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Pakistan struggles to win
By Ted Corbett
You can argue that Pakistan proved it wrong. Its kids, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul and Mohammad Hafeez, the man of the match for his 39-over 69, are all new boys by Pakistan standards, replacing such old men as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Inzamam-ul-Haq and each played a part to edge their side one up in the three-match series.
It was a struggle, as you might expect. Pakistan has deliberately discarded half a dozen of the greatest players in its history to prepare for the next World Cup and its coach Javed Miandad and the captain Rashid Latif know that youngsters need time to learn.
England too has ignored the men who under Nasser Hussain failed to win a trophy away from these shores. Even Vaughan has no established credentials and England's most experienced batsman, as measured by the number of innings in one-day internationals is Darren Gough, who will be remembered far more for his fast bowling than his big hitting.
But in this, his comeback game, he could be seen fulfilling his secondary task, part sheepdog, part nursemaid, guiding those who still need a rough towel to the back of their ears. It requires no imagination to realise both that this match could have gone England's way and that it may still win the two remaining games — at the Oval and Lord's later this week — and the series.
England made a miserable total of 204, causing those of us who admire his batting enormously to wish that Graham Thorpe had been there to dab runs in the middle of the innings. At 33 he is, arguably, the finest one-day batsman in the world, but his family problems mean the selectors cannot or will not trust him and so they ignore his record and his runs this fruitful season.
Pakistan made no more than steady progress towards the target but by the 36th over it had lost only two wickets for 139, with the strong batting of Latif, Azhar Mahmood and Abdul Razzaq to come.
It was time for Vaughan to show his mettle and throughout the next 14 overs he made it clear that he was up to the task. He brought back Gough who captured the wickets of Malik and Mahmood for five runs in five balls. He placed his trust in the new Gough, 20-year-old James Anderson, who had been smashed for 26 runs in his first three overs.
Anderson was transformed from a purveyor of half volleys and long hops into a roaring lion who delivered the scalps of Hafeez, Younis Khan and Latif and yet more hope for a fine future. By the 46th over Razzaq and Sami were left to find the last 17 runs and Vaughan forced to pray that Ricki Clarke, a debutant all-rounder with a nought to make the night memorable, could find victory in the last over.
A defiant heave by Razzaq off the second ball brought a win as well as 5,000 jubilant fans past the beefed-up security. Happily they caused no more trouble than a final indignant sigh from the man behind the public address system which means that the kids can continue to realise their potential this weekend when, as Vaughan said afterwards, the series is wide open. "Disappointed, yes, but my lads gave me everything and we have the spirit to win,'' he said.
It's only the first step on a long journey towards World Cup 2007 but most of last night's kids will be there, older, wiser and perhaps teaching newcomers a few tricks of their own.
SCOREBOARD
| ENGLAND | |
| M. Trescothick c Latif b Sami | 18 |
| V. Solanki b Hafeez | 36 |
| M. Vaughan c Latif b Gul | 27 |
| J. Troughton c Latif b Gul | 6 |
| A. Flintoff c Hameed b Razzaq | 39 |
| A. McGrath c Sami b Malik | 33 |
| R. Clarke b Malik | 0 |
| C. Read c Nazir b Malik | 5 |
| A. Giles (run out) | 3 |
| D. Gough (not out) | 14 |
| J. Anderson (not out) | 6 |
| Extras (lb-6, w-6, nb-5) | 17 |
| — — | |
| Total (for nine wkts.) | 204 |
| — — | |
| PAKISTAN BOWLING | ||||
| O | M | R | W | |
| Mahmood | 7 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| Sami | 10 | 2 | 52 | 1 |
| Hafeez | 10 | 0 | 41 | 1 |
| Gul | 7 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| Razzaq | 6 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| Malik | 10 | 2 | 26 | 3 |
| PAKISTAN | |
| I. Nazir c Solanki b Clarke | 33 |
| M. Hafeez c Clarke b Anderson | 69 |
| Y. Youhana (run out) | 8 |
| Younis Khan b Anderson | 0 |
| S. Malik c Clarke b Gough | 24 |
| A. Mahmood c Troughton
b Gough | 16 |
| R. Latif lbw b Andeson | 1 |
| A. Razzaq (not out) | 12 |
| M. Sami (not out) | 7 |
| Extras (lb-9, w-6) | 15 |
| — — | |
| Total (for eight wkts.) | 208 |
| — — | |
Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-116, 3-139, 4-139, 5-162, 6-181, 7-188, 8-194.
| ENGLAND BOWLING | ||||
| O | M | R | W | |
| Anderson | 10 | 0 | 59 | 3 |
| Gough | 10 | 1 | 38 | 2 |
| Flintoff | 10 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| Giles | 10 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| Clarke | 7.2 | 0 | 41 | 1 |
| Vaughan | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
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