Re: Pakistan v England test and ODI series - LahoriMunda's daily diary
LM's Review of the first ODI
In the end Pakistan just didn’t have the same hunger as England did to win this game. After a disappointing test series England were under a lot of pressure. They have to win this series to make their place secure for next years Champions trophy in India.
England’s mammoth total of 327 revolved around Strauss, Kevin Pieterson and Andrew Flintoff. While Flintoff and Pieterson powered their way to 72* and 56 respectively, Strauss made a composed 94 and rotated the strike beautifully to give the strike back to the big hitters.
A total in excess of 300 is always difficult to chase but I for one had my hopes up after the Kiwi’s downed the Aussies in the last ODI’s of their series chasing a world record total of over 300. Pakistan themselves chased 300 + against India in their last series as well.
Pakistan started out brightly. The first ball of their innings was ferociously dispatched to the boundry by Salman Butt who was dropped off the very next ball by Paul Collingwood. Although Kamran Akmal didn’t stay too long, dragging a ball from outside the off stump into his stumps but Younis Khan and Salman Butt build a solid partnership of 115. When Salman Butt left in the 20th over Pakistan were cruising along at a 132 and keeping the required rate in check.
Although Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf also scored half centuries but a lot more was needed from them or someone else to chase down a total in excess of 320. Inzi, for once wasn’t able to take Pakistan home as he departed for 13, Collingwood foxing him with a slower one. Razzaq’s return was very rusty. He fielded badly, bowled horribly and batted without any fireworks we usually associate with him.
Pakistan definitely missed the services of Shahid Afridi who is serving the remainder of his ban and would miss one more match before making a comeback in the side. He would have opened with Butt instead of Akmal; he provides a good variation in bowling and is an excellent fielder as well.
Pakistan bowling lacked the fire power to dent the England line up. Our two aces from the test series Akhtar and Kaneria proved ineffective in the first ODI. Shoaib went wicket less in his ten overs, in process conceding 60 runs, while Kaneria went for 62 in his 9 overs taking 1 wicket. I personally was a little surprised that Inzi didn’t give Sami any more over. His 7 overs went for 35 runs and he might not have looked like to get a wicket but he wasn’t thrashed all over the ground either.
In the end the better team won and Pakistan’s chances of climbing to 2nd place in the ODI ranking dimmed a little. We need to win the next four matches to remove South Africa from that spot. For now though, the immediate concern would be to win the next match and get back into the series. We have been in situations much worse then this and have been able to pull back, InshAllah we’ll do it again starting from next match and come back hard at England.