"The Beast" & Razzaq posed a threat: Paul Collingwood

A Test match hundred anywhere in the world is special but mine against Pakistan at Lord's could not have been more perfect.(After being dropped once and than not walking after a edge)

The decor, the history, the people, everything is unique about Lord's. I guess St Andrews is the same for golfers or Wimbledon for tennis players.

The feelings are very hard to describe as you come back in when you've made a hundred, with all the members lined up in the Long Room.

A couple of days before the Test we were talking about getting up on the famous honours board and that gave me a little more drive.

Everything fell into place. My rhythm was excellent from ball one and I felt confident right the way through.

Now my name is going up on the board and no one can take it off.

After making 96 against Pakistan in Lahore, I wanted to make sure I didn't miss out again.

I chipped the spinner Danish Kaneria over mid-off to get to 99 and next ball flicked around on the leg side. It was a great relief.

I was a bit disappointed to get out when I did - I got a bit bogged down then missed on from Kaneria - but I would have loved to have gone on to get past 200.

I don't know why my record against Pakistan has been so good, although three of my 10 Tests so far have come against them so that certainly helps.

Of course that was one of four centuries by England batsmen in the match, which demonstrates the high standards we set ourselves.

Ian Bell came in straight after two centurions, which is a hard act to follow, and played some great strokes to impose himself on the opposition.

With that extra pressure of captaincy, Andrew Strauss showed how mentally strong he is by reaching three figures in the second innings, although it came after a bit of a hiccup.

Belly took that run-out really well, although if he hadn't already made 100 in the match, he might have had a different reaction.

We had a bit of a chuckle afterwards but Straussy hit the nail on the head when he said being on 99 can turn sane men into idiots.

Overall, we wanted to approach the game with confidence, which was sometimes hard to do after the disappointments of the Sri Lanka one-day series.

But it is a different form of the game and we proved we are a very good Test side.

It was a little bit disappointing not to bowl Pakistan out for a second time but our play overall was excellent, especially the batting and fielding.

There was a fair bit of discussion over what target we should set Pakistan and how long we should give them, although the decision comes down to the captain and coach.

Straussy knows the Lord's pitch well - he's played there for a long time - and knew with a quick outfield we would need runs on the board.

Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq are both potentially destructive batsmen who posed a threat down the order.

In hindsight, people are going to criticise but hindsight's always a good thing.

If they had got off to a great start, with 100 overs to knock off 350, you may wonder why you have made it so easy for them.

I think we made the right decision but they played really well under pressure.

They were tough to get out but we've got three more Tests to go so hopefully we can put them under pressure again and get the win we need.

In the first Test you don't want to lose because a four-Test series is like a long game of chess.

There's plenty of time yet, and Freddie Flintoff is about to come back and bolster the seam attack.

Thanks for the article Shez, he most certainly is a threat, not only to the English cricket team in terms of cricket, but to the English cricket team in terms of well-being. And not only in terms of well-being to the English cricket team, but in terms of well-being to anyone in approx. 12 light years' vicinity.

hindsight - what utter rot. if u cant back urself to defend 300+ on last day ur not a test nation.

and by having this mentality one plays into hands of likes of afridi.

for this moronic attitude i hope they get absolutely shelled.

I think this shows how Afridi and Razzaq have a huge psychological impact on the opposition even in test matches. The two are much more important to the team than their statistics suggest and they influence matches more than one would initially think.

If they weren't in the team, perhaps England would have declared earlier and put Pakistan into bat on the 4th day. What might have happened then, who can say? Perhaps Pakistan would have been bowled out.

Very interesting. Agreed, good post BB

Razzaq will be missed in this aspect of the game

link plz

Not a single mention of yousaf or inzi..

True!!

As for England they still remember the Carnage from Karachi last year when Afridi and Razzaq between smashed them for 8 fours and 5 sixes. Razzaq went on to obliterate a 22 ball 50.

England are seriously scared of the destructive firepower we possess and if Humayun Farhat was also in that lineup they would have not have declared at all!!

Remeber that well.

Afridi was going along smashing everything but got runout by Moyo.