When your batting isn't working, it's your openers who can solve the problem. England struggled throughout the test series, losing 0-3, but come the one dayers, visitors have found captain Cook willing to stand upto the challenge and now have taken inaccessible 2-0 lead with 2 games to go..
Alastair Cook, becoming 9th English batsman and first English captain to score back to back centuries in ODI cricket, once again set the platform for a defendable total. Kevin Pietersen failed again but stuck around for another half century stand and then Ravi Bopara added second consecutive big partnership with the skipper. England couldn't accelerate towards the end as well as they would have liked but defending 5 runs an over total was almost what they wanted.
Pakistan, never a good chasing side, came out with a changed strategy to bat out their overs. Openers collected 61 runs from first 15 overs before Stuart Broad's direct hit broke the stand and couple of wickets followed soon. Umar Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq kept the flame burning with Shahid Afridi joining in but asking rate was slowing blowing out of proportions.
None of Pakistan tailenders managed to connect bat to ball and team fell 20 runs short with Steven Finn matching the exact figures for 4/34 as he had in previous match.
| England innings (elected to bat) |
| Batsman |
|
R |
B |
4s |
6s |
| Alastair Cook |
c & b Afridi |
102 |
121 |
10 |
0 |
| Kevin Pietersen |
lbw b Ajmal |
26 |
46 |
4 |
0 |
| Jonathan Trott |
c Akmal b Cheema |
23 |
38 |
1 |
0 |
| Ravi Bopara |
c Akmal b Cheema |
58 |
66 |
4 |
0 |
| Eoin Morgan |
not out |
25 |
28 |
0 |
1 |
| Craig Kieswetter |
|
|
|
|
|
| Samit Patel |
|
|
|
|
|
| Stuart Broad |
|
|
|
|
|
| Graeme Swann |
|
|
|
|
|
| Steven Finn |
|
|
|
|
|
| James Anderson |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Extra : |
16 (bye=1, lbyes=5, wides=10) |
| Total : |
250 runs in
50 overs for
4 wicket. RR = (
5.00 ).
|
| Bowler |
Overs |
Maiden |
Runs |
W |
Extra |
| Umar Gul |
7 |
1 |
43 |
0 |
|
| Aizaz Cheema |
9 |
0 |
49 |
2 |
3 wides |
| Mohammad Hafeez |
4 |
0 |
24 |
0 |
1 wide |
| Abdur Rehman |
10 |
1 |
36 |
0 |
|
| Shahid Afridi |
10 |
1 |
38 |
1 |
|
| Saeed Ajmal |
10 |
0 |
54 |
1 |
2 wides |
| Pakistan innings (target = 251 from 50 overs) |
| Batsman |
|
R |
B |
4s |
6s |
| Mohammad Hafeez |
c Trott b Anderson |
26 |
43 |
3 |
0 |
| Imran Farhat |
run out (Broad) |
47 |
71 |
5 |
0 |
| Azhar Ali |
b Patel |
31 |
50 |
3 |
0 |
| Younis Khan |
lbw b Patel |
5 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq |
c Kieswetter b Broad |
47 |
59 |
2 |
0 |
| Umar Akmal |
c Patel b Finn |
21 |
23 |
3 |
0 |
| Shahid Afridi |
b Anderson |
18 |
18 |
1 |
1 |
| Abdur Rehman |
b Finn |
1 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
| Umar Gul |
lbw b Finn |
5 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
| Saeed Ajmal |
not out |
7 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
| Aizaz Cheema |
b Finn |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Extra : |
21 (bye=1, lbyes=11, wides=8, noball=1) |
| Total : |
230 runs in
49 overs for
10 wicket. RR = (
4.69 ).
|
| Bowler |
Overs |
Maiden |
Runs |
W |
Extra |
| Steven Finn |
10 |
1 |
34 |
4 |
1nb, 2wd |
| James Anderson |
9 |
1 |
36 |
2 |
2 wides |
| Stuart Broad |
10 |
0 |
54 |
1 |
4 wides |
| Graeme Swann |
8 |
0 |
33 |
0 |
|
| Ravi Bopara |
2 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
|
| Samit Patel |
10 |
0 |
51 |
2 |
|
