Related Links : Pakistan in England 2006 : Scorecard
Pakistan went onto win the 2nd ODI of the 5-match NatWest Series by 7 wickets with most of their chase of 167 runs coming in bad light conditions. Their experienced batsmen Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Skipper Inzamam were responsible for Pakistan’s successful chase under overcast conditions at Lord’s with 20 balls to spare. It was yet another dismal show from England with their problems starting from the 1st over itself. It was a curtailed game of 40 overs per side due to the frequent rain stoppages.
Chasing 167 from 40 overs, Pakistan has lost its two openers to Jon Lewis who was playing just his fourth ODI of his career. Lewis had also got Younis Khan caught behind early in his spell, but Umpire Billy Doctrove signaled it as a no ball for overstepping; it was a dubious decision with Lewis having some part of his foot behind the crease. Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf then batted with extreme care to ensure that Pak did not provide any inroads for the English bowlers to come back in the match. Younis Khan fell after making 55 with his side requiring just 59 to get which Inzamam had got along with Mohammad Yousuf with complete ease. Inzamam played a great innings of 42 which came in just 26 balls with the help of 5 boundaries. Mohammad Yousuf was calm at one end scoring an unbeaten 49. For England, Jon Lewis was the only decent performer with figures of 2 for 11 in his 8 overs. For his four wicket haul early in the day, the Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akthar was named as the man of the match.
Inzamam-ul-Haq had won the toss this morning and he put England to bat first. Shoaib Akhtar struck in his first over itself sending back Andrew Strauss for a first ball duck. Marcus Trescothick who was never in at the crease was the next to be dismissed by the brilliance of Mohammad Asif who then accounted for the danger man Kevin Pietersen yet again. Before Pietersen fell, Shoaib Akhtar at the other end had dismissed the man in form, Ian Bell with a quick pitched up delivery. England’s innings never got going following those early blows. Mohammad Asif was bowled out by Inzamam on the trot and his quota of 8 overs conceded just 10 runs. England in the end were bundled out for 166 with five balls remaining in their innings. They atleast got their thanks to the efforts of Rikki Clarke (39), Chris Read (30) and Paul Collingwood (35). Shoaib Akhtar had also taken the wickets of Clarke and Gough towards the end to finish with figures of 4 for 28 in his 8 overs. Abdul Razzaq was the other bowler who looked impressive getting the ball to reverse swing during the middle overs, he picked up the wickets of Dalrymple and Read and gave away 30 runs in 6.1 overs.
The Pakistan side for this match was an unchanged one from the Cardiff One Dayer whereas England had brought in Jon Lewis for Sajid Mahmood. England’s decision of playing Lewis paid off as his bowling style was tailor made for the seaming conditions witnessed in today’s match. Pakistan must be on cloud nine with Shoaib Akhtar’s comeback looking to be a major boost and Mohammad Asif in his own way has proved to be a deadly bowling pair with Shoaib. The only problem Pakistan seems to be having is the opening batsmen – Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez. For England, they are playing like minnows when it comes to One Day Cricket! They need an inspired match winning century from one of its batsmen in the coming days to lift their morale and change their outlook towards the limited overs version of the game.