little pressure having not passed 50 since he scored 74 in Perth in January.

"I try not to read too much of it but if you're in the Australian cricket team and you're not consistently getting big scores, of course you are going to be under pressure. You don't need to be a genius to work that out," he said.

"The only disappointing aspect is I think guys here on the ground would appreciate how hard batting has been through the series but people, because of the time zone, probably haven't watched a lot of cricket but they click on a link to see the score in the morning and they go '28, oh, Ponting 30, these guys are struggling'.

"Well, it's bloody hard work and you need to see the ball spitting and turning the way it is to appreciate that.

"And if you're just judging people's form by looking at the scorecard, then you're not doing the game full justice."

Reuters

Tags: cricket, sport, dominica, australia

First posted April 26, 2012 13:23:11

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Pakistan completes series sweep

Updated December 22, 2011 07:26:24

Abdur Rehman claimed 4 for 51 as Pakistan posted a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second and final cricket Test in Dhaka on Wednesday to make a clean sweep of the series.

Pakistan, which won the first Test in Chittagong by an innings and 184 runs, achieved its 103-run victory target off just 20.5 overs in the last session of the fifth day's play at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

Opener Mohammad Hafeez smashed a 52-ball 47 and Azhar Ali contributed 34, before skipper Misbah-ul-Haq finished the match with a six over long-off against Elias Sunny.

"We were pushing to get home quickly as the light could have faded any moment," Misbah said.

"This Pakistan team has been playing for nearly one-and-a-half years and at the moment we are an experienced side. Everybody is learning how to play Tests and that's the key to success.

"They (Bangladesh) gave us a tough time, especially in the first innings when they built a good partnership. They also made it difficult for us to score runs, but they will have to be consistent in batting and bowling."

Bangladesh, trailing by 132 runs after the first innings, had been comfortably placed at 5 for 212 in its second innings but collapsed to 234, with left-arm spinner Rehman taking three wickets and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal two.

Rehman's four-wicket haul was his best in 12 Tests.

Nasir Hossain (79) and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (53) defied the Pakistani attack for more than a session, adding 117 for the sixth wicket before falling in the space of nine runs.

Rehman removed both the well-set batsmen in four overs before accounting for Shahadat Hossain (1) in the afternoon session.

Nasir, a 20-year-old playing only his fourth Test, cracked 11 fours in his maiden half-century before being bowled by Rehman. Rahim hit seven boundaries in his ninth Test half-century.

Rahim reached his half-century when he swept Rehman for a four, but soon lost his patience, stepping out to attempt a lofted shot off the spinner to be caught by Ajmal at mid-off.

"I regret the way I got out and I feel guilty for that. Had I not got out we might have batted another half an hour and put some more runs on the board," said Rahim.

"There were some good individual performances from Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir, Mohammed Nazimuddin and Shahriar Nafees. These are the positives we achieved from the match.

"Our bowlers did well, but our fielding has become a concern as we dropped vital catches that really cost us the match."

Rehman got another wicket in his next over when he dismissed Shahadat, superbly caught by Younis Khan at first slip, while Ajmal bowled Sunny and had Robiul Islam stumped to complete 50 Test wickets in the year.

Nasir and Rahim had applied themselves well in the morning session to keep the Pakistani attack at bay as the hosts added 86 runs to their overnight total of 5 for 114 after a delayed start due to fog.

AFP

Tags: cricket, sport, bangladesh, pakistan

First posted December 21, 2011 22:38:54

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