The Pakistani cricket team toured England in the 2006 English cricket season, following England's winter tour of Pakistan where Pakistan had won a 3-Test series 2–0 and the ODI series 4–1. As a result of this series, Pakistan rose two spots to be ranked second in the world Test rankings before this series, and England dropped to third after the July 12 annual update of the ICC Test Championship. The series was marred by a ball-tampering controversy on the fourth day of the Fourth Test, which culminated in Pakistan refusing to take the field after the tea interval in protest to a contentious decision by the umpires to penalize the Pakistani team for what they believed were acts of ball-tampering. This led the umpires to award the game to England, who thus won the Test series 3–0.
Contents
1Schedule
2Squads
3First Class Matches
3.1Tour Match: Pakistan v Leicestershire (1-3 July)
3.2Tour Match: Pakistan v England A (6-9 July)
3.3First Test (13-17 July)
3.4Tour Match: Pakistan v Northamptonshire (20-22 July)
3.5Second Test (27-29 July)
3.6Third Test (4-8 August)
3.7Tour Match: Pakistan vs West Indies A (12-13 August)
Naved-ul-Hasan withdrew before the series started, and was replaced by Samiullah Khan Niazi. He returned to the squad for the fourth Test, but was not selected.[2]
On 15 July, Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Malik returned home, and were replaced by Iftikhar Anjum and Taufeeq Umar. Iftikhar Anjum left several days later following his father's death, with no replacement called up.[3]
Salman Butt, Samiullah Khan Niazi and Taufeeq Umar travelled home before the fourth Test, and Mohammad Hafeez was called up.[2]
Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Sami and Shahid Nazir returned home after the Test series, and were replaced by Shahid Yousuf and Shoaib Malik.[4] Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar only played in the ODI series, having returned from injury.
Dalrymple was only selected for the second Test, and later withdrawn along with Plunkett as the squad was cut down from 14 to 12.
Read was added for the third Test after Jones suffered a finger injury, though the English chairman of selectors said that "the decision was taken regardless of the injury to Geraint's finger"[7] He also played the fourth Test.
Broad, Clarke, Gough, Joyce and Yardy were only selected for the ODI squad. Hoggard and Panesar were only selected for the Test squad.[8]
Gough withdrew after the second ODI with a shin injury, and Onions was called up to replace him.[9]
A steady start of 60 for England before losing their first wicket turned sour as skipper Andrew Strauss fell for the second wicket, also at 60. It seemed that England were to fall cheaply as high-hitter Kevin Pietersen fell 28 runs later but Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood, echoing their February performance on the sub-continent, made a partnership of 322 (105 and 187 respectively.) The two, who many see as stand-ins for the unfit members of the team, along with the third stand-in Ian Bell (100*) kept the fledgling team alive, nobody else making a half-century before they declared on the second day.
The wicket proved to be helpful to the touring side too after a similar opening (the first and second wicket - a duck - falling cheaply on 28) and another duck leaving them at 68/4 however a well-paced strike rate from Mohammad Yousuf, making a double century in the nick of time as he stood until the last wicket, and a half century from skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, keeping his record against England alive, proved the team would stand as strong as the home team. Stephen Harmison's bowling, which had been under scrutiny over the Winter months, improved greatly at his least favourite pitch as he took 4-94 but the next best, Matthew Hoggard at 3-117 proved the tourists had victory in their sights. A special note must go to Pietersen who made a rare attempt at bowling for two overs, taking wicket keeper Kamran Akmal for 58 at figures of 1-11.
However, seeing as the second innings did not start for England until the fourth day a result seemed unlikely. Strauss made up for his first effort by making a 128 but little else from the team was worth mention as they declared a few overs into the last day, leaving the tourists with a deficit of 379 to chase in 73 overs. After Salman Butt fell from the first delivery to Hoggard, things seemed hopeful, even more so after Imran Farhat fell at 33 but Faisal Iqbal's slow, but firm scoring rate took them to before tea, leaving Inzy and Abdul Razzaq to bat out the last session for 73 before a draw was confirmed.
Tour Match: Pakistan v Northamptonshire (20-22 July)
With Inzamam-ul-Haq's run of half-centuries against England finally stopped, as he was caught by Kevin Pietersen off Steve Harmison's bowling for a duck, England recorded an innings victory over Pakistan to take a 1–0 lead into the third Test. In the first innings, Pakistan lost the last eight wickets for 29 to post 119 with no batsmen making a half Century; England surpassed that score for the loss of two wickets, and with Alastair Cook and Ian Bell both making hundreds (127 and 106* respectively), England could eventually declare near the end of day two having made 461. It took England 63 overs to clean up, with Harmison and Monty Panesar sharing the ten wickets evenly (the only wicket takers in both innings) with the help of wicket keeper Geraint Jones, who caught five despite his fractured finger. Panesar took his second five-wicket-haul in three months, and was praised by opposition coach Bob Woolmer[15]
As a result of a rib injury obtained during the course of the Test (and determined to be an internal injury rather than an external one [1]) the Pakistan Captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, was unable to bat for 4h20m in the Pakistan 2nd innings, or until the fall of the 5th wicket (whichever came first). As England took five wickets in the first session of the last day, he was able to come in at number 7 in the order.
Tour Match: Pakistan vs West Indies A (12-13 August)
Due to a waterlogged pitch, the match was rescheduled for the 13th but eventually abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Ovalgate or the August 2006 ball tampering controversy refers to an on-field incident when the umpires in-charge of the fourth test match between Pakistan and England at The Oval that escalated into Pakistani players' refusal to take to the field. Based on the cricket laws, the umpires declared that Pakistan has forfeited the game. The term Ovalgate was used by, amongst others, the BBC's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew and Five Live radio presenter Simon Mayo.[17].
Pakistan won the match by five wickets, after Scotland lost four wickets in the first eight overs and then four more in the remaining 42. Ryan Watson and Neil McCallum put on 116 for the fifth wicket, an ODI record partnership for Scotland, who played their first ODI for seven years.[19] Their innings also doubled the number of ODI fifties scored for Scotland.[20]
Pakistan won the match by five wickets. After bowling out four of England's upper order batsmen for fewer than 20 runs between them, Pakistan secured a comfortable win aided by Shahid Afridi who struck 28 off just 10 balls (22 of these in a single over).
This match marked the international debut for England's Stuart Broad and Michael Yardy. Yardy claimed his first wicket, and Broad his first two, at this level. Yardy also made an unbeaten 24 from 14 balls and later took the catch which dismissed Shahid Afridi.
Shoaib Akhtar was in the spotlight after television cameras caught him working on the ball. The pictures appeared to show Akhtar flicking his thumb at the ball. However, the ICC referee, Mr Mike Procter, upon analysis of the TV footage, decided that there was no case to answer on behalf of the Pakistani cricket team.[25]
