If any team was going to go through this World Cup undefeated, it was England. Their recent ODI record was superb, and coming into their match with Pakistan, whom they had just defeated 4-0 in their recent bilateral series, and whom themselves had been savaged by the West Indies just days before, no one could really see anything but a strong English victory. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
- On Pakistan’s side was the fact that they score over 300 three times in that just-completed series, something that wold have given them some hope. Doing it again would have seemed unlikely after being routed by the Windies, but the batsmen did their job. Not only did they get the start they needed from the top order, they finished off in style. 30 runs came from the final three overs of Pakistan’s innings to get them to 348, and having been sent in by Eoin Morgan they couldn’t have asked for anything better.
- England would have decried the number of balls edged over or through the keeper and slips when they batted, and they would have been right. There were plenty of edged shots flying wide of the field set. However, that was more than evened up when England batted, as both Root and Buttler had a similar amount of luck in edges circumspectly dividing the available fielders to the boundary.
- The match changed on Jason Roy shelling a sitter at mid off from the bat of Mohammed Hafeez. Whether or not the sun hindered his efforts he immediately started looking for excuses when really there were none. Hafeez was on three at the time, and Pakistan was 2/134 off 24 overs. If that catch was taken, England win the game, simple as that. As it turned out, Hafeez went on to make 84 runs off 62 balls and added 145 runs in 18 overs while he was at the crease. It was a game changer. Adil Rashid, the bowler, ended up going for 43 from five overs, though he bowled far better than the figures say. If Hafeez goes early he may well have run through the rest of the batting line up.
- Jason Roy had a dog’s day out. Several misfields added to his dropped catch meant he was already in a foul mood. He was then fired LBW by Shadab Khan which looked as plumb as you like, yet he and Bairstow chose to burn their only review to have that confirmed. He’s a moody cricketer and is all smiles when the world runs for him. When it starts to move against him, he tends to drop his bundle pretty quickly.
- It looked to be a similar story when Joe Root was dropped on 9 at 1/33, though perhaps not immediately. Pakistan was on top at 4/118 in the 22nd over, but Root along with Buttler then carried their team to 248 off 39 overs before his eventual dismissal. It left 101 still needed with 11 overs to bowl, but at this stage Pakistan would have been ruing not getting Root early. Certainly there was at least twenty strokes from both batsmen that were edged behind the wicket for major runs.
- Buttler was phenomenal once again. He may have been quiet in the first match but he was superb here, playing all of his strokes and consistently going at a high strike rate. He likes to come in with 15 overs left and play this kind of knock. The fact that had to come in so early and was still able to dominate is a testament to his form and growing reputation. His dismissal at 288 with 5.3 overs remaining to score the unlikely 61 runs to win made sure it was well out of reach for the Englishmen.
- Mohammed Amir had another fantastic day with the ball, though 2/67 from ten doesn’t look like it. He was unfortunate again most of the day, as he has been since his return to international cricket. Along with Wahab Riaz he has made a difference to this team, and both have proven selector Inzamam-ul-Haq correct in his decision to bring the ‘veterans’ back into the squad.
No comments:
Post a Comment