Umar Gul bowls Pakistan to victory over England
Pakistan have prevented England from wrapping up a series win with their victory in the third ODI of the series at The Oval today.
Paceman Umar Gul, who finished with six wickets, was the difference between the sides as Pakistan finally snatched the victory they had threatened in the previous two matches, defeating England by 23 runs as the bowled Andrew Strauss’ side out for 218.
The hosts made one change to a winning line-up for the match, with Paul Collingwood sidelined with a virus and replaced by Luke Wright in the playing XI.
Seeking to keep the series alive after losing the opening two matches, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 could not have made a worse start as Mohammad Hafeez (one) was caught behind as James Anderson found some movement off the pitch and his opening partner Kamran Akmal (five) dismissed after playing a Tim Bresnan delivery onto his stumps to leave his side languishing at 8-2.
Former captain Mohammad Yousuf (16) made a start but was ultimately trapped high on his pads by Anderson – the umpire’s decision to raise his finger vindicated by the hawk-eye replays that showed the ball would have clipped the bails.
Asad http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shafiq-c89281 and Fawad Alam then came together for a much-needed 64-run partnership for the visitors, before Shafiq mistimed his attempt to drive a Graeme Swann delivery to the boundary, instead finding Eoin Morgan’s hands and departing after a valuable 40-run knock.
With Pakistan happy to help themselves to ones and twos against the spinners, Strauss made what proved to be the astute move to re-introduce Bresnan into the attack in the 30th over with Umar Akmal (14) sending a top edge from the paceman’s fifth delivery to Swann at fine leg.
That brought a run-starved http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 to the crease and the Pakistan skipper formed a 60-run partnership with Alam (64) before the latter became Michael Yardy’s first scalp of the day. Afridi’s dismissal followed the next over, with the all-rounder on 34, when he failed to ground his bat and was run out.
While Abdul Razzaq (31 from 24 balls) provided some tail-end fight for the tourists, the final 10 overs were far more fruitful for England than Pakistan, with the hosts dismissing Afridi’s side for 241 with two balls remaining in their innings and Anderson finishing with team-best figures of 3-26.
England began the chase positively, with Steve Davies (18) cracking two fours in the opening over, but the wicketkeeper batsman was also the first to lose his wicket as Abdul Razzaq found the woodwork.
Jonathan Trott (two), usually so reliable this summer for England, was the second wicket to fall, with Shoaib Akhtar finding his stumps with a damaging in-swinging yorker, while Ravi Bopora barely made an impact either as he was caught behind for seven.
With his teammates falling around him early in the England innings, Strauss – just as he had on his way to 126 in Leeds – stood firm, bringing up his half-century from 48 balls with a single in the 16th over of the innings.
Today though, it all came undone soon after for the England skipper as he edged the ball onto his stumps to depart for 57, with Gul taking the vital wicket for the visitors.
With the exception of a 61-run innings by Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright’s unbeaten 48, however, from there it was to be Gul and Pakistan’s evening, as the paceman finished with figures of 6-42 and Pakistan finished the day with a long awaited win.
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