da bet7： Salman Butt atoned for some of the mistakes of the second day with a valuable third Test hundred for Pakistan at the Bellerive Oval
Osman Samiuddin at Bellerive Oval16-Jan-2010
Salman Butt: “Anybody in his (Yousuf’s) place would’ve been like that so I don’t mind even if he said something. We’ve played enough cricket not to think about these small things”•Getty Images
Salman Butt atoned for some of the mistakes of the second day with avaluable third Test hundred for Pakistan at the Bellerive Oval. Butt’ston couldn’t take Pakistan past the follow-on, but it helped pushAustralia to bat again in any case, taking a little bit more time out ofthe Test and improving Pakistan’s chances of escaping a 12th successivedefeat to the hosts.Butt was blamed by his captain Mohammad Yousuf in unusually candid sentiments for his “lazy running” which led to two critical run-outs onthe second afternoon, of Yousuf himself, and Umar Akmal. Butt, however,played down both the dismissals and notions of a potentially strainedrelationship with his captain because of it or that his hundred made upfor the mistakes.”When a batsman makes runs in the shape of a century, it isalways a good feeling,” Butt said. “I don’t think it has to do with therun-outs because they are part of the game and we have to carry on. It’snot happened for the first time in the game. It happened in the first Testwith [Simon] Katich and [Shane] Watson and both were in the 90s. This is part and parcel and you have to carry on and can’t think about what hashappened.”Butt said he hadn’t read what Yousuf had said, (“I didn’t ask you,” he shotback when a reporter told him anyway) but that the captain – “like anelder brother,” Butt said – would have been justified for expressing thosesentiments. “I haven’t heard anything and even if he has said so it maybe itis because he is the best player in the side and obviously the team neededhim at the time,” Butt said.”Anybody in his place would’ve been like that so I don’t mind even if hesaid something. We’ve played enough cricket not to think about these smallthings. Ok this happened, alright he is our best player no doubt and itwould’ve been very good had he stayed on and scored a big hundred but ifsomething has happened you can’t keep on moaning about it.”Butt’s hundred was his second in Australia, following his maiden one inSydney five years ago, and two more fifties mean he is the rare modernPakistani batsmen who has done well against them, in this country. “Wehaven’t played much Test cricket over the last two years,” he said.”Recently we have played about six, so it’s like a comeback after a year’slay-off from Test cricket. It is the most difficult cricket that exists.Twenty20 and ODI are much easier formats because this is a Test ofeverything, your nerves and fitness and the pitch conditions change.”Maybe the surfaces suit my game. Some of the shots that are my scoringshots are easier to play in Australia than they are in other places. But Ihaven’t played much Test cricket around the world. Out of my 27 Tests, Ihave played about six here, 5-6 in Pakistan, one in England, five in Indiaso it hasn’t been all over the world.”