Random Cricket Photos Post 27




That’s Matthew Hoggard, the English fast bowler who played 67 Tests.

What’s he doing there, you may ask? Winning England a Test match. Interestingly, though, it wasn’t a match where Hoggard was in the XI. In fact, he didn’t play the entire series.

The picture is from the last day of the Karachi Test of the 2000 English tour of Pakistan, the final match of a three-Test series where the first two matches resulted in a draw. And in Karachi, it all came down to the wire. In fact, to the last session of the Test match.

England had to chase down 176 at a run rate of 4 in a minimum of 44 overs to win the series. If the bowling attack consisting of the fearsome pace battery and Saqlain Mushtaq wasn’t enough, Pakistan also had a plucky customer as their captain in Moin Khan. And then there was light. Actually, no light, which the Pakistani captain made good use of.

With wickets not coming, Khan’s tactics changed. The idea was to allow bad light to come into the picture and eke out a draw. And that’s how one of Mushtaq’s overs took eight minutes to complete. Four minutes were gobbled up to set a field for Waqar Younis when the clocks read 5.21.

Realizing that the batting of Hussain and Thorpe alone wouldn’t be enough in the light of blatant time-wasting by Khan and Co., England deputized their 1-Test-old Matthew Hoggard to an important job – manning the sight screen.

The fading light meant that the sight screen needed to be placed perfectly and a left-right combination at the wicket meant it needed frequent movement. England realized that this could have played into Pakistan’s hands and could give them a chance to indulge in some more time-wasting. Out came Hoggard and while the rest of the dressing room chewed nails, the Yorkshire bowler ran around to take the duties of moving the sight screen and ensuring the English batsmen in the middle have enough time to chase down 176.

And in almost no light, England secured a win from the penultimate delivery of the series.

Hoggard, who hadn’t bowled a single ball in the series, was given the David May award, a fun award given by the dressing room to the 12th man or substitute who finds himself at the front of the victory celebrations. Quite a deserving candidate!
Photo credit - Tom Shaw//All Sports

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