Sequence of defeats continues for Pakistan
The sequence of defeats for Pakistan continues, carrying on from the test matches to the T-20s and now they have also lost the first ODI against England. The men in green simply looked tired, spent both physically and mentally. It was another pedestrian performance from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482’s men and England team was all over Pakistan.
Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bowl first on what was looking like a bowler friendly track. And due to rain earlier the match had been reduced to 41 overs. However the fast bowling trio of Shoaib , http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-c64444 and Gul could not make the best use of the conditions. England captain Andrew Strauss was back at the top of the order after taking a breather in the T-20s. With him was the rookie wicketkeeper batsman Steve Davies. The two left handers looked in total command in the initial overs and dominated the Pakistan Attack.
Shoaib Akhtar was the best of Pakistan bowlers and did manage to get some serious pace. Control is something that is not normally associated with Akhtar, but the speedster did show plenty of that at Druham. Muhammad Irfan who was expected to be the element of surprise for English team failed to impress. The left arm bowler looked unprepared for an international match and was to some degree all over the place in his first 2 overs. Irfan suffered a cramp in his legs while bowling his 6th over and had to go off the field.
Saeed Ajmal was the most impressive in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 attack. The off spinner made good use of the true bounce in the track and continued to keep the English batsmen guessing with his Doosras. Ajmal got the first 3 wickets to fall. First of which was Strauss who was bowled for 41 runs. Next man in, Jonathan Trott continued his form from the Lords test and put together 75 runs for the 2nd wicket alongside Davies. The wicketkeeper fell 13 short of his maiden hundred and was caught behind off the bowling of Ajmal. Morgan and Collingwood did not add much and were dismissed for 13 and 14 repectively.
Trott was dismissed after scoring excellent 69 runs, Ravi Bopara gave the innings much needed acceleration in the end with quick 35 runs. England ended at 274 for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 41 overs.
Chasing down a target of 275 with a required rate of almost 7 was always going to be a tough ask for the out of form Pakistan batting line up. Kamran Akmal and Muhammad Hafeez however did put up a solid opening stand of 62 runs. Hafeez was dismissed by Swann for 30 runs. Muhammad Yousuf at number 3 could not impress much and was dismissed for just 8 runs. Kamran Akmal moved on to 53 but his effort came to an end, as he was caught off Swann while going for a big one.
Fawad Alam once again failed to impress and still cannot justify his spot in the team. The left hander is clearly a player of limited abilities and is not able to perform at the highest level. He did score 39 from 39 balls. But despite his best efforts could not play the big shots when needed. As a result the required rate had climbed up to more than 10. Later captain Shahid Afridi played a strange desperate knock of 19 from 25 balls that pretty much summed up Pakistan’s day.
The visitors fell short in the end by 24 runs as they were at 250 for 9 at the end of 41 overs. Steve Davies was awarded man of the match for his 87 runs. England now leads the 5 match series 1-0.
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