Cricket / Frank Gregan / 01 December 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

On a rare occasion when all of the so-called Big Eight of cricket were in action in the same week, Frank Gregan tells us what happened and why the names of two particular 18 year-olds are worth remembering.

"Pakistan revealed their own nineteen year old gem during this test match, Umar Akmal. The brother of wicket-keeper Kamran scored a total of 204 runs during his first two innings at Test match level. Considering that the Pakistani total for both innings was 550, that was some debut by another young man who looks to have a great future ahead of him."

Last week could prove to be significant in the history of test cricket. All of the Big Eight were in action, six of them in test matches. The Australians put the West Indies to the sword and the gulf in class was there for all to see during the first Test match. The only bright spot for Chris Gayle and his men was a sparkling century on debut by 19 year old Adrian Barath.

Barath had given notice of his talent during the CLT20 tournament when he helped Trinidad and Tobago into the final. This was a much tougher proposition - Test cricket against the masters of sledging who take great delight in intimidating debutants but Barath was more than equal to the task. His batting was magnificent!

Brian Lara has always believed that Barath was destined for great things and it looks likely that his prophecy will come to fruition and that Barath will be on the scene for a very long time to come.

Over at Kanpur, India responded to the criticism of their flat wickets by hammering Sri Lanka, Sreesanth being the main man, with a great spell of bowling during the first innings in which he took 5 for 75. That contribution helped in no small part to put the hosts 1-0 up with one to play and breathe life into a series that was screaming for a positive result after a run-fest/bore draw (delete as appropriate) in the first Test.

England and South Africa continued to produce Jekyll and Hyde performances in the one-day series. Both sides have played some excellent cricket although neither have done so in the same match which has resulted in a wash out and three one-sided contests. England won't be too concerned about that, they'll be delighted to take a 2-1 lead into the final game knowing that the worst case scenario is a drawn series..

Easily the game of the week was at Dunedin though where New Zealand started their three match test series against the Pakistanis. The first contest was an absolute corker and resulted in a first test match win for the Kiwis in over a year. It was a nip and tuck affair and could have gone either way but in the end the Black Caps were gifted their win by some inept Pakistani fielding.

In total the butter-fingered Pakistanis dropped four crucial catches but there's no doubt which one will be keeping skipper Mohammed Yousuf awake. Imran Farhat dropped Daniel Vettori during the first innings when the Kiwi skipper had only a single to his name. He went on to make 99! That was a match losing mistake!

Pakistan revealed their own nineteen year old gem during this test match, Umar Akmal. The brother of wicket-keeper Kamran scored a total of 204 runs during his first two innings at Test match level. Considering that the Pakistani total for both innings was 550, that was some debut by another young man who looks to have a great future ahead of him.

The final day of this match was one of high drama, one of those great days in Test cricket when all three results were still possible with only three sessions left. In the end the Pakistanis came up 32 runs short leaving their skipper to rue the standard of their fielding, and in particular the Vettori drop.

There is very little to choose between these two sides and hopefully the second Test will be as good as the first. It gets underway at 11pm London time on Wednesday night in Wellington. New Zealand are available to back at [2.9], Pakistan at [3.7] and with rain being forecast for at least three of the days the draw is at [2.74]. Given the likelihood of disruptions throughout the contest the recommendation is to back the draw although the cold and windy conditions will make for difficult batting.

So last week will be remembered for two one-sided contests, the Indian bowlers conquering a flat track and a tremendous test match between the Kiwis and Pakistan. A decent enough legacy but in years to come the week may well be remembered as the time when two giants of the game made their Test debuts.