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win may have come at a heavy cost, with one-Test Hurricanes prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen forced off early with a suspected
It is calm, there is no bunny hop, no bucking bronco, the cat is not on a hot tin roof, and the goat has left the trampoline. Younis Khan looks like Younis Khan again. Younis Khan, the Pakistani batting legend.Earlier in the tour it hasnt been like this, it has been a horror comedy. At times it was as if gremlins were biting him, he was hopping across a road dressed as an elf, he had fallen off the back of a truck, a man who has forgotten how gravity works. He has five limbs, his left and right feet are in an eternal dance off against each other, and hes auditioning to play the plastic bag in the American Beauty reboot. Thats what Twitter thought. Batting coaches and cricket analysts probably just combusted upon watching it.In one shot his back foot was dragging towards square leg as his front foot went forward and across in the other direction; his bat was in the middle of this, missing the ball. There were leg glances that even if he had middled the ball he had jumped so far across the wicket he could have middled them onto his stumps. A simple forward defence turned into a weird dance move with a kicking back leg. Another delivery and his hands are thrusting out as if he is trying to punch the ball, not hit it, and his feet go backwards. Another leg glance ends with him using his bat as a crutch so he doesnt fall over.And that is just a taste of how bad Younis had got. At Lords, even his leaves were an extraordinary dramatic contemporary dance move that conveyed emotions of worry and doubt. It was a trigger movement that was squat, charge and hope.Either Younis Khan, the Pakistani batting legend, had been replaced by some eager frightened replica, or Younis Khan, the Pakistani batting legend, had convinced himself that this was a batting method that could somehow work. Both didnt make sense. Younis found it hard to play his regular shots as he propelled himself at the ball like he was a secret service agent and the ball was a bullet.33, 25, 1, 18, 31 and 4 were all he had to show for it on what have been tracks that several other Pakistani batsmen have been good on.Was he over thinking it, trying to get in line so much that he was jumping there? Were the pitches outside Asia getting to a man who didnt have young reflexes? Had no one in the changeroom taken him aside and said: Um, Younis, dude, whats going on? Was this the end, how the great man would go, launching himself to his own doom?At Younis age, the slightest sign of weakness is seen as the end. This wasnt a subtle sign; it was a massive jumping neon one. But every Test Younis had been paring back his kangaroo technique a little. By the time he got to Edgbaston, he might not have been making runs, but at least he was trying to get there.Today he got there. There was still the Younis squat, but there wasnt the Khan thrust. He stood in his crease, waited for the ball, his legs usually stayed where he wanted them, and when the ball came he played a Younis appropriate shot to them. He might have still gone across his crease, but he did it with his head screwed on and his feet often (as much as he ever does) touching the ground.It was a batsman of balance, patience and skill, making runs when the conditions were in his favour and his team needed a lot of them. He played all his classics, strike rotated, spinner milked, and quicks handled. He held his batting partners hand as he got nervous and went about building a total that Pakistan would need to win the game.Younis form was so good and off-putting to England that they reviewed a ball he middled. And compared to every other day in this series he middled a lot. A sweep off Moeen was so muscular it had its own throbbing bicep and a six went further than a 40-plus man should be able to hit anything.When he brought up his 50 it was a shot the Younis of Lords would have struggled to play. It was short and wide from Anderson, Younis waited and pounced, instead of pouncing and hoping. The ball disappeared through point. It was a shot so Younis, the Pakistani batting legend, it was practically autographed.Later he would play another, even better. As the ball cracked through backward point you couldnt help but wonder where this calm, skilful, and patient batting had been all series. Pakistan have been so close to winning this series, what they really needed was this Younis, the Pakistani batting legend, to arrive.Asad Shafiq made being on 99 look like a Japanese horror film; Younis made it look like a Sunday afternoon walk. This despite a new ball for England that was moving. The wicket of his captain Misbah. And the gift from Iftikhar. Younis was on 99 for all of it. And yet at his end, it was serene. When Stuart Broad bowled a searching ball in and around off stump, Younis moved smoothly into the line, dropped his hands softly, middled the ball and wandered up the pitch like he was checking on his azaleas.Even when he celebrated his hundred there was no leap of joy. The leaping had gone, this was just batting. His team needed him, so he made a hundred. It was no different to the other 31 Test hundreds he has made. It was just number 32 for the Pakistani batting legend. Custom Carlton Fisk Jersey . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Nellie Fox Jersey Large . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. http://www.customwhitesoxjersey.com/custom-luis-aparicio-jersey-large-251p.html . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Jeff Keppinger Jersey Large . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. Custom White Sox Jerseys . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. The Hurricanes big men came to the rescue in a 37-27 win over the Blues in Wellington which keeps them in the hunt for Super Rugbys top qualifying spot.All four of the home sides tries went to tight forwards, including a second-half double to lock Vaea Fifita as they ended any realistic play-offs hopes the Blues may have harboured.Leading by 10 points early in the second half, the Blues fell away to suffer their sixth loss of the season, leaving them needing a miracle over the last two rounds to snaffle a play-off wildcard.The Hurricanes are almost guaranteed of play-off rugby after notching a ninth win but they will have top spot on their mind.They are two points behind the competition-leading Chiefs and one shy of the second-placed Crusaders.Last years top qualifiers emerged victorious in a game brimming with clean line breaks, with disgruntled coach Chris Boyd comparing it to a game of touch rugby at halftime as they trailed 24-17.They were more controlled in the second spell and, with five-eighth Beauden Barrett slotting seven-from-seven shots in a 17-point haul, they held on for a fourth successive defeat of their northern rivalls.ddddddddddddThe win may have come at a heavy cost, with one-Test Hurricanes prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen forced off early with a suspected broken forearm, which would end his season.After an early exchange of penalties, the game exploded to life with five tries in the space of 13 minutes.They came in alternate order, with Blues loose forwards Jerome Kaino (two) and Kara Pryor crossing, along with Hurricanes front-rowers Reggie Goodes and Dane Coles.The game settled into a scoreless 20 minutes, broken by a penalty to inside centre Piers Francis to put the Blues 27-17 ahead before Barrett slotted successive three-pointers.Fifita powered onto a delicate short pass from halfback TJ Perenara to bag his maiden Super Rugby try and put the Hurricanes ahead for the first time.The athletic lock doubled that tally near the end as his team took advantage of a fading Blues defensive line.It was possibly the last home game of the year for the Hurricanes, who complete the regular season away to the Waratahs and Crusaders. 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