After the ignominy of a Test series whitewash, England bounced back to secure a convincing victory in the first of four ODIs against Pakistan. Knowing how tough it can be to bat in changing light conditions during a day-nighter, skipper Alastair Cook won the toss and batted first, and he led from the front.
Like Jonathan Trott, the opener has come under fire for being too slow, too sedate for one-day cricket. Therefore I was delighted to see him justify my, and more importantly the selectors' faith by not only reaching a career-best one-day innings of 137 but also scoring at almost a run a ball! A class player can do the business in any form of cricket and in the past few years, the Essex man has demonstrated genuine world class. That's not to say Trott isn't good either. He was arguably England's best player in the World Cup, although today he fell first ball to a Shahid Afridi googly. That well known cavalier stroke maker Kevin Pietersen replaced Kieswetter as Cook's opening partner and struggled to a 36-ball 14 before becoming Afridi's first victim of the day.
Ravi Bopara kept his captain company in a 131-run partnership until he was stumped off Saeed Ajmal, but neither Morgan nor Kieswetter reached double figures. Patel and Swann topped up the total to 260-7, a stiff but not impossible target.
Last week, Steve Finn was bemoaning his perennial drinks-carrying duties so was in the mood to justify his place. This he achieved with glorious success, taking the first four wickets with pace and subtle movement off the pitch. The Pakistan batsmen never got going and wickets fell with - for England - satisfying regularity. Only Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi topped twenty as the spinners Patel and Swann ripped through the rest of the order and Broad finished things off with a whole fifteen overs to spare. Pakistan had scored exactly half England's total and seven runs short of what Cook had made on his own.
All in all, a great result for England, and one which also ended Pakistan's seven-match unbeaten record. Bopara again produced a good performance on his return, but if Jos Buttler recovers from his split webbing, could he come into the side instead of Morgan? The Irishman seems to be a big favourite with the selectors so I somehow doubt he will be discarded, despite this latest failure. All the bowlers played their part and so I suspect England will field the same winning eleven on Wednesday. On the other hand, Misbah-ul-Haq and his batsmen need to get their act together quickly.
