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England taste
victory in an emphatic manner at Trent Bridge |
September 08, 2006 (Scorecard)
England finally tasted some one day success
through a professional 8-wicket win over
Pakistan in the Fourth One Day International at
Trent Bridge. The hosts successfully chased 236
with 22 deliveries to spare. The foundation for
England was laid by a 110-run stand for the
second wicket between the Captain, Andrew
Strauss (78) and Ian Bell (86*). The 5-match
Series is now at 2-1 in favour of Pakistan with
the first match at Cardiff abandoned due to
rain. The last match of the series is on the
10th at Edgbaston which would decide if England
can draw the series or not.
Pakistan won the toss yet again and this time
they chose to bat first. There were a couple of
changes in the England Side with Marcus
Trescothick asked to sit out giving way to Ed
Joyce. The other change was the axing of Rikki
Clarke and giving debut for Michael Yardy, the
left handed middle order bat who could chip in
with some useful left arm spin. Pakistan side
remained unchanged, there was just the change in
the batting order with the struggling Shoaib
Malik pushed down the order and in his place,
Shahid Afridi came at the top. The visitors were
in dire straits losing their top three batsmen -
Hafeez, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi within 11
overs. The repair work was then carried out by
Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq who were
batting quite cautiously. As a result, Pakistan
could never get going and were further reduced
to 117 for 6 with Yousuf, Malik and Inzamam
falling in the space of 2 runs. Mohammad Yousuf
had laboured to an 80-ball 29 while Skipper
Inzamam made a 56-ball 47.
Abdul Razzaq had to work out some magic in the
fag end of the innings to take Pakistan to a
fighting total of 235 for 8. Razzaq had smashed
an unbeaten 75 coming in 72 balls with the help
of 5 fours and 5 sixes. The ninth wicket
unbroken stand for the 9th wicket between Razzaq
and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (9*) was 70 runs worth
in just 32 deliveries! For England, Michael
Yardy was impressive in applying the brakes on
the Pakistani innings with his 3 for 24 in 10
overs. Jon Lewis was the other impressive bowler
who provided the early inroads, he finished off
with 2 for 49 in 10 overs.
England in their chase lost Ed Joyce in the 10th
over edging Mohammad Asif behind the stumps. Ed
Joyce struggled to find the gaps in the 13 runs
he scored. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell then
played well to keep the bowlers at bay. The
support seamers for Pak, Rana Naved and Abdul
Razzaq failed to find any rhythm to help England
gain the momentum for marching towards the
victory. The only other wicket that Pakistan
could get was that of Strauss who was dismissed
for 78 by Mohammad Hafeez. Strauss's runs had
come in 100 balls with the aid of 10 fours. Ian
Bell remained unbeaten in the end on 86 off 111
balls with 10 fours. Kevin Pietersen was his
partner making a strokeful 48-ball 41 with six
fours. Ian Bell was named as the Player of the
Match.
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