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Rain spoils
Pakistan's efforts with the ball at Cardiff |
August 30, 2006 (Scorecard)
 Rain
had ruled out what was turning out to be an
intense contest between the Pakistan batsmen and
the England seamers at the Sophia Gardens in
Cardiff. The first One Day International was
abandoned following persistent rain during the
dinner break and then few overs after the play
had resumed for the start of the Pakistani
innings. The visitors were chasing down 159 from
32 overs, which was the revised target under the
Duckworth/Lewis Method. England had earlier been
bundled out for just 202. Pakistan were at 46
for 1 in 7 overs before rain had made sure that
no further play was possible in the match. This
5-match series between England and Pakistan now
becomes a 4-match one with this match at Cardiff
ending as a No Result.
Skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq had won the toss this
afternoon and he put England to bat first under
overcast conditions. It was a comeback for
Shoaib Akhtar into serious International
Cricket. The Rawalpindi Express was sharing the
new ball with Mohammad Asif and the two England
left handed openers - Marcus Trescothick and
Andrew Strauss had to watch out for the good
deliveries. Shoaib once again caused injury
worries as he walked away off the field after
bowling four overs due to what looked like a
calf muscle strain. It was over to Mohammad Asif
to get into his elements which he did, to
dismiss Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick in
the 1st Powerplay block. Strauss was the first
casualty in the 4th over after he went for a
forcing flick shot off the backfoot only to
miscue it and to be taken at square leg.
Trescothick's scratchy stay came to an end to as
he looked to blast Asif over the covers without
moving his feet at all. The resulting edge was
taken by Kamran Akmal and England were
progressing very slowly at 35 for 2 in the 10th
over.
There was more to come from Mohammad Asif and
not from Kevin Pietersen who once again fell to
the accuracy of the tall seamer. Pietersen had
nicked Mohammad Asif's late outswinger to the
wicket keeper after making just 2. After
Mohammad Asif was rested after a long spell of 8
overs on the trot, Pakistan had to soon resort
to spin. Shahid Afridi who was introduced into
the 25th over, struck in his very first over
with Collingwood playing along the wrong line
for the turn to be rapped up in front of middle
to a delivery that drifted and went straight on
from Afridi. Collingwood's 14 was useful in
putting up a 47-run stand for the 4th wicket
along with Ian Bell.
After Collingwood's exit, the fluent and inform
Ian Bell found a good partner in Jamie Dalrymple.
The runs were not coming though at a fair clip
with Afridi and Hafeez hardly giving anything.
It took quite some risks by Ian Bell to take
Afridi out of the attack. But that move had
brought back Shoaib Akhtar for his third spell.
Brilliant work by Shahid Afridi at mid on which
included a pick up and a direct throw at the non
striker's end had ended Ian Bell's efforts. Bell
batting on 88 had pushed Shoaib Akhtar to mid on
before setting off for a quick run. It was
Bell's career best, his 5th ODI fifty and his 88
had come in 117 balls with the help of 12 fours.
The next ball after Bell's dismissal, Shoaib
bowled a pitched up delivery at around 92mph to
which Dalrymple (27 in 53 balls) was very slow
in coming forward and defending it. His
furniture was disturbed and Shoaib was
celebrating his 200th ODI wicket! Hafeez
meanwhile was rewarded for his tight bowling by
a pat back from Chris Read after the wicket
keeper batsman had tentatively tried to work the
offie onto the legside for a single. At the
other end, there was absolutely no stopping for
the Rawalpindi Express as he went onto knock out
two more batsmen, Rikki Clarke and Sajid Mahmood.
Darren Gough showed what experience is all about
as he put on a gutsy show with the bat smashing
whatever was in the zone, even if it was a 93mph
express delivery from Shoaib. England were
eventually bowled out for 202 in the 50th over
with Gough holing down to long on off Afridi for
18. Stuart Broad, the debutant was unbeaten at
the other end on 8.
 The
Pakistani bowling was good in parts as they were
spraying the ball as well to give away 10 wides.
However it was poor application from the English
batsmen as they created pressure on themselves
by playing out way too many dot balls. The
number of dot balls played out by the English
batsmen in this innings was way over the 60%
mark. For Pakistan, Mohammad Asif had done the
damage in his first spell and his figures in the
end were 3 for 28 in 10, Shoaib's were 3 for 45
in 10. Mohammad Hafeez, the part time off
spinner bowled well for his 1 for 33 in 10 and
Afridi was expensive in couple of overs, but was
instrumental in sustaining the pressure on
England. Afridi had taken 2 for 38 in 8.2 overs.
The only bowler who had struggled totally was
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan who laboured to bowl in his
spell of 7 overs that gave away 43 runs.
Pakistan in their reply had lost Shoaib Malik in
the 2nd over to the debutant Stuart Broad. The
debutant seamer had produced one that nipped
back and kept low to defeat Malik's backfoot
defence and trap him infront of the stumps.
Broad had beaten Malik with pace initially which
had come off the wicket that became quite skiddy
due to the rain. Mohammad Hafeez and Younis Khan
were mixing caution with aggression before the
rain had revisited Cardiff to put an abrupt end
to the proceedings. Hafeez was unbeaten on a
23-ball 18 and Younis was on a run-a-ball 12.
Darren Gough was taken for 28 in his 4 overs and
Broad had an impressive start with 1 for 14 in 3
overs.
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