The new England side turned up and delivered an exceptional performance based on discipline to blush out Pakistan in the first ODI by 9 wickets at Cardiff on Thursday.
At Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, bowlers had to bowl according to the dimensions of the ground as the boundaries on the sides are bigger and shorter at straight. Yet, Shaheen Afridi was getting the ball away from stumps off Zak Crawley after dismissing the debutant, Phillip Salt. There were many other reasons to threaten the stumps.
England was given the task to chase 141 in 50 overs and early wickets were the only chance to get back in the game and build pressure. Pakistan did not get much chance as Crawley and Dawid Malan combined an unbeaten 120 runs standoff just 106 balls to get the host across the line.
England had won the toss and decided to field first. England introduces on the very first over of his new young gun, Saqib Mehmood. On the very first ball of the match, he takes the wicket of Imam Ul Haq who tries to Flick him but gets trapped in an LBW.
After Imam, the skipper, Babar Azam comes out and he also lost his wicket on the first over of the match and tries to play the cover shot and due to the inside edge, the ball goes directly to the first slip.
Then Mohammad Rizwan comes out and tries to stay on the pitch but he also loses his wicket. After Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, who plays his debut match comes to the crease to put some impact but loses his wicket to Saqib Mehmood. After the Powerplay, Pakistan struggles at 46-4.
Fakhar Zaman and Sohaib Maqsood give some hope to the team and hit a couple of shots. Fakhar hits several fine boundaries and tries to stand his team after the loss of 4 wickets.
But a great partnership breaks down after Fakhar calls his partner to single, was undone when Fakhar suddenly stopped, with James Vince running Maqsood out for 19.
However, Fakhar’s incredible Innings, including six fours ended timely when he played a bad shot a cut-off leg spinner Matt Parkinson to the backward point and gave a gentle catch.
And when Craig Overton had Shadab Khan caught square leg by Malan taking a second catch, Pakistan was 139-9.
Shaheen miscues Overton and top edges to the skipper, who was never going to put it down, Pakistan was All out 141 at 35.2 overs.
The match was handed to Pakistani bowlers in a do-or-die situation, but Shaheen took the first wicket on the 5th over and set out Salt to the Pavilion.
After England’s one down, Zak Crawley and Dawid Malan took a great partnership and take the England team to the winning side. Both players shared an unbroken stand of 120.
First, the England bowlers didn’t give the chance to Pakistani batsmen to stay on the pitch, and then their batsmen didn’t give the chance to opposition bowlers to take their wickets.
After an incredible partnership between Crawley and Malan, England won the match quite easily. Both players finished the match before 28 overs. Also, the day belongs to Saqib Mehmood who took an ODI best 4-42 as Pakistan was dismissed for 141.
England knocks Pakistan in the 1st ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the 3 matches series.
“Very clinical performance, massively ahead of the game, which helps, especially when captaining for the first time. When you get a new group together you are striving for that first team performance, but we weren’t put under pressure today, not every game of cricket goes that smoothly. My message went out and do what you do for your counties, and enjoy the situation we’re in,”
says the winning-skipper, Ben Stokes.
“Credit to England for this,” he says. “We didn’t get momentum or a big partnership. Fakhar carried his form on from South Africa. We are looking forward to Lord’s and we have to try and do our best,”
says the losing skipper, Babar Azam.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 141 in 35.2 overs (Fakhar Zaman 47, Shadab Khan 30; Saqib Mahmood 4-42, Craig Overton 2-23) lost to England 142/1 in 21.5 overs (Dawid Malan 68*, Zak Crawley 58*) by nine wickets.