Cricket Update: 1st ODI, England vs. Pakistan at Durham- Pakistan feels the pressure as England pile on the runs
England posted a formidable total of 274/6 against Pakistan in the first innings of the first of 5 ODI matches at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 won the toss, decided to make use of the overcast conditions, and sent the opposition in. The decision though did not prove to be the best one. England with the help of 87 from Steve Davie and 69 from Jonathan Trott helped England post a big total in a rain curtailed innings of 41 overs.
The opening pair of Steve Davies and Andrew Strauss put on a solid opening stand of 78 for the first wicket. There was hardly any assistance for the seamers from Pakistan that Afridi had expected. The 2 left handers made good use of the fielding restriction in the first few overs. The veteran Shoaib Akhtar was the best of the lot for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-c64444 could not make too much of an impact on his debut. The left arm bowler seemed a bit overawed by the whole situation, and was able to bowl just 5.3 overs and went off the field with an injury. Umar Gul did get the ball to move away from the right handers later on but could not produce any edges behind the wicket.
Pakistan got the first breakthrough in the 12th over when Andrew Strauss was bowled by Saeed Ajmal on a doosra. The English captain scored 41 runs from 45 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Next man in was Jonathan Trott, one of the heroes of Lords test. The right hander continued from where he had left off in the test and put on a good stand with Davies for the 2nd wicket.
The duo added 75 runs for the 2nd wicket, and the scoring rate did not dip below 6 at any time for the hosts. The wicketkeeper batsman Steve Davies was finally dismissed after scoring 87 from 67 balls with13 fours. He was caught behind the stumps by Kamran Akmal off Saeed Ajmal.
The T-20 captain Paul Collingwood came out to join Trott, and started in a positive manner. The partnership did not last long though and Collingwood was Saeed Ajmal’s 3rd victim, as he went for a big shot and was caught by Fawad Alam after scoring just 14 runs from 15 balls with one 4 and a six.
Eion Morgan, the man of the series for the 2 T-20s was in next, and started playing his shots right from the go. He was also sent back early. Morgan was caught behind off Afridi after scoring 13 runs. Ravi Bopara was in next and Alongside Trott started to pile on some quick runs.
Trott was dismissed for 69, as he chopped one to his stumps for Ajmal’s 4th wicket, Ravi Bopara however went on to punish the Pakistan attack, as he scored 35 from 27 balls to take England’s score to 274 for 6 in the allotted 41 overs.
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