Cricket News: Umar Gul reigns over the Oval as Pakistan roar back into ODI series
Umar Gul perhaps has the same amount of love for the Oval as he has for his neighbourhood in Nawakeli, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 sneak home against England in the third
match of the five match series.
Gul, who claimed the best ever figures in T20 cricket during last year’s World championship when he blew away http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 with a spell of 5 wickets for 6 runs at the same ground, ran through the England batting order with a fierce
display of pace bowling.
It all seemed impossible when the hosts were cruising to another win in order to seal the series with only 41 runs needed off the last 12 overs. But Gul had other ideas. After having the settled Eoin Morgan picked out at deep square
leg, he sent the stumps of Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad flying in all directions with two sensational deliveries that reminded one of his dream spell against the Kiwis more than a year ago.
He capped off his magical spell by having Swann caught at cover by an elated Shahid Afridi on the last ball of his spell.
At the end of it all, his figures read 10-0-42-6; an astonishing spell from a bowler who was all over the place in the first match of the series when he was conceding more than ten runs an over.
The last wicket to fall was that of James Anderson, who played down the wrong line as Abdur Razzaq aimed for the stumps and succeeded in flattening the middle and the leg stump to spark wild celebrations in the Pakistani camp.
This was the Pakistani team’s first win since the spot-fixing scandal broke.
A victory looked unlikely for Pakistan when they posted a total of 241 in near perfect batting conditions. However, for the first time in the series their openers failed to get going and both of them departed with a mere 8 runs
on the board. The problems were compounded when the usually dependable veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Yusuf-c77475 fell to James Anderson’s in swinger for 16, to leave his team tottering at 31/3.
Asad Shafiq and Fawad Alam then rescued the men in green with a half century stand for the fourth wicket which ended when newcomer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shafiq-c89281, who has looked full of confidence in his first four ODIs, smeared a delivery from Graeme
Swann into the hands of Morgan in the deep.
It only became worse for the visitors when Umar Akmal fell to Bresnan after making a mere 14 run contribution.
Pakistan then were brought back in the game with wonderful partnership for the sixth wicket between captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 and Fawad Alam. The partnership ended when Alam chipped left arm spinner Yardy into the hands a cover fielder.
Alam scored 64 runs off 86 balls in his workman like innings. His departure was followed by a bizarre run out, as Afridi took evasive action after completing a second run and guided the ball onto the stumps at the non striker’s
end.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 struck couple of feisty b.lows at the end of the innings and along with Umar Gul succeeded in posting what later turned out to be a match winning total.
Umar Gul was named man of the match for his outstanding bowling, and he was understandably elated with his efforts. He attributed his success to hard work and the relentless efforts of the coaching staff led by former legendary
bowler Waqar Younis.
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