Somerset vs. Pakistanis at Taunton: Controversy? What controversy? http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 beat Somerset by 8 runs
Finally there is some news regarding Pakistan cricket that does not involve the spot-fixing controversy. Despite all the chaos, the tour is going ahead as scheduled and Pakistan played a warm-up match against Somerset at Taunton. Pakistan won the match by 8 runs. The home-side won the toss and elected to bowl first. The conditions were overcast and Somerset were looking to make use of the new ball. After a start-stop innings, aided by a well made hundred by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahzaib-Hasan-c2488 and 97 from Fawad Alam, Pakistan managed to post 264 on the board. Somerset, in the chase, looked good but fell short by just 8 runs in the end.
As the limited-over leg of the tour starts, a number of One-Day and Twenty20 specialists have made their way in the squad. Mohammad Hafeez is one of the players who arrived from Pakistan for the limited-over matches. He opened the innings alongside the young Shahzaib Hasan, who was part of Pakistan’s Twenty20 World Cup-winning team in 2009.
It was not a welcome return for Hafeez, as he struggled to get one in the middle and was caught by Zander de Bruyn off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mark-Turner-c1911 (in the first ball of the 4th over). Hafeez failed to get off the mark.
Next man in was the hero from the Test win against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lewis-Gregory-c72822 and was the 2nd victim of Turner.
At 2 for 6, Shahzaib was joined by Mohammad Yousuf. The veteran did give some stability to the innings and the pair added 36 runs for the 3rd wicket. Yousuf was run out while going for a quick single; he scored 26 from 24 balls with 5 fours.
Next man in was the left-handed all-rounder Fawad Alam. He has been in and out of the team for a while now, and is looking desperately to impress to have a place in the playing 11. Fawad did no harm to his chances by playing an excellent knock.
Shahzaib and Fawad continued to rotate the strike and mixed caution with aggression. The duo took their chances but made sure they did not lose any more quick wickets.
The left right combination put on 169 runs for the 4th wicket. Shahzaib was dismissed after he completed his well-deserved hundred. The opener scored 105 runs from 120 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes. Shahzaib was caught by Turner off the bowling of De Bruyn.
Pakistan were looking in a perfect position to launch the onslaught, with 211 on the board in the 41st over. However, it did not go as planned for the visitors. In order to get quick runs, wickets kept tumbling one after the other. None of the last 6 managed to get into double figures including captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 (2), Abdul Razzaq (2), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal (both out for a duck) and Shoaib Akhtar (run out after posting 4 runs), with Kamran Akmal being the only exception, posting 12 runs. Pakistan were all out for 264 in the 48th over.
Lewis Gregory had a successful bowling spell for Somerset, taking 4 wickets. Following him were Mark Turner with 3 wickets, and de Bruyn with 1.
Somerset may have fancied the target against a troubled Pakistan team. The start, however, was not ideal. The out-of-favour English opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Kieswetter-c51708 was caught by Mohammad Yousuf off the bowling of Umar Gul for just 5 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nick-Compton-c2104 and Zander de Bruyn put on a good stand of 90 runs for the 2nd wicket. Compton scored 50, while de Bruyn remained unbeaten on 122. However, he did not get much support in the middle order. It all came down to the final over with Somerset needing 16 from 6 balls.
Saeed Ajmal managed to get 3 wickets and kept de Bruyn off the strike. In the end, Somerset fell short by 8 runs and were 256 for 9 after 50 overs. Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal got 3 wickets apiece, whereas Shahid Afridi got 2 wickets for his side. Wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jos-Buttler-c1733 was run out by Mohammad Yousuf.
Despite the small margin, Pakistan should breathe a sigh of relief now that they finally have something to celebrate in the midst of the spot-fixing scandal that has brought the players and the nation much shame.
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