Pakistan become number one Test team – England’s Wood backed to be one-day wonder

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KARACHI, Aug 22, (AFP): Pakistan supplanted arch rivals India to become the world’s number one Test side on Monday for the first time since the International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced the rankings system in 2003.

A waterlogged outfield in Trinidad forced a draw in the fourth and final Test between the West Indies and India, a match the tourists had to win to hold onto top spot.

Pakistan, who play their home games in the United Arab Emirates, won the fourth and final Test of their recent series in England to seal a 2-2 draw.

Pakistan are only the fifth team after Australia, England, India and South Africa to top the rankings.

The top ranking is also a personal achievement for 42-year-old Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who took charge of the team two months after the 2010 spot-fixing scandal in England which resulted in five-year bans for then skipper Salman Butt and seam bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.

Pakistan have played in the UAE since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.

Pakistan’s batsmen can expect Mark Wood to cause a “lot of problems with the white ball” when they face the England fast bowler during the upcoming one-day international series.

The warning has come from Paul Collingwood, Wood’s captain at north-east county Durham.

Wood, 26, has been troubled by persistent ankle injuries and hasn’t played for England since a Test match against Pakistan in Dubai last October.

However, he has been included in England’s squad for a five-match ODI series against Pakistan starting in Southampton on Wednesday.

Wood showed just how good a bowler he can be with a brilliant spell of four for 25 in his maximum four overs during Durham’s seven-run Twenty20 Blast semi-final win over Yorkshire at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Wood took two wickets for no runs in three balls to dismiss current England batsmen Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance before accounting for Liam Plunkett and Tim Bresnan.

He bowled Bairstow (three) with a near yorker-length delivery and dismissed Ballance for a duck when the left-hander’s glance was brilliantly caught at leg gully by diving former England all-rounder Collingwood.

Meanwhile Wood, who topped speeds of 90mph and moved the ball in the air and off the seam, made life so difficult for Joe Root, one of the world’s best batsmen, that the England star said: “He made me look as if I was batting with my hands and feet on backwards.”

Wood was unable to repeat his heroics in the final, taking one for 25 as Durham — who managed a modest total of 153 for eight — suffered a four-wicket defeat by Northamptonshire.

But former England all-rounder Collingwood was in no doubt of Wood’s Twenty20 quality.

Play was called off without a ball bowled because of a wet outfield on the fourth day of the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand at Kingsmead on Monday.

It was the second successive day on which no play was possible, almost certainly condemning the match to end in a draw.

The series will then hinge on the second and final Test starting at Centurion on Saturday.

No play had taken place since rain fell during the lunch break on the second day, when New Zealand were on 15 for two in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 263.

After an inspection before the scheduled resumption on Monday, the umpires said underfoot conditions remained too soft on an outfield which was re-seeded in June and suffered damage during a freak storm in July and rain on Saturday and Sunday.

After two further inspections, play was abandoned.

The difficulties with the weather in Durban have come at the same time that the fourth Test between the West Indies and India in Trinidad has seen three successive days called off due to a wet outfield.

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