Cricket World Cup 2019 | Pakistan stun England

 

Pakistan shocked England by 14 runs at Trent Bridge as they ended a long losing streak in one-day internationals despite two centuries for the World Cup host nation.

Joe Root (107) and Jos Buttler (103) were guiding the tournament favourites towards an imposing target of 349 after Pakistan left England, number one in the ODI rankings, needing a World Cup record chase.

The pair put on 130 for the fifth wicket but both were out shortly after reaching their hundreds and the tail had too much to do as the Poms became the first team in World Cup history to lose despite having two century-makers.

It was a remarkable turnaround for Pakistan, whose opening match of this World Cup had seen then slump to 105 all out in a seven-wicket defeat by the West Indies atthe same ground on Friday.

That defeat was their 11th straight loss in completed ODIs, including the recent 4-0 series defeat by England.

But Pakistan, who won the 2017 Champions Trophy in England, started strongly on Monday and made 348 for eight, Mohammad Hafeez top-scoring with 84.

“I know myself and my team were very confident coming into this game,” Hafeez said.

“We know that on this track we can score 340 plus,” he added, with Pakistan having exactly made 340 against England in a Trent Bridge ODI last month only to lose by three wickets.

“It’s a good pitch but still there was something for the bowlers. We got the runs in our mind we wanted to achieve and then the bowlers did a great job.”

“Yes, we played a bad game against the West Indies but we knew as a team we were capable of winning matches for Pakistan.

“We had a good meeting, gave confidence to each other and that really worked today.”

No side had previously made more batting second to win a World Cup match than Ireland, with 329 for seven against England at Bangalore in 2011.

England’s chase got off to a bad start when Jason Roy was LBW on the sweep to leg-spinner Shadab Khan to leave them 12 for one.

Jonny Bairstow then fell for 32 when he was caught behind off Wahab Riaz, before England captain Eoin Morgan (nine) and Ben Stokes (13) were dismissed cheaply.

But Buttler and Root hit towering sixes off Hafeez as England accelerated on a pitch where they had twice set the world record for the highest ODI total.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.