England (221/3) comprehensively defeat Pakistan (158/8) by 63 runs; Lead series 2-1

[Sunzi]

Happy heart has 250 runs in 21 innings lol... didn't 80 of them come v Hong Kong? What are we doing lol.

How is he anywhere near the national set up.

 

[Titan24]

Shan dominating the domestic T20 is a sad and bad reflection of the national T20 tournament because Shan at the international level is an anchor who can moderately up the ante if he gets his eye in but will not tee off with a SR of 180-200 plus to make it count at the end.

The fact we are unable to produce quality reliable striking batsmen who can mix up conventional and unconventional shots clearly shows the lack of quality in the tournament.

Shan was okay, England county's standard is reflected in bad light as well where Shan has literally milked runs.

 

[saabir]

Shadab should bat at No. 4 in this line up.
1.Babar
2. Rizwan
3. Shan
4. Shadab
5. Chacha Ifti
6. Asif Ali
This should be the top 6 going into WC.

 

[NeVerMind]

Happy heart has 250 runs in 21 innings lol... didn't 80 of them come v Hong Kong? What are we doing lol.

How is he anywhere near the national set up.

Not a single 50 in those matches.. Same for Asif Ali...

 

[MenInG]

Babar Azam | Talking in Urdu: The plan was to give a good start chasing such a big total but we lost 4 wickets inside 6 overs and that transferred the pressure to the other batters. The plan was to trust the bowlers based on the batsmen out there in the middle, but we did not bowl to the field, bowled on the opposite side. Have to look at that and sit and have a chat about it. Was nice to see Masood getting a good knock in, he played well both behind and in front of the wicket. Shan Masood showed intent and the way he batted and executed his plans was very good. I hope he plays like this in the future"

Harry Brook | POTM: It was very nice to get out there and get a match-winning performance in tonight. It was quite similar to the other night, every pitch has been similar. The key was having a solid gameplan and sticking to it, get on the front foot as often as you can. He’s so good against spin, it’s ridiculous and I was trying to get him on strike as much as I can [on Duckett].

 

[MenInG]

Nasser on "comprehensive" England victory

“The three young lads with the bat were quite brilliant - Will Jacks coming in on debut, Ben Duckett continues with his sweeps and his reverse sweeps and Harry Brook is just going to be a superstar in all formats, he really is," Hussain told Sky Sports.

“His [Brook] run getting the past couple of years for Yorkshire has been prolific and I think it will continue to be prolific.

"With the ball, the two lads that come in. Mark Wood, in that World Cup squad, straight away with 97mph and has still got that pace.

“Wood will take the headlines but Reece Topley took 1-22 from four overs and just offers a different trajectory. He has been a real plus and has been growing as a bowler over the past six months.”

 

[MenInG]

Mark Wood "the support in general in Pakistan has been quite good for us anyway. They are quite knowledgeable here and very supportive"

 

[Kroll]

Yesterday victory does not solve anything

It was still a great victory, Pakistan didn't really look up for it today.

 

[Sherazkhalid]

Atleast Shan Masood got some runs, still to be seen if he will get runs when it matters.

 

[Kroll]

Mark Wood "the support in general in Pakistan has been quite good for us anyway. They are quite knowledgeable here and very supportive"

Moral victory!

 

[cricketbadshah]

I think Pakistan should select Azam khan and shoaib malik in place of khusdil and iftikhaar. Surely they can't do worse than these two. Khushdil and iftikhaar are like walking wickets.

 

[Sunzi]

Not a single 50 in those matches.. Same for Asif Ali...

21 knocks with a best of 30 at a career striking rate of 111

Mindblowing.

 

[MenInG]

Moeen proud of "ruthless" victory

"I felt that it was a brilliant win," England captain Moeen Ali said. "We were ruthless tonight, in my opinion, with the bat in particular.

"I thought that partnership [Ben Duckett and Harry Brook] was outstanding with two really good players. Brook is showing how special of a player he can potentially be.

"He looks amazing in our opinions and hopefully he grows and becomes one of the top, top players."

 

[cricketbadshah]

That's a great stats...

 

[Ashmal]

I think on serious note Babar & Rizwan have to look into batting order
Only 5 times out of last 16 games they have crossed 30 as opening stand, middle order is not good & it is impacting team badly.

these are their partnerships in last 16 matches

V Bangladesh 12
V Bangladesh 16
V Bangladesh 32
V westindies 1
V westindies 158
V westindies 14
V Australia 67
V India 15
V hongkong 13
V India 22
V Afghanistan 1
V srilanka 28
V srilanka 22
V England 85
V England 203
V England 17

Average is 706/16 matches 44

But out of 16 only 5 times they have crossed 30.

That's mainly due Babar's blip in form this year

 

[NeVerMind]

83 innings between Chacha, Happy Heart and Asif Ali in Internationals and only one 50 between the 3 of them (Chacha, 3 years ago)... The mind boggles why they keep getting selected over and over again....

 

[Rana]

I am completely right about my views in relation to Babar and Rizwan

I also extend the same view in relation to Shan Masood

These are soft runs which will inflate the stats. He will go missing just like Babar and Rizwan when the heat is turned up.

 

[Rana]

Satisfying humbling provided to all the chest thumpers.

 

[PakPremi]

Heat was turned up today and Shan stood up. Heat was on when the duo of Rizwan made big partnership against England twice, SA,West Indies and England. And invidually both have scored big in may important T20s too. Its another matter what you think isbig matches, in last worldcup Rizwan delivered and Babar too, and Rizwan was ok in Asia cup too,and two of three innings in this bi-lateral so far.

