Cricket news: disappointment prevails for the Pakistan cricket fans
It has been a week of disappointments for Pakistan cricket team fans. Pakistan cricket team, after being in the spot light of match fixing scandal, brought another disappointment on the faces of their fans. They lost their first T20 international match against England at Cardiff in an emphatic manner.
It rained for much of the day, so the play was delayed for half an hour. It was obvious; the captain who will win the toss will elect to bowl first. England’s Captain Paul Collingwood won the toss, and he send Pakistan in. Pakistan did start off well. Ryan Sidebottom was hit for 3 boundaries in his first over. Shahzaib Hassan and Mohammad Yousuf laid a solid foundation. It was 48/1 in 6 overs. The arrival of Graeme Swann on the pitch was breathtaking. Swann, with a brilliant spell of 2/14 in four overs, in the middle of the innings, made sure that Pakistan did not get away with the momentum. Swann got both the set batsman Yousuf and Shahzaib. He didn’t only get these wickets, but made sure the struggle of the Pakistani batsman. It was a combination of brilliant spell of bowling by Swann, and good death bowling by Sidebottom, and Broad that made sure that Pakistan could only get 126/4 in 20 overs. The average score at the Cardiff has been 151. So it was a way below par scored.
England though, dropped 3 catches, but their ground fielding was excellent. They would have saved 15 to 20 runs in the field.
England didn’t have a great start. They were struck at 62/5, courtesy of a brilliant spell by Shoaib Akhtar. Shoaib Akhtar on his return bowled with pace and bounce, taking 2/23 in 4 overs. Shahid Afridi with his leg spin added two more wickets the total.
The stage was all set for Michael Yardy and Eoin Morgan. They added unbroken stand of 67 runs in 7.1 overs. They ensured a 5 wicket win in 17.1 overs. They were helped by some poor fielding in the outfield and couple of drop catches. Eoin Morgan reverse swept http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482; it went straight to Shoaib Akhtar and was dropped when the score was only 77/5 in the 12th over.
Pakistan has to look for their batting combinations. Yousuf at number 3 showed that he can play T20 cricket. He added 26 runs from just 18 balls. Number 4 position is bit of a worry for Pakistan. Fawad Alam on number 4 struggled to get his innings to some momentum, scoring just 20 runs of 29 balls. Fawad’s innings shifted the momentum towards England.
Pakistan’s big hitters Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzak should reconsider their batting positions. Umar Akmal the most talented T20 batsman in the line-up, bats at number 5, where he can only get 25 to 30 deliveries, regardless of any early collapses. Shahid Afridi the most dangerous hitter has been batting at number 6, where he can only get 10 to 15 deliveries. Abdul Razzak who has been a master blaster with the bat is batting at number 7, where he hardly gets a chance to bat. Pakistan needs to get one of these three players in, very early in the innings. Shoaib Akhtar and Yousuf performed very well with the bat and the bowl, but their efforts in the field are uncertain. Shoaib dropped a match changing catch. Kamran Akmal again dropped a sitter in the match. Yardy was dropped by Kamran when he was batting on 11. This was another turning point in the match. Yardy scored a match winning 35 of just 26 balls, and was awarded the man of the match award. Saeed Ajmal has been read by the English batsman. It will be a good test for him in the 2nd T20 match. Ajmal has to come up with a different plan.
The role of Abdul Razzak in the team is uncertain. He has been allotted number 7 position in the batting line-up, where he didn’t get his chance in the yesterdays match. Razzak opened the bowling for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. Razzak went for 20 in 2 overs. He looked tired in the field and lacked fitness.
If Pakistan wants to propose a challenge to this discipline and professional English side, they have to field well. They have to apply themselves on the wicket, while batting.
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