Strauss Leads England to Impressive Win
A brilliant hundred by England captain Andrew Strauss leads his team to a nail biting four wicket win over Pakistan as the hosts overhaul an impressive first innings total by the men in green to take a 2-0 lead in the five match One-Day series.
The match that took place at Headingly Leeds provided rich entertainment for a packed crowd as both teams fought tooth and nail before the hosts prevailed.
The fact that the match went the distance would be of small consolation for Pakistan’s beleaguered captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 as he wonders what he needs to do to get past the formidable hosts who just go from strength to strength in the series after pocketing the test and T20 varieties with consummate ease.
The predicament for Afridi and his men is that his bowling attack has lost its sting at a time when the batsmen have finally shown some kind of form in what has been a hopelessly long summer for the visitors.
The two suspended pace men Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif are being sorely missed as they were the ones who had the hosts in all sorts of trouble in the test series, yet are on the sidelines after their alleged involvement in the match and spot fixing scandal that has knocked the stuffing out of the tourists.
In the absence of the two Mohammad’s the Pakistani attack looks pedestrian as Shoaib Akhtar the linchpin of yester years is a shadow of his former self and limps in at the age of 35.
He has lost the ability to bowl searing bouncers and yorkers that made him a real threat for the batsmen at his pomp, the old man now concentrates on bowling line and length and is generally taken for run easily.
The other vital cog in the pace department Umar Gul looks really short on confidence after returning form a hamstring injury that he sustained during the test series, while Shahid Afridi is also in poor bowling form.
The trio failed to fire on all cylinders today and one wonders what the result would have been in the presence of Aamer and Asif in the line-up today.
Nevertheless credit must be given to Andrew Strauss who played an innings of real calm and composure taking full advantage of the lose stuff on offer especially form the lanky Mohammad Irfan who looks way to ordinary for international standard despite his 7 foot high stature.
He is an extremely poor fielder and struggles badly to bend down thus dropped a straight forward chance of Strauss at short fine leg off the bowling of Shoaib Akhtar and the rueful miss cost http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 the match.
Strauss struck 10 fours and one six in his 126 run knock that came off 134 balls, he was ably assisted by the inform Jonathan Trott who once again played a quality innings under pressure scoring 53 before being run out.
The 146 run partnership was the difference at the end as the hosts scraped through in the last over of the match bowled by Umar Gul who for some inexplicable reason hardly used one of his most potent weapons the in swinging yorker in his last spell.
After this heartbreak one can sense that the Pakistanis have all but succumbed in the series and another backlash is feared in the last three match of the tour.
These are extremely worrying times for Pakistan cricket both on and off the field and barring a miracle the men in green are staring down another five nil clean sweep following their meek capitulation while touring http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 earlier in the year.
Tags: