England clinch series with deciding win
A series that had delivered pulsating cricket and acrimony in almost equal proportions concluded at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl when England won the fifth match in the NatWest Series at the Rose Bowl by 121 runs to claim victory 3-2.
The recent weeks of claims, and then counter claims, regarding spot-fixing and corruption through Pakistan’s tour of England have led to a cooling of relations between the cricketing hierarchies of both countries but also a definite raising of the temperature between the players.
Shoaib Akhtar is rarely a man need of motivation when in the right mood and he was in a fire-up mood as he opened the bowling, once England won the toss and captain Andrew Strauss elected to bat first.
At Lord’s on Monday he and opening partner Steve Davies had created a solid platform for England with a century stand for the first wicket, but this time they had only put on 31 by the sixth over when Davies (17) was stumped by Kamran Akmal, off the bowling of Mohammad Hafeez, and the wicketkeeper then took the catch when Akhtar claimed the prized scalp of Strauss for 25, by which time Trott had already come and gone for three.
Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood came to the wicket with England needing a robust response to Pakistan’s breakthrough but then Collingwood left the field, after scoring five, suffering from a migraine and the headaches started to pile up for England when Bell pulled up short and Davies had to be called in as a runner.
Quite what formal qualifications Eoin Morgan has in crisis management is open to question but, when it comes to practical experience, he is becoming one of the rocks of England’s batting. Once Bell had departed for 28 – bowled by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 - Morgan and the returning Collingwood set about digging England out of trouble and put on a partnership of 93 for the fifth wicket until the 45th over when Umar Gul bowled, Collingwood (47) missed and the ball hit the stumps.
The following over Akhtar reprised the dismal, with Luke Wright the batsman hearing the wood rattle, and Tim Bresnan then had to dig out a 93mph yorker that yielded a single. While every run was valuable it also brought Morgan back on strike and he was the man who was taking the fight to Pakistan and his 107 – in 101 balls with eight boundaries and one six – brought England to 256-6 in their 50 overs.
It was a wonderful exhibition of stroke play, when so many others failed, and an innings that set a target looked challenging under a night sky.
Pakistan took up that challenge with some relish as Kamran and Hafeez raced to 50 in the eighth over but England had applied the brakes and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 had progressed to only 63 in the 13th over when Stuart Broad struck twice. First Hafeez (29) fell to a spectacular catch behind square by Collingwood and then Broad had Asad Shafiq caught behind by Davies with his next ball, but then Mohammad Yousuf calmly pushed the hat-trick ball away for a single.
The balance was shifting slightly in England’s favour and the tilt became more pronounced when Luke Wright, who had been recalled to the team for this match, got in on the act when he had Kamran lbw – to what technology showed was a clear inside edge – for 41.
If Morgan has become the cutting edge of England’s batting then Graeme Swann has a similar stature among the bowlers and, yet again, he took a wicket in his first over when he bamboozled Fawad Alam (1) to have Pakistan at 83-4.
The exchange of four wickets for 20 runs looked a bad rate for Pakistan and the run-rate was edging up slightly as the boundaries dried up. Singles were readily available but that was rapidly becoming less than what was required.
Pakistan 100 in the 26th over but the rate had pushed up to 6.45 and England reached five wickets in the 28th over when Swan bowled Yousuf, with one that turned, for 20 and Swann then matched Broad when he took Shahid Afridi’s wicket with his next delivery. Abdul Razzaq was the next man in and survived a vociferous appeal for lbw as Swann attempted to join James Anderson, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Steve-Harmison-c2576 and Andrew Flintoff as a hat-trick taker for England in one-day cricket.
But there was still a match, and a series, to be won. Umar Akmal struck a four in the 33rd over, which was the first Pakistan innings since the ninth over, but was then caught and bowled, after a bit of a juggle, by Collingwood for 19 as the run-rate hit eight. The innings hit the buffers in the 36th over when Umar Gul was run out for six, to leave his team on 130-8, which became nine when Morgan ran out Saeed Ajmal with a dead-eye aim from the covers.
The formalities were close at hand and Akhtar was out two balls later as Pakistan were all out for 135.
Morgan, not surprisingly voted the man of the match, was coy about whether his name would be on the list for the Ashes tour squad which would be announced the next day. “No, I don’t expect anything,” he said. “If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t I’ll make other plans.”
England doubtless expects and, thus far, Morgan has delivered.
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