Pakistan versus England, 4th ODI review
The fans at Lord’s cricket stadium have seen a cracking display of ODI cricket. It was again the old pro, reverse swing, who did the trick for Pakistan. Pakistan did square the series 2-2, reaching the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl to play the series decider.
Pakistan cricket has always been blessed with a bunch of highly talented individuals, but they never gel together as a team. The 4th ODI match was an exception where Pakistan did play well as a team. It wasn’t the extra ordinary individual performance
that took away the match from England. It was a complete team performance that took Pakistan to a series decider.
After what has been happening off the field, Pakistan is still able to keep those things away. Pakistan captain, Shahid Afirdi was asked in the pre-match presentation about Ijaz Butt’s statement. He said, “I am not concerned about the things that are not
directly related to cricket. I don’t know what everyone has said. We are here to play good cricket. Our main focus is on the field performance. We are here to level the series”.
Pakistan started off their innings in a positive manner. Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal both added 62 for the first wicket. Stuart Broad again pitched it short, and was responsible for the demise of Kamran Akmal. Graeme Swann again showed what a professional
he is, striking early with two quick wickets of Yousuf and Asad. Hafeez remained calm and went on to make a gritty 64. Mohammad Hafeez and Fawad Alam both steadied the ship, adding 44 runs. Swann again made some big strikes. Swann first dismissed a settled
Hafeez and then a struggling Fawad.
Shahid Afridi played with great intent and attitude. He hit a 6 off Swann, in the very first over he faced. He formed a partnership with Umar Akmal to rescue the innings, from a bit of a collapse. Afridi after playing an entertaining knock of 37 of 22 balls
holed out in the deep. Stuart Broad’s short balls have been doing the trick for him as he picked up Umar Akmal by another short ball. Both the batsmen were sent back to the pavilion just before the batting power play.
The score was 210/7, when Umar Akmal departed. The score of 240 was looking beyond the imagination. It was left up to Umar Gul and the dashing Abdul Razzak. Razzak piled up some big runs, striking it powerfully. The last two overs of the innings went for
42 runs, courtesy Abdul Razzak’s 20-ball-44, which earned him the man of the match award. Umar Gul was a silent partner, who just had to give Razzak the strike. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 went on to score a 265.
England started the innings in an emphatic manner. A 113-run stand between Andrew Strauss and Davies laid the foundation for England. Saeed Ajmal, broke the partnership as Davies chopped it on to the stumps. Shoaib Akhtar looked out of sorts in his first
spell, but he came back brilliantly by taking the wicket of a dangerous looking Andrew Strauss. Jonathan Trott was struggling from the start of the innings, as he played on a http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 drifter. Collingwood has been struggling for form, this summer and
Umar Gul brought his demise with a bowl that was straight enough to go through his defence.
England was 149/4. Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal bowled some tight overs in the middle. The pressure was building on the returning Ian Bell, as Morgan had just arrived. Ian Bell struggled to pick Saeed Ajmal as he lofted it straight to extra cover, using
41 deliveries for his 27.
The ball was reversing for both Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar. Yardy and Bresnan were the victims of the reversing ball. Shoaib added two more to his tally, ending up with 3/59. Umar Gul was on song as he cleaned up the last two English wickets, and ended up
with match figures of 4/32.
Pakistan won by 38 runs. It will be cracker of a decider. The white ball might swing at Southampton. If it does, Pakistan has the bowlers to exploit the conditions.
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