Related Links : Pakistan in England 2006 : Scorecard
Pakistan picked up a morale-boosting victory over England in the Only Twenty20 International played at Bristol. The visitors had chased the target of 145 with relative ease losing five wickets and 13 balls to spare. Shahid Afridi had given the perfect platform for Pakistan with his 10-ball 28 and when he was dismissed, Pakistan were going at an incredible pace at 67 in the 7th over. Afridi’s innings had allowed opener Mohammad Hafeez to consolidate and take Pakistan to the comfort zone. Hafeez made a 40-ball 46. It was incidentally Pakistan’s first taste of a Twenty20 International.
England had won the toss and elected to bat first at the County Ground in Bristol and they were helped to 144 for 7 thanks to a blistering 36-ball 53 from Marcus Trescothick. However Trescothick’s power packed innings was negated by the brakes put at the other end by the Pakistan bowlers who kept on taking wickets at regular intervals. Trescothick had got out at the score of 97 for 5 in the 15th over with his innings consisting of nine boundaries. Jamie Dalrymple and Michael Yardy had then scored useful twenties to take England to respectability. In fact, Michael Yardy’s innings was more than a useful one as he smashed an unbeaten 24 from just 14 balls with the help of two fours and a six.
It was an international comeback for the Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar and he went for 31 in his 4 overs. Akhtar gave the first breakthrough of the England innings by dismissing opener Ian Bell. The most important breakthrough looked to be the next one with Mohammad Asif bowling a magical indipper that disturbed the furniture of the most dangerous Kevin Pieteren who was out for a first ball duck. Asif was simply incredible with his 4 overs going for just 21 runs and taking the wicket of Pietersen. The most successful bowler for Pakistan in terms of wickets was Abdul Razzaq who picked 3 for 30 in his 4 overs.
Pakistan in their chase had lost Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan in consecutive deliveries off Stuart Broad in the 4th over. But the counter attack from Shahid Afridi and the steady game of Mohammad Hafeez had given Pakistan the recovery. In the end, Skipper Inzamam with his unbeaten 11 and Abdul Razzaq with a 7-ball 17 guided Pak to a comfortable victory. Darren Gough in his comeback for England was taken for 33 runs in his 3.5 overs and was wicketless. The Player of the Match was Shahid Afridi for his cameo of 28 and also for his four overs of leg spin that went for 28 runs.
Brief Scores : England 144/7 in 20 Ovs (Trescothick 53 Dalrymple 27 Michael Yardy 24* Ian Bell 14 Read 13, Abdul Razzaq 3/30 Mohammad Asif 2/21) lost to Pakistan 148/5 in 17.5 Ovs (Mohammad Hafeez 46 Shahid Afridi 28 Mohammad Yousuf 20 Abdul Razzaq 17* Shoaib Malik 16, Stuart Broad 2/35) by 5 wickets