Scandal-hit Pakistan well beaten by England
Julian Guyer
Pakistan's latest match in their controversial tour of Britain ended
in a five-wicket Twenty20 defeat by world champions England at Sophia
Gardens here on Sunday.
England, set a seemingly modest 127 for victory, collapsed to 62 for
five.
But left-handers Eoin Morgan (38 not out) and Michael Yardy (35 not
out) saw England to 129 for five with an unbroken partnership of 67 as
they won with 17 balls to spare.
Victory, in their first match in this format since they beat
Australia in the World Twenty20 final in Barbados in May, put England
1-0 up in this two-match series ahead of the second match here on
Tuesday.
Very happy
However, Afridi told reporters: "The way my boys played I am very
happy. I know it's not a perfect total but the way our boys played was
good.
"At one time it looked like we were going to win this game. But the
way Morgan and Yardy played, they did very well.
This was Pakistan's first fixture since Test captain Salman Butt and
bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif were suspended by the
International Cricket Council after newspaper allegations the trio were
involved in a betting scam that saw no-balls deliberately bowled in last
week's fourth Test at Lord's.
There had been concerns about possible spectator reaction to the
tourists in the light of the revelations.
Misfields
But Pakistan were well-received by a crowd of just under 11,000 at
Cardiff's Sophia Gardens with the only jeers coming as a result of
misfields.
"It was good, the people enjoyed the game," Afridi said. ``We got
some good support as well." Off-spinner Graeme Swann led England's
attack with two wickets for 14 runs
And with man-of-the-match Yardy returning figures of one for 21 it
meant England's eight overs of spin yielded three wickets for just 35
runs.
"I'm absolutely delighted," Collingwood told reporters.
"Our strategies seem to be working in the Twenty20 form of the game.
It has been a tough week but the guys focused 100 percent on their
cricket, and we enjoyed our win."
Eight boundaries
Pakistan found runs hard to come by after losing the toss and only
managed eight boundaries in their innings.
But England's batsmen stuttered too.
Ravi Bopara, in for the dropped Kevin Pietersen, began the slide when
he was well caught by Mohammad Yousuf, running back from mid-on, off
fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.
Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi then had a wicket in his first
over with a quick leg-spinner that opposing captain Paul Collingwood
could only edge onto his stumps. Steven Davies made 33 at better than a
run-a-ball before whipping seamer Umar Gul off his pads straight to
Wahab Riaz.
And England lost another wicket when Luke Wright missed an intended
sweep off Afridi and was bowled for a second ball nought.
Pakistan should really have had a sixth wicket when Morgan on 13
reverse-swept Afridi only for Akhtar to somehow drop the simple chance
at short third man.
Earlier, Pakistan's total would have been a lot worse had Umar Akmal,
who top-scored with 35 not out, been caught on five.
Swann took his knack of taking wickets early in a Test spell into
Twenty cricket with a burst of two for five in seven balls that reduced
Pakistan to 56 for three inside nine overs.
He had Yousuf (26) well caught by Morgan, running in from midwicket
and then beat Shazaib (21) in the flight with wicketkeeper Davies
completing a neat legside stumping. Tim Bresnan though reprieved Umar
Akmal when he dropped a head-high catch at short midwicket off
Collingwood. |