Pakistan floor England in stunning comeback

Two days ago Pakistan were slaughtered like lambs at Trent Bridge. On Monday they roared like lions at the same venue to put their World Cup campaign back on track.

The Pakistanis, who had lost 11 ODIs on the bounce before Monday’s game, bounced back from a morale-shattering defeat against West Indies to stun title favourites England in a high-scoring World Cup thriller in Nottingham.

Mohammad Hafeez smashed a 62-ball 84 while Babar Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed hit fifties as Pakistan amassed 348-8. The pace duo of Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir then helped Pakistan blunt brilliant centuries from Joe Root and Jos Buttler, sharing five wickets between them.

At a venue which had produced the most high-scoring ODI games in recent times, there was a phase when it seemed that Pakistan might have fallen a bit short. Root made Pakistan pay for dropping him early as he anchored the England run-chase with a sparkling ton. Buttler took a more aggressive route to a century to put England on course of the biggest successful run-chase in World Cup history. Together they rescued England from a precarious 118-4 with a 130-run partnership.

It was only after Root fell to Shadab Khan after hitting the first ton of this World Cup (107 from 104 balls) that Pakistan came back in the match. Buttler scored the fastest World Cup ton by an Englishman but soon fell to Amir for 103 from 76 balls. Chris Woakes then once again lifted England hopes with a 14-ball 21 but Wahab took two wickets in two balls to make sure that Pakistan won’t let victory slip out of their hands.

Wahab, making his comeback after two years was Pakistan’s top wicket-taker finishing with 3-82. Amir finished with 2-67 while leggie Shadab Khan picked up 2-63. After being put into bat by Eoin Morgan, Pakistan bounced back from their disastrous batting display against West Indies last Friday to post an imposing total. It was at the same venue where Pakistan capitulated against the Windies pace attack a couple of days ago. But the pitch was entirely different. So was the intent from the Pakistani batsmen.

On Friday they were clueless as West Indies unleashed a barrage of short-pitched deliveries and collapsed for a mere 105. But it was a different story on Monday as first the openers piled up an 82-run partnership. Later, the middle-order trio of Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Faheez hit fifties to ensure that Pakistan accumulate a challenging total against what is easily one of the most potent teams in this tournament.

The openers didn’t take many chances as Imam-ul-Haq made a 58-ball 44 and Fakhar Zaman chipped in with a 40-ball 36. The duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez capitalized on the opening stand as they added 88 more to the total for the third wicket.

Hafeez was the more dominant one in the partnership as the veteran took his chances on his was to 62-ball 84. Hafeez, who hit eight fours and two sixes, seemed on course to becoming the first century-maker of this World Cup. He made the most of a reprieve when Jason Roy dropped an easy chance off spinner Adil Rashid at mid-off. Hafeez was at 14.

Babar looked in sublime form as he scored 63 from 66 balls while Sarfraz contributed 55 to the total from 44 balls. Taking cue from West Indies, England deployed similar tactics as their pacers began with a series of short-pitched deliveries. But Pakistan were better prepared this time as they build partnerships on their way to posting a substantial total of a wicket where England had twice set a world record for the highest one-day international total – 444 for three against Pakistan in 2016 and last year’s 481 for six against Australia.

Spinner Moeen Ali was the pick of England bowlers with 3-50. Woakes, who equalled the record of four catches by an outfielder in a World Cup innings, was much more expensive taking three for 71 in eight overs.

Pakistan’s cause was helped by a sloppy display by England in the field. It was sweet revenge for the Pakistanis who were whitewashed 4-0 by England in an ODI series played just before the World Cup.

England won toss

Pakistan

Imam-ul-Haq c Woakes b Ali 44

Fakhar Zaman st Buttler b Ali 36

Babar Azam c Woakes b Ali 63

Mohammad Hafeez c Woakes b Wood 84

*†Sarfraz Ahmed c & b Woakes 55

Asif Ali c Bairstow b Wood 14

Shoaib Malik c Morgan b Woakes 8

Wahab Riaz c Root b Woakes 4

Hasan Ali not out 10

Shadab Khan not out 10

Extras (b 1, lb 8, w 9) 18

Total (8 wickets, 50 overs) 348

Did not bat: Mohammad Amir

Fall: 1-82, 2-111, 3-199, 4-279, 5-311, 6-319, 7-325, 8-337

Bowling: Woakes 8-1-71-3 (2 w); Archer 10-0-79-0 (4 w); Ali 10-0-50-3; Wood 10-0-53-2 (2 w); Stokes 7-0-43-0; Rashid 5-0-43-0 (1 w)

England

J Roy lbw b Shadab 8

J Bairstow c Sarfraz b Wahab 32

J Root c Hafeez b Shadab 107

*E Morgan b Hafeez 9

B Stokes c Sarfraz b Malik 13

†J Buttler c Wahab b Amir 103

M Ali c Fakhar b Wahab 19

C Woakes c Sarfraz b Wahab 21

J Archer c Wahab b Amir 1

A Rashid not out 3

M Wood not out 10

Extras (lb 3, w 5) 8

Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 334

Fall: 1-12, 2-60, 3-86, 4-118, 5-248, 6-288, 7-320, 8-320, 9-322

Bowling: Shadab 10-0-63-2; Amir 10-0-67-2 (3 w); Wahab 10-0-82-3 (1 w); Hasan 10-0-66-0 (1 w); Hafeez 7-0-43-1; Malik 3-0-10-1

Result: Pakistan won by 14 runs

Man of the Match: Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)

Umpires: Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Sundaram Ravi (India). TV umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka). Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)