Pakistan’s latest match on their controversial tour of Britain ended in a five-wicket Twenty20 defeat by world champions England at Sophia Gardens on Sunday.
England, set a seemingly modest 127 for victory, collapsed to 62 for five, but left-handers Eoin Morgan (38 not out) and Michael Yardy (35 not out) saw England to 129 for five with an unbroken partnership of 67 as they won with 17 balls to spare.
Victory, in their first match in the format since they beat Australia in the World Twenty20 final in Barbados in May, put England 1-0 up in the two-match series ahead of the second match today.
PHOTO: AFP
However, Afridi told reporters: “The way my boys played, I am very happy. I know it’s not a perfect total, but the way our boys played was good.”
“At one time, it looked like we were going to win this game, but the way Morgan and Yardy played, they did very well,” Afridi said.
It was Pakistan’s first fixture since Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were suspended by the International Cricket Council after newspaper allegations the trio were involved in a betting scam that saw no-balls deliberately bowled in the fourth Test at Lord’s.
There had been concerns about possible spectator reaction to the tourists in the light of the revelations, but Pakistan were well-received by a crowd of just under 11,000 at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens, with the only jeers coming as a result of misfields.
“It was good, the people enjoyed the game,” Afridi said. “We got some good support as well.”
Off-spinner Graeme Swann led England’s attack with two wickets for 14 runs and with man-of-the-match Yardy returning figures of one for 21 it meant England’s eight overs of spin yielded three wickets for just 35 runs.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” England captain Paul Collingwood told reporters. “Our strategies seem to be working in the Twenty20 form of the game. It has been a tough week, but the guys focused 100 percent on their cricket and we enjoyed our win.”
Pakistan found runs hard to come by after losing the toss and only managed eight boundaries in their innings, but England’s batsmen stuttered too.
Ravi Bopara, in for the dropped Kevin Pietersen, began the slide when he was well caught by Mohammad Yousuf, running back from mid-on, off fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.
Afridi then had a wicket in his first over with a quick leg-spinner that opposing captain Collingwood could only edge onto his stumps.
Steven Davies made 33 at better than a run a ball, before whipping seamer Umar Gul off his pads straight to Wahab Riaz and England lost another wicket when Luke Wright missed an intended sweep off Afridi and was bowled for a duck.
Pakistan should really have had a sixth wicket when Morgan on 13 reverse-swept Afridi, only for Akhtar to somehow drop the simple chance at short third-man.
Earlier, Pakistan’s total would have been a lot worse had Umar Akmal, who top-scored with 35 not out, been caught on 5.
Swann took his knack of taking wickets early in a Test spell into Twenty20 cricket with a burst of two for five in seven balls that reduced Pakistan to 56 for three inside nine overs.
He had Yousuf (26) well caught by Morgan, running in from midwicket, and then beat Shazaib (21) in the flight, with wicketkeeper Davies completing a neat leg-side stumping.
Tim Bresnan though reprieved Umar Akmal when he dropped a head-high catch off Collingwood.
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