 

[PakPremi]

That's mainly due Babar's blip in form this year

Also very rarely in T20s you have both openers scoring in the same match. Rizwan atleast has been very consistent, Babar no so. Either way openers arenot tge issue for Pakistan but finding hatd hitting middle order that actually scores runs.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pak gained more in this match with bat. Gave opportunities to other guys

 

[Waleed93]

But openers won't click every match. What is the solve?

The solution is obviously a better middle order, capable of steadying the ship in case both Babar and Rizwan fail, and also capable of scoring big and quick when the openers have laid the foundation.

In today's team, we unfortunately have a middle order which lacks the ability to do both.

They can't anchor the innings if they come at the crease early, and they can't hit sixes if Babar and Rizwan set us a 130-2 like situation after 14 overs.

A perfect example was the first T20I where we were placed at 85-1 after 9 overs, and ended up with less than 160.

This crap middle order is the reason why both openers can't go gung ho all the time. They know that they have to score a huge chunk of the target, it doesn't matter if that target is 200 or 120, because the batsmen who follow them are absolutely useless in terms of both anchoring and hitting.

Those guys need to be replaced, not the openers themselves who are doing more than what they should in this mediocre batting line up. Some fans here are asking for more such hacks so that we can see situations like today's more often.

People need to look at the real problem, instead of trying to change the non-issue.

 

[AZulfi]

The solution is obviously a better middle order, capable of steadying the ship in case both Babar and Rizwan fail, and also capable of scoring big and quick when the openers have laid the foundation.

In today's team, we unfortunately have a middle order which lacks the ability to do both.

They can't anchor the innings if they come at the crease early, and they can't hit sixes if Babar and Rizwan set us a 130-2 like situation after 14 overs.

A perfect example was the first T20I where we were placed at 85-1 after 9 overs, and ended up with less than 160.

This crap middle order is the reason why both openers can't go gung ho all the time. They know that they have to score a huge chunk of the target, it doesn't matter if that target is 200 or 120, because the batsmen who follow them are absolutely useless in terms of both anchoring and hitting.

Those guys need to be replaced, not the openers themselves who are doing more than what they should in this mediocre batting line up. Some fans here are asking for more such hacks so that we can see situations like today's more often.

People need to look at the real problem, instead of trying to change the non-issue.

Well-said. If the openers fail, the total falls to 150 or below! Don't even think of winning any major tournament with such a mediocre middle-order

As I said elsewhere, on the odd day we might score big (when both openers click) but 150+/- is essentially this team's max. batting potential on most days...just not good enough at this level

 

[PakLFC]

We gave too many runs away. The match was over after the first innings. We move on to the next one now.

 

[MenInG]

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Harry Brook and Ben Duckett bludgeoned maiden Twenty20 half-centuries as England bounced back to beat Pakistan by 63 runs on Friday.

Brook smashed 81 off 35 balls and left-hander Duckett made 70 off 42 deliveries as England racked up 221-3 after losing the toss.

Pakistan’s top order crumbled against fast bowlers Mark Wood and Reece Topley and finished on 158-8 a day after chasing down 199.

“We were ruthless tonight, especially in batting,” England skipper Moeen Ali said. “Brooky hopefully grows and becomes one of the top players. Wood bowled at serious pace, great to have him back. He’s a massive part of our team.”

Wood picked up 3-24 with pace that saw him touching 156 kph (97 mph) and Reece took 1-22 in their first game of the series as England brought them in for David Willey and Luke Wood.

England leads the series 2-1 with four more games to go. They go again in Karachi on Sunday.

Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan couldn’t repeat their Thursday night heroics when they led Pakistan to a 10-wicket win with a brilliant double-century stand.

Both batters scored 8 runs each before Wood had Babar caught at third man in the third over, and Topley clean-bowled Rizwan with a brilliant slower ball.

Pakistan slipped to 28-4 within the first six overs of the batting powerplay when Haider Ali was brilliantly snapped up by Adil Rashid at backward square leg and Sam Curran undid Iftikhar Ahmed with a short-pitched delivery.

“When you lose your four top batters within the first six overs, you always struggle,” Babar said. “Our bowling was also not up to the mark, but we will try not to repeat the mistakes in the next games.”

Left-hander Shan Masood, who made his T20 debut in the first game, top-scored with an unbeaten 65 off 40 balls but Pakistan always lagged well behind once it lost Babar and Rizwan and in the face of Wood’s fast deliveries.

Earlier, Brook smashed the Pakistan pacers in the latter half of the innings while Duckett was excellent against the spinners.

Brook punished Shahnawaz Dahani (0-62) with boundaries galore in the death overs as the fast bowler returned Pakistan’s second most expensive figures in a T20. Brook blistered eight fours and five sixes.

“It was very nice to get out there and have a match-winning performance,” Brook said. “I was Just hitting through the line of the ball ... and was just trying to get (Duckett) on strike - he’s so good against spin, it’s ridiculous.”

Legspinner Usman Qadir picked up the wickets of debutant Will Jacks (40) and Dawid Malan (14) in his first two overs before ending uith 2-48.

Jacks, who hit a century for Surrey in the Hundred, filled the shoes of the rested Alex Hales in his debut T20 by racking up eight boundaries on both sides of the pitch. He holed out in the deep against Qadir’s googly.

Brook and Duckett then combined in a breezy 139-run stand off just 66 balls in England’s highest score of the series

AP