It all
started so well. For once, warm sunshine was beaming down on Cardiff, and
uninterrupted play was on the cards. The crowd was a healthy mix of England and
Pakistan fans and I took my seat in the little Castle Stand beneath the
scoreboard anticipating a great day’s cricket and probable win by Eoin Morgan’s
men. That seemed more likely upon hearing the line-ups without the name of
Mohammed Amir and with Jonny Bairstow replacing Roy.
With Sarfraz Ahmed
inserting the home team, the scene was set for another blistering 300+ total.
In the first few overs, the gods seemed to be English, too. Bairstow and Hales
must consider themselves highly fortunate to survive LBW reviews. The
Yorkshireman bristled with aggression as usual, and his partnership with Joe
Root promised so much. However, it delivered few boundaries.
The bowlers
were switched frequently and everyone stepped up to the mark. Junaid Khan, debutant
Summan Raees and Hasan Ali generally kept to a good line and length, while the
trio of spinners were also in a mean mood. Nevertheless, at 128-2 just after halfway,
the situation demanded the customary acceleration we have come to expect from
the likes of Morgan, Buttler and Stokes.
In actuality,
the run rate slowed down. Not once in the second half of the England innings
did they manage more than six an over. More startling was the dearth of fours
or sixes. Stokes was strangled impressively and had produced not a single boundary
in his 34 when he skied an attempted hook from the lively Hasan. There were
spectacular catches and a few drops but respect to the Pakistan attack for
persevering throughout and restricting England to a paltry 211 all out. The
pitch may have been used before but surely this wasn’t a low-200s track?
In their
reply, Pakistan’s openers knew they didn’t need to go mad, yet they didn’t hold
back. Mark Wood’s first over went for 10, including four leg-side wides. Fakhar
Zaman was the leading strokemaker while his right-handed partner Azhar Ali was
more about finding the ones and twos. This was looking an easy task. They took
their stand past the century mark and looked pretty invincible until Adil
Rashid lured Fakhar out of his crease and Buttler removed the bails.
Was this the
moment when Morgan put his foot on the neck? Er, no. Unlike England, Pakistan
merely carried on as before. Babar Azam joined the six-hitter club. Azhar Ali
was out attempting a weird hook, and merely deflecting the ball down onto his
stumps, which brought the usually circumspect Mohammad Hafeez to the middle. By
this stage, the England supporters were definitely disgruntled. Indeed, many
were trailing out in search of an early train, and I found myself alone on my
row.
Ben Stokes
was just as bad with the ball as the bat. 2 million dollar man?? Even Hafeez
flat-batted him for a straight six, the result of a free hit because Morgan had
placed too many outside the circle. In the end, the field was brought in for
Hafeez but these were desperate measures. The coup de grace was applied by the
same batsman, pulling another short Stokes delivery to the mid-wicket boundary with
a ‘mere’ 77 balls remaining.
What a
sensational result! England had been put to the sword and maybe even India must
be a little nervous at meeting again the side they beat earlier in the competition.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh have proved they are no pushovers and CT17 may yet yield
another surprise.
