Inzi confident of acrimony-free England series
England must adapt to series challenge, says Trescothick
From Our Sports Correspondent

MULTAN—Pakistan Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is looking forward to a controversy-free tour by England after previous series have been marked by acrimonious incidents. “We are not interested in getting involved in any controversies,” Inzamam said on the eve of the first Test on Friday. “Our complete focus is on cricket. Whatever acrimony has happened in the past is history for us.
“Players of both sides are mature people and know what is expected of them. I think the people want to see a good hard fought cricket series and no controversies,” he added.
Test series between the two countries have historically been prone to controversy, starting in 1974 when Pakistan alleged the pitch condition had been changed during a match at Lords in which England left-arm spinner Derek Underwood took 8-51.
In 1987, there was the infamous finger-wagging confrontation between England captain Mike Gatting and Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana at Faisalabad. A day’s play was lost when the umpires refused to continue the match until Gatting apologised.
When Pakistan toured England in 1992, former pace bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were accused of tampering with the ball to gain reverse swing.
England won their last tour to Pakistan in 2000 thanks to a six-wicket victory in near-darkness in Karachi, which some Pakistan players described as a farce.
Inzamam said he did not foresee any problems with England’s use of substitutions, which caused a row with Australia during the recent Ashes series and was discussed at the captains’ meeting in Sydney last month.
“There was lot of discussion held on the substitution of players and players coming off the field for breaks. I think the ICC (International Cricket Council) is very clear about this issue and the umpires are there to govern the game properly,” he said.
England Captain and opener Marcus Trescothick feels England have prepared well for the first test with Pakistan starting on Saturday despite the loss of Michael Vaughan and defeat in the Lahore tour match. But he said on Friday: “We have to switch on for the test. We have to be mentally up to it and we have to adapt ourselves to the different challenges thrown at us in the series”.
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said: “Even if they had not lost the tour match or their captain I would have thought we would go into the test with equal chances.
“But I am confident about our chances given the way we have prepared and how we have played in our last few series”.
Inzamam highlighted leg-spinner Danish Kaneria as their key player. “He has bowled well in the last two years and he has won matches for us,” he said.
Kaneria made his test debut against England in 2000 without much success but has since taken 132 wickets in 28 tests.
Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar returns after last playing for Pakistan in January before being recalled from Australia due to fitness problems.
Trescothick said: “Shoaib is obviously very quick and no doubt he has thrown different challenges at us at different points of his career. He is a good reverse swing bowler and he is going to be a tough challenge for us”.