Pakistan Sports Journal

Chasing 127, match was evenly balanced at 62 for 5 but match winning partnership of 67 between Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy take England home courtesy of some ridiculous fielding of Pakistan.

Turning point of the match came when Eoin Morgan was dropped on 13 by Shoiab Aktar, who ended up top scored 38 notout. Michale Yardy delivered an all-round performance as he scored 35notout and took 1 wicket for 21 runs in his 4 overs.

Shoaib Akhtar makes an impressive come back as he took 2 for 23 in his fiery 4 over spell. Shahid Afridi also bowls very well for his 3 for 27 but rest of the bowlers failed to support them and England gets home with 5 wickets and 17 balls to spare.

Earlier Pakistan got a good start of 50 for 1 but English spinners came back strongly at Pakistan and strict them to play any king of big shots. Graem Swann was stand out bowler for England as he took 2 wickets for only 14 runs in his crucial 4 overs which turns the game for England.

Umar Akmal top scored for Pakistan 35 notout but he was failed to play big shots against English bowlers. Pakistan only managed to hit 8 fours and no six. Captain Shahid Afridi was suppose to do some fire works but he also failed to timed the ball properly, he ended up scoring 19 runs in 16 deliveries.

After all the match-fixing controversy you have to say that Pakistan showed good commitment in the field, they didn’t look mentally gone. Second match to be played on 7 and hopefully this will be even closer contest.

Source: Pakcricketworld.com