Pakistan Continue Road To Recovery

Misbah plays captain’s knock in tense warm-up win against England.

KARACHI:

Pakistan, who had been struggling to gain momentum ahead of the much-awaited World Cup clash between them and arch-rivals India, finally restored some lost confidence after beating England by four wickets in their final warm-up match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The men in green were battling with their form coming into the warm-up games, having lost a two-match ODI series to New Zealand recently. However, their fortunes changed on the pitches of Australia as they won the first warm-up to Bangladesh by three wickets followed by their most recent victory against England.

Former cricketer Abdul Qadir said that this was a good win for Pakistan ahead of their World Cup opener on Sunday. “Victory against England would have surely boosted the morale of players before the start of the World Cup,” Qadir told The Express Tribune.



According to Qadir, the side has been struggling because the management has tinkered too much with the line-up. “The think-tank doesn’t know its best playing 11. First, they didn’t play Sohaib Maqsood and Yasir Shah in the New Zealand series, and now they have been inducted in the warm-ups. Secondly, Sarfraz, who is one of the standout performers, has been dropped so their plans are a bit baffling.”

The former international player, whose main role was as a leg-spinner, believes keeping out Sarfraz was not the right decision. “The management is trying to turn him into another case of Kamran Akmal by disturbing his batting number and shattering his confidence. I fear that they will now do the same with Yasir Shah by dropping him against India.”

The day’s play

Set a target of 251, Pakistan were found wanting against England’s quality pace attack as both openers Nasir Jamshed (1) and Ahmed Shehzad (2) were dismissed early, leaving Pakistan on 10-2. Younus Khan (19) and Haris Sohail (33) survived the new ball but threw away their wickets with poor shot selections.

At 78-4, skipper Misbahul Haq and Umar Akmal amassed  133-runs, which put Pakistan on the driving seat.

Umar fell to Stuart Broad on 65, which came off 66 balls, hitting three sixes and as many fours in the process, while Misbah continued his innings from the other end.

Sohaib Maqsood then played a 20-run cameo which was followed by Shahid Afridi’s two boundaries as Pakistan sealed the victory on 252-6 in 48.5 overs.

Misbah played a captain’s knock as he remained unbeaten on a 99-ball 91 laced with two sixes and five boundaries. Broad and James Andersen claimed two wickets apiece.

“It is obviously important to win games as the team should develop a habit of winning,” said Misbah. “The boys bowled well with the new ball. Yasir’s efforts should be praised while Sohail Khan executed yorkers well in the death overs.

“Now we need to show good character against India. It’s all about making sure we work well under pressure.”

Earlier, Pakistan restricted England to 250-8 in their 50 overs after Joe Root, who scored a solid 85, and Gary Ballance, who chipped in with 57, had each added a fifty each to their name.

Chris Jordan played a stable knock of 31 not out towards the end.

Leg-spinner Yasir was the pick of the bowlers as he took three wickets, while Sohail claimed two.

“We were 20 runs short of a good score. The guys were put under the pump, we were tested and that was what I wanted going into Saturday,” said England skipper Eoin Morgan after the match.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2015.

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