England take honours in first T20I

Poor batting sees Green Shirts lose to England by 14 runs

DUBAI:

Sam Billings played an inspired innings to help England to a comfortable 14-run victory in the first Twenty20 international against Pakistan on Thursday.

Billings smashed 53 off 25 balls to lift England to a competitive total of 160 for five on a slow pitch and Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals in their reply.



England, who won the toss, slumped to 19 for three before James Vince, who made 41 on his debut, shared a third-wicket partnership of 76 with captain Eoin Morgan.

That laid the platform for Billings to use terrific improvisation to plunder runs all round the ground. The young wicketkeeper, deputising for the rested Jos Buttler, hit two sixes and five fours in a stand of 65 with Morgan who finished unbeaten on 45.

In response, Pakistan lost three early wickets and went downhill from there with only Sohail Tanvir making 25 not out set up a 45-run stand with Wahab Riaz. The other notable contributions came from Sohaib Maqsood, 24, and Anwar Ali, 20. The Green Shirts were bowled out for 146 in 20 overs.



Liam Plunkett finished with 3-21. Skipper Shahid Afridi said he did not have any excuse for their poor batting and commended the English for playing smart, mature cricket.

“We got good positive things from this match for the 2015 World Twenty20.”

On Shoaib Malik, who had been ruled out ahead of the match, Afridi said the all-rounder has been asked to rest for two days.

The second match will be played in Dubai on Friday while the third is scheduled for Monday in Sharjah. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2015.