Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf produced a batting masterclass on Tuesday to put Pakistan in an unbeatable position in their one-day series against England.
Younis's 101, made out of a 167-run third-wicket stand with Yousuf (60), helped completed a two-wicket victory for the touring side which put them 2-0 up after three matches of the five-game series.
This was England's ninth defeat in nine completed limited overs fixtures this season and meant they had won just four of their last 24 fixtures in shorter forms of cricket.
The contest at Southampton's Rosebowl, however, ended in unexpected drama when 20-year-old fast bowler Stuart Broad and Jon Lewis shared three wickets in the 47th and 48th overs to give England hope of a miraculous escape before Inzamam-ul-Haq steered his side home with seven balls left.
Chasing 272 to win, Inzamam completed the game by bludgeoning 44 off 33 balls.
Despite England's respectable total of 271 for nine -- all the more creditable after Marcus Trescothick fell to the first ball of the game from Shoaib Akhtar -- they were still dominated in all departments but one -- fielding.
Pakistan were almost comical at times in the deep, but their bowling and batting was first-class.
Younis, whose only previous one-day international century came against Hong Kong, stood out after Pakistan slipped to 29 for two in reply.
England, however, lacked a wicket-taker to exploit those breakthroughs, although it would have taken something special to dislodge the man of the match. Younis made his 100 off 105 balls. He hit 13 fours and a six.
The right-hander took the game by the scruff of the neck, with Broad his main victim. Angry after an exchange of words with England's fielders, Younis smashed Broad for two consecutive fours then pulled the next ball for six to announce his intentions.
Younis, dropped on 38, was otherwise faultless until, having got to 101, he drove on the up at Broad and was caught at long-on.
Yousuf, who batted for a large part of his innings with a runner after straining a muscle, was then bowled by a classic off spinner from Jamie Dalrymple, leading to the unexpected drama of the final overs, when three wickets fell for nine runs. Broad took three for 57. Earlier Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took four for 57 for Pakistan.
England's innings began badly when Shoaib bowled Trescothick with an inswinging yorker off his pads with his opening delivery. They also looked vulnerable at 125 for four in the 25th over.
Strauss was England's shining light, with a fine 50 off 46 balls but, unlike Younis, he was not able to push on to a major score.
It was left to Paul Collingwood (61) and Dalrymple (62) to give England a fighting chance. They put on 101 for the fifth wicket but lacked the explosive strokeplay to set a truly formidable total.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS