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Monday, 13 February 2012

Pakistan v England, 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi


Finn burst puts England on course


Steve Finn, drinks carrier during England's demoralising Test whitewash, made an immediate impact at the start of the one-day series with four wickets in an incisive new-ball spell which left Pakistan floundering.
Midway through their pursuit of 261 for victory, Pakistan were 90 for 6 as Finn followed up Alastair Cook's highest one-day score for England, 137 from 142 balls, with 4 for 20 in six overs to leave England strongly placed to go 1-0 up in the four-match series.
For Finn it was not as much "lights, action, sound" as "lights, traction, dew" as he put weeks of inactivity behind him and made full use of the little extra encouragement he found under the Sheikh Zayed floodlights.
Steve Finn trapped Asad Shafiq lbw first ball, Pakistan v England, 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi, February, 13, 2012
Steve Finn was rampant with the new ball, removing the Pakistan top order © Getty Images 
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All the emphasis has been on spin bowling since England set foot in the United Arab Emirates - and Saeed Ajmal had continued the trend with five wickets in 23 balls late in England's innings - but Finn changed all that, touching 90mph at times and maintaining a straight, fullish length.
Two of his four victims, Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq, fell lbw and Younis Khan's inside edge was athletically grasped by the wicketkeeper, Craig Kieswetter, who then held a second catch to dismiss Imran Farhat. The coltish look about him in his early England games is fast disappearing.
Amid England's disappointment at their 5-0 trouncing in a one-day series in India last October, Finn's solid series seemed scant consolation. But in the absence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad he had a satisfying tour, finishing as England's leading wicket-taker with eight victims at a shade over 31 runs each.
Andy Flower, England's coach, marked the advance in his career: "Coming into the series he wasn't a first-choice limited-overs cricket for us, but he has been the outstanding bowler in the side."
Worse followed for Pakistan as the captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, who was dismissed lbw five times in the Test series, was against struck in front, this time by the left-arm slows of Samit Patel, who hit him on the back leg.
Shoaib Malik had been called up to Pakistan's squad on the insistence of his captain, Misbah, and a confused innings, seven from 23 balls, did nothing to justify the captain's choice. Misbah successfully resorted to DRS to overturn an lbw verdict for Stuart Broad but he looked generally ill at ease and fell at deep mid-on, failing to hit Patel down the ground.
Add the fact that Umar Akmal was struggling with a strained back, which required a break in play so he could have it strapped, and Shahid Afridi came out at 68 for 6 in the 21st over with Pakistan requiring a miracle. Umar could not even have a runner because of ICC playing conditions, a ruling that the MCC, custodians of the Laws, strongly oppose.
England 260 for 7 (Cook 137, Ajmal 5-43) v Pakistan
Alastair Cook's well-paced hundred guided England's innings, Pakistan v England, 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi, February, 13, 2012
Alastair Cook paced his innings superbly © AFP 
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Alastair Cook's third one-day hundred pronounced that Pakistan's whitewash of England in the Test series will not automatically be followed up by another mismatch in the one-day format. Not that many other England batsmen proved so assertive - his 137 from 142 balls put up virtually single-handed resistance in a total of 260 for 7.
While Cook prospered, Saeed Ajmal, who took 24 wickets in the three-Test series, preyed on those of less substance to keep Pakistan in the match. Ajmal's offspin went unrewarded until his seventh over, but he then rounded up England's innings with 5 for 15 in his last 23 balls, his menace suppressed but never eradicated. Cook was the last of them, cleverly bowled behind his legs as he planted his leg outside off stump to sweep.
Cook continues to pile up the evidence that he is a natural choice as England captain at one-day level. To follow two scintillating displays against Sri Lanka in England last summer, he has now added the highest one-day score at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium and provided further evidence that he can prosper in Asia. Many will still harbour doubts, but he is making their opposition increasingly difficult to sustain.
England's restive batting otherwise had little else to commend it. When Cook fell, 23 balls from the end of the innings, the rest of the batsmen had made 78 and only his Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara, with the help of some good fortune, provided much support. He will be damned with faint praise as "workmanlike" but it was better than that.
Criticism is never far away when it comes to the assessment of Cook's worth as England's captain in 50-over cricket. Moments after England had been trounced 3-0 in the Test series, Ian Botham called for him to be replaced by Stuart Broad in the one-day series. England had not played a shot in anger all series, said Botham, and under Cook's one-day stewardship nothing was about to change.
But finally, on an arduous tour, Cook became the first England batsman to get a hundred to his name. If his slog sweep against Shahid Afridi to reach 50 was an example of a newish shot in his armoury, his cut to reach 100 when Saeed Ajmal dropped short was conventional punishment of a poor delivery won by a batsman whose consistency of thought and deed had gradually asserted his authority.
He tucked the ball confidently into the legside, stretched into some pleasing off-side drives and opened up gaps with subtle footwork and shrewd placement. His strength of character is not always easy to discern, but its existence is undeniable. Only Graham Gooch, his batting mentor, has made a higher one-day score for England against Pakistan.
Afridi had wasted little time in advancing his credentials as the best one-day spinner in world cricket as England's trials continued against the turning ball. England stuttered at their first sight of him as Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott fell in successive balls in his second over.
Afridi must have watched England's distress against spin during the Test series and licked his lips at the fun to come in the one-day internationals. He was not to be disappointed. After bamboozling Pietersen and Trott with a legspinner and googly respectively, he should also have quickly followed up with Bopara, who had made only 2 when he tried to cut a straight one and was reprieved presumably because the umpire, Ahsan Rana, imagined in inside edge.
Afridi had warmed up with five wickets against Afghanistan while England were attempting to restore morale with victory against England Lions. A quicker, turning legspinner ended Pietersen's skittish innings on 14 and Trott groped forward to a googly and was comprehensively bowled through the gate.
Pietersen was at the top of the order for the fifth time in an ODI but there was no escape from the spinners; Pakistan had picked four of them and Mohammad Hafeez took the new ball. A characteristically risky single to get off the mark might have seen him run out if Imran Farhat had not fumbled at mid-on and even his one shot of authority, a legside whip against Umar Gul looked too manufactured for comfort, as if he had added a frill or two to disguise the poor quality of the cloth.
His troubled innings also included two let-offs from DRS when he was on two. Hafeez drifted one away to hit his back leg and Pakistan wasted their review as they failed to overturn a 'not out' decision. Then Pietersen overturned umpire Rana's decision when he wandered across his stumps to one that Gul cut back. Pietersen's incredulous expression as he called for a review summed up his desperate state of mind. Never has a man formally tapped the top of his bat with such a BAFTA-winning performance.
Cook needed a reprieve himself, on 30, when Simon Taufel's decision that Hafeez had dismissed him lbw was overturned because of a big inside edge. He reviewed in a quiet, matter-of-fact manner, lacking Pietersen's penchant for the theatrical.
Ajmal then reminded us he was still around. Bopara fell in the powerplay, Umar Akmal accepting a stumping after missing one earlier in his innings. From 196 for 4 from 40 overs, England scrambled to 260.
Eoin Morgan perished to a reverse sweep, his favoured one-dayers bringing no immediate sustenance. Craig Kieswetter was spared the ignominy of the Test series and has wintered on the subcontinent, attending to his method against the spinners, but he was the latest England batsman to have little inkling against Ajmal and fell to a desperate heave.

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