Monty Panesar spins England into control

12/01/2012

Cricket fans hoping England will still be ranked number one in the world when they take the field for this summer's first Test against the West Indies at Lord's may be heartened by news that they have taken charge of their latest tour match in the UAE, thanks to spinner Monty Panesar.

With the Test series against Pakistan looming, England's batsmen struggled in their first innings in Dubai on a turning pitch, being thankful to Alastair Cook's 133 to keep the team afloat as they reached 269-9 declared.

But today (January 12th) saw Panesar stake his Test claim by making the most of the helpful surface to claim 5-57 as the Pakistan Cricket Board XI struggled to 200-9 declared.

And in England's second innings, skipper Andrew Strauss (36 not out) was joined by Jonathan Trott, who has been short of runs so far on the tour but reached 39 not out by stumps as the pair took England to 82 without loss.

Monty Panesar made his Test debut for England on the 2005-06 tour of India, where his first Test victim was no less than the great Sachin Tendulkar.  

By Liz Johnstone