21st over: Pakistan 94-4 (Saad Baig 21, Hasan Nawaz 9) Adil, using his variations and his experience, goes for just two singles.
20th over: Pakistan 92-4 (Saad Baig 20, Hasan Nawaz 9) Saad Baig is playing his second ODI, Hasan Nawaz his sixth, but they already look more comfortable than any other pair of batters today. Nawaz, unlike Salman Agha, is unruffled by Overton’s pace, greeting him with a clip for two and a glide for a single. After that, Overton still gets more than his fair share of dots.
19th over: Pakistan 87-4 (Saad Baig 18, Hasan Nawaz 6) In comes Hasan Nawaz with his team in a lot of bother – and he hits his first ball for six! With a lofted on-drive. So it’s an expensive over from Rashid, 13 off it, but that’s a price worth paying for the scalp of Salman Agha, who made a hundred on Sunday.
18th over: Pakistan 74-3 (Saad Baig 17, Salman
18th over: Pakistan 74-3 (Saad Baig 17, Salman Agha 10) Bowling short and fast is often a recipe for runs – cuts, hooks, upper-cuts, top edges over the keeper’s head. Not today from Jamie Overton. Salman does get the last ball of the over away for two, but it’s an uppish glide that could easily have gone to hand at backward point. Overton has 4-0-8-0.
17th over: Pakistan 70-3 (Saad Baig 17, Salman Agha 7) It’s Adil time! Pakistan have been so passive against Jacks that they’re going to have to attack England’s senior spinner. And Salman does: first ball, down the track, driving over extra-cover, four. By the middle of the over, Adil is all over him like a Rash. This duel is already a good contest.
16th over: Pakistan 65-3 (Saad Baig 17, Salman Agha 2) Overton continues and instantly hits Salman on the hand. Ouch! He gets some treatment and a breather as the umpires take drinks, and he;’s able to continue – but he nearly runs Saad out by going “Yes! No”. And Overton, like Jacks, has been allowed to make a miserly start: 3-0-5-0.
15th over: Pakistan 64-3 (Saad Baig 17, Salman
15th over: Pakistan 64-3 (Saad Baig 17, Salman Agha 1) Jacks may have bowled that ball a touch faster: Babar, attempting a swat to midwicket, was late on it as it homed in on the off bail. Jacks almost makes it two wickets in two balls as Salman Agha plays a straight chip and flirts with a caught-and-bowled. Saad Baig, who has worked out that he’ll have to be the grown-up in the room, cuts the last ball of the over for four. But Jacks’ figures are still outstanding: 5-0-15-1.
And now he’s gone! Babar misses a straight one, for reasons that are hard to fathom – but it’s just deserts for Jacks’ accuracy, and for Babar’s lassitude.
14th over: Pakistan 58-2 (Babar Azam 34, Saad Baig 12) Babar, meanwhile, is threatening to be the junior partner to a 19-year-old. He does manage a clip for two off JOverton.
13th over: Pakistan 54-2 (Babar Azam 31, Saad
13th over: Pakistan 54-2 (Babar Azam 31, Saad Baig 12) Three singles off Jacks, who has, I’m fairly sure, not conceded a two, let alone a four. His four overs have gone for just nine runs, a bonus for England as he’s very much the junior partner to Adil Rashid.
12th over: Pakistan 51-2 (Babar Azam 29, Saad Baig 11) Atkinson gets a breather after a solid opening spell (5-0-22-1). On comes Jamie Overton, the Liam Plunkett of this team, to bang it in and stick it up ’em. He duly surprises Saad Baig with his pace and bounce, beating him outside off with a ball clocked at 88mph, and this is yet another over that goes for just one run.
11th over: Pakistan 50-2 (Babar Azam 28, Saad Baig 11) As Jacks continues, the batters finally begin to milk him. They take four singles, but one is off the edge as Jacks’ angle, from round the wicket, bothers Babar.
Hi Tim, says Nick Terdre, Looks like
“Hi Tim,” says Nick Terdre, “Looks like the 9am start caught you out!” Guilty as charged. “Apart from Sam Curran, who is in the England team?” That’s one thing I have managed to cover: see 7th over.
