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Professional England too good for Pakistan
by CricketArchive Staff Reporter


Ground:Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
Scorecard:England v Pakistan
Player:KP Pietersen
Event:ICC World Twenty20 2010

DateLine: 6th May 2010

 

England led by Pietersen's aggressive knock brushed aside Pakistan with little difficulty. The Pakistani side seemed to lose their nerve in the crucial encounter as they failed to get better of England. Pakistan scored a modest total on 147 for the loss of 9 wickets while England chased down the target with relative ease.

 

Collingwood won the toss and elected to field first believing that his bowlers would take advantage of the moisture in the wicket. But Pakistani openers Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt were in an aggressive mood and it was reflected in the first ball of the match. Ryan Sidebottom opted for a short length in the first ball of the match and Kamran Akmal responded with a powerful six over fine-leg that sailed over the boundary ropes. That set the tone for the batting for the first few overs the Pakistani openers were in an attacking mode. Runs came quickly as the English bowlers were left.

 

Broad bowling his second over in the fifth over of the innings removed Kamran Akmal (15, 18b, 1x6, 2x4) with a well directed bouncer. Butt and Hafeez tried to get on with the attacking game and they suceeded to some extent. The pair collected boundaries with some aggressive hitting and Butt deposited Collingwood into the stands as Pakistan edged forward. The pair added 40 runs in 4.3 overs before Swann struck. Butt (34, 26b, 1x6, 3x4) tried to slam Swann through cover but picked up Collingwood perfectly as Pakistan lost their wicket. Yardy who was taken for runs in his first over got rid of Hafeez (18, 14b, 2x4) who chipped lamely to short third man. That wicket slowly shifted the momentum into the direction of English side and it stayed there for most part of the innings.

 

Skipper Afridi (0, 1b) attempted a headless chicken run and was caught well short of the innings and whatever momentum was built earlier slowly leaked. Umar Akmal and Misbah fought hard in the middle but the English bowlers found their direction and more importantly their purpose as they dictated the course of the innings. Misbah (13, 14b. 1x6) played an outrageous reverse sweep and found his stumps disturbed while Umar Akmal (30, 25b, 1x6, 2x4) was brilliantly caught in the deep by Pietersen who kept his cool to take a running catch. The rest of the batsmen failed to do much and had it not being for the final over that cost 15 runs the Pakistani side would been shot out well below 147 that they managed at the end of their 20 overs.

 

The England chase got off to a steady start. The openers, Michael Lumb and Craig Kiewestter, gave the side a sound start as they looked set against the Pakistani seamers. Kiewestter was the lucky one as he was dropped twice while Lumb was dropped once. The Pakistani fielding simply disintegrated as fumbles were galore in the field. The openers utilised their chances as they went after the bowling with gusto. Runs came in torrent and finally the stand was broken when Ajmal had Lumb (26, 13b, 1x6, 3x4) stumped and then Kiewestter (25, 27b, 1x6, 3x4) followed his partner back into the dugout.

 

Kevin Pietersen was in a ruthless mood as he took on the Pakistani bowlers head-on. The aggressive right-hander wasmade-up for his missed opportunities in the previous two encounters. Pietersen went after the bowling from ball number now and also survived a sharp chance as Razzaq dropped him. Though the wickets fell in a heap Pietersen (70 not out, 52b, 2x6, 4x7) kept his cool to steer his team to a facile win over Pakistan.


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