Pakistan Sports Journal

Kamran Akmal provide flying start to Pakistan innings - file photo from web

Andrew Strauss' fifth one-day international century helped England scrape a four-wicket win against Pakistan at Headingley to go 2-0 up in the NatWest Series.

The England captain's 126 underpinned a successful if nervy chase of 294 for eight, completed with just three balls to spare as Pakistan paid dearly on a batsman's pitch for the unavailability of several first-choice bowling options.

Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, who served the tourists so well in this summer's Tests, are both back in Pakistan as a result of the spot-fixing allegations levelled against them.

It is a moot point too whether Wahab Riaz might have been selected for this match, were he not due on Tuesday to become the fourth Pakistani player interviewed by police as part of their investigations into reported corruption - while a back injury continues to rule out all-rounder Abdul Razzaq.

None of the above, of course, is any fault of Strauss - whose 10 fours and a six from 134 balls bought enough leeway for England to prevail in a nail-biting match which restored some much-needed credibility to this series, and cricket too.

It seemed England faced a tough task to top a target achieved on the back of half-centuries from Kamran Akmal (74) and Asad Shafiq (50) and despite four wickets, albeit at conspicuous expense, from Stuart Broad.

But Strauss was the cornerstone, overseeing a second-wicket partnership of 146 in 26 overs with the in-form Jonathan Trott (53) which kept England just ahead of the game and carried them within striking distance.

Strauss' opening partner Steve Davies began as if to replicate or better his 87 in the 24-run win at Chester-le-Street two days ago, until he got a faint edge behind on the back foot off Shoaib Akhtar.

The veteran fast bowler should also have had Strauss, badly dropped on 23 at short fine-leg by Shoaib's new-ball partner Mohammad Irfan.

Strauss and Trott then shared a stand which was a triumph of risk management.
The occasional big shots came from Strauss, as in his six over wide long-on to bring up his 50 off Shahid Afridi, and unsurprisingly Trott concerned himself with strike rotation and the near elimination of dot balls.

He made barely the semblance of a mistake in a 67-ball 50 which contained just two fours - only to run himself out to present Pakistan with a wicket they appeared otherwise incapable of taking.

Paul Collingwood then holed out in the deep.
But even after Strauss was lbw sweeping at Saeed Ajmal to make it a near even game again at the start of the batting powerplay, England had just enough in reserve to finish the job - courtesy eventually of Michael Yardy and Tim Bresnan.

Akmal had earlier dominated Pakistan's opening stand of 122 in under 23 overs with Mohammad Hafeez.
He unleashed a barrage of boundaries against the new ball, off Bresnan in particular, quickly demonstrating an appreciation of sunny conditions after Afridi had won the toss.

Then Shafiq, a late replacement for this tour and playing in only his third one-day international, marked himself out as a significant future prospect with a 57-ball 50 which contained three fours and a memorable six over long-on off Graeme Swann.

Akmal clubbed Bresnan, in front of his home crowd, for five fours off seven balls at one stage through a powerplay field.

Hafeez was slower into his stride, struggling to get off strike as James Anderson bowled his first five overs for just 11 runs.

It was not until Broad (four for 81) replaced Bresnan at the Football Ground end that Hafeez clipped his first four, from the 19th ball he faced, off his hip.

He doubled up with an off-driven boundary in the same over, courtesy of the first of several atypical fumbles from the athletic Anderson.

England were not at their sharpest in the field throughout, and Pakistan - particularly when Mohammad Yousuf and Shafiq were putting on 74 for the third wicket in 13 overs - belied their previous reputation by running especially well.

Collingwood was the unlikely provider of England's first wicket, although there was a suspicion the sweeping Akmal might have got his pad outside off-stump when given out lbw - having hit 12 fours from 72 balls.

Number three Yousuf soon lost Hafeez, bowled off his pads by a Swann off-break, but then played the match situation expertly until he edged to the wicketkeeper as he attempted to guide one down to third-man off Broad.

Pakistan's batting powerplay began, in the 45th over, with the untimely wicket of Shafiq - well-caught by Ravi Bopara at point off a slow bouncer, despite almost running into his captain Andrew Strauss.

Broad's over contained another wicket too, Umar Akmal edging behind as Yousuf had. But like his next, it yielded 13 runs - and although Pakistan's 73 off the last 10 was slightly below par, they must have thought they had given themselves an outstanding chance of levelling the series.

That was not quite how it turned out, though, and it is hard to work out what score Pakistan may be able to defend in the three matches still to come.