Pakistan bowlers made to work for rewards

NEW ROAD, England: All Pakistan’s bowlers were made to work hard for their success on the second day against Worcestershire as Joe Clarke, the highly-rated 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman, and Tom Kohler-Cadmore struck half-centuries here on Saturday.

Rahat Ali, an incumbent in the Test side, finished with 2 for 29 but both he and Wahab Riaz, who has also played the opening two Tests, could find themselves vulnerable if Pakistan opt to change the balance of their attack for Edgbaston.

Imran Khan and Sohail Khan, both right-arm quicks, were given the most work by Azhar Ali but only managed a wicket apiece in their 19 overs.

Worcestershire’s openers, Daryl Mitchell and Tom Fell, provided a solid start with a stand of 77 which was broken when Rahat removed Fell. Mitchell was yorked on the stroke of lunch by Sohail, one short of his fifty, and the early part of the afternoon was dominated by two of Worcestershire’s talented young batsmen.

Clarke is firmly on England’s radar — he was part of the recent England Lions squad - and brought up his fifty, which included a six of Zulfiqar Babar, off 68 balls before being caught behind off Rahat.

Kohler-Cadmore, 21, also took Zulfiqar for a six on his way to bringing up fifty off 96 deliveries. He was the last wicket to fall before the draw was called when he picked out Imran in the deep.

Before then, Wahab and Imran had each struck to make inroads into the middle order. But there was no chance for Pakistan to bat again in the two-day fixture which would appear to make it unlikely they will make changes to their top order for the third Test which starts on August 3.

Score Board

Worcestershire won toss

Pakistanis 1st innings

Shan Masood c Clarke b Kervezee   67

Sami Aslam c Kohler-Cadmore b Hepburn  17

*Azhar Ali b Barnard 81

Iftikhar Ahmed not out        41

†M Rizwan not out    49

Extras (b 5, lb 1)      6

Total (3 wickets dec; 80 overs)      261

Did not bat: Asad Shafiq, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan

Fall: 1-33, 2-157, 3-181

Bowling: Barnard 15-3-30-1; Morris 10-4-19-0; Hepburn 15-4-49-1; Shantry 10-2-30-0; Rhodes 24-2-89-0; Kervezee 6-0-38-1

Worcestershire 1st innings

*D K H Mitchell b Sohail       49

T C Fell c Azhar b Rahat      35

†J M Clarke c Rizwan b Rahat         58

T Kohler-Cadmore c Imran b Zulfiqar        73

A N Kervezee c Rizwan b Wahab     1

R A Whiteley c Azhar b Imran         7

G H Rhodes not out   14

E G Barnard not out  2

Extras (b 9, lb 8, nb 4)        21

Total (6 wickets; 76 overs)  260

Did not bat: A Hepburn, J D Shantry, C A J Morris

Fall: 1-77, 2-120, 3-176, 4-187, 5-216, 6-250

Bowling: Imran 19-3-60-1 (2nb); Sohail 19-3-56-1; Zulfiqar 14-3-54-1 (1nb); Rahat 11-2-29-2; Wahab 12-2-40-1 (1nb); Iftikhar 1-0-4-0