Kevin Pietersen diced with danger as he escaped two possible dismissals on the second day of the second Test as England reached 125 for two when rain forced an early lunch yesterday at Edgbaston.
Pietersen was 42 not out at the interval and Jonathan Trott was on 37 when a heavy downpour caused the interruption after play started 35 minutes late because of rain.
Pietersen, dropped twice on Friday, got another life on his overnight score of 36 off Mohammad Amir. An inside-edge on to his pad ballooned toward Umar Amin at gully, but the fielder, distracted by a leg before appeal, spilled a simple chance.
PHOTO: AFP
His received another controversial reprieve when on 41. As pace bowler Mohammad Asif approached his delivery stride, Pietersen started to pull away from his batting stance, but still played a half-hearted stroke and was caught by a diving Salman Butt at mid-off.
Pakistan claimed the catch, but South African umpire Marais Erasmus signaled dead ball after the catch was taken. Butt appeared confused and upset by the ruling, while Pietersen also reaffirmed his belief he was not ready to receive the ball.
A senior official said Erasmus had verbally called it “dead ball” before Asif had delivered the ball.
The laws of cricket state that an umpire “can call dead ball if for an adequate reason the striker is not ready for the delivery ... and if the ball is delivered, makes no attempt to play it.”
However, Pakistan were left frustrated because Pietersen had played the ball.
On Friday, Pakistan captain Butt saluted England’s pace attack.
Butt told reporters: “We’ve been doing this [batting] all our lives and we have to clean up our own mess, but we must give credit to the English bowling.”
“For the first 20 overs they didn’t give us literally anything to hit,” he said. “They used the conditions brilliantly. [James] Anderson again bowled brilliantly and kept the pressure on.”
Anderson had destroyed Pakistan in the first Test and on Friday he wound up with four for 20. Fellow paceman Stuart Broad weighed in with four for 38.
“We are bowling fantastically well and we’ve had slightly cloudy conditions which have suited us. We have not given them a sniff,” Broad said.
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