10th over: Pakistan 46-2 (Babar Azam 26, Saad Baig 9) Saad Baig is 19, keeping wicket, making his second international appearance – and now, after a tongue-tied start, he suddenly finds his voice. He glides Atkinson for four, with a hint of edge, then cover-drives for four more with conviction.
9th over: Pakistan 34-2 (Babar Azam 25, Saad Baig 0) Jacks continues, so he wasn’t just a ploy for the quicks to swap round… and again he does well. This partnership is spoiling us: 19 balls used up, three runs scored.
8th over: Pakistan 33-2 (Babar Azam 24, Saad
8th over: Pakistan 33-2 (Babar Azam 24, Saad Baig 0) Brook takes Baker off, wicket or no wicket, to allow Gus Atkinson to change ends, which may explain why Jacks got that early go. Just a single off this over too: Babar seems to be back to form.
7th over: Pakistan 32-2 (Babar Azam 23, Saad Baig 0) Brook makes his first bowling change and springs a surprise by turning to Will Jacks’ off-breaks, rather than Sam Curran’s slow-ball allsorts. Jacks is on the money, conceding only a single.
That England team in full: Duckett, Banton, Root, Brook, Cox (wkt), Curran, Jacks, Overton, Atkinson, Rashid, Baker. No Jofra Archer as he’s been rested for this tour, and rightly so after a hectic year.
6th over: Pakistan 31-2 (Babar Azam 22, Saad
6th over: Pakistan 31-2 (Babar Azam 22, Saad Baig 0) Saim had just hit Baker for four – but only off the edge, through a vacant cordon. Harry Brook brings a slip in for the new batter’s first ball. Baker has been expensive (3-0-20-1) but, as usual, he’s made things happen.
Saim tries to flick Sonny Baker for six and sends the ball into the ether instead. Sam Curran does well to keep calm and cling on.
5th over: Pakistan 26-1 (Babar Azam 21, Saim Ayub 4) So sorry for the delay – nobody’s fault but mine. England didn’t help by taking a wicket with their first ball, as Gus Atkinson lured Fakhar Zaman into a loose clip to Joe Root at midwicket. That prompted Babar Azam to change the habit of a lifetime and get off to a quick start.
Morning everyone. Or should that be welcome back,
Morning everyone. Or should that be welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends? Three weeks and two days after the last hurrah of the international summer, England are in action on the first of their five winter tours.
That day at the Oval, England were unstoppable, piling up 355 and then bowling Sri Lanka out for 132, which was barely any more than Tom Banton had made off his own bat. Will Banton, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Gus Atkinson and Liam Dawson still be in top form now? It’s anyone’s guess. In cricket, the picture can change in the space of a drinks break.
England have some momentum under Harry Brook and Brendon McCullum after beating India as well as Sri Lanka in the summer. But Brook’s record as an ODI captain away from home is modest: won 2, lost 4. And Pakistan started this tri-series with a win on Sunday, as Salman Agha continued his soap opera by making a hundred and the Sri Lankan tail wilted in the face of Pakistan’s fast bowlers. That game, like this one, was in Rawalpindi, which tends to offer pace and bounce.
England have played only three ODIs in Pakistan
England have played only three ODIs in Pakistan in the past 21 years – all early last year, all in the Champions Trophy, and all ending in defeat. The last time they met Pakistan in a 50-over game on Pakistani soil was at Rawalpindi in 2005, when England, captained by Marcus Trescothick, won a low-scoring tussle by six runs, thanks to four wickets from Jimmy Anderson and three from Ian Blackwell. England’s other spinner on that occasion was Shaun Udal. It would be another four years before they called up Adil Rashid, who now seems to have been there forever.
This is a day-nighter with play starting at 2pm in Rawalpindi, 10am BST. I’ll be back with the toss and the teams 25 minutes before that. In the meantime, here’s a perceptive series preview from Taha Hashim.
Source: www.theguardian.com
