Here’s Vic Marks’s match report
Bye for now. Thanks for your company and correspondence through the afternoon - a pleasure to be with you, as always. Be sure to stick with the OBO throughout the England vs Pakistan ODI series, beginning on Wednesday afternoon at The Oval. Keep an eye on the site for Vic’s report and enjoy your bank holiday! Night.
England have won their most recent five T20s. Eight out of their last ten. Obviously, this isn’t the format on people’s minds at the moment - nor should it be. But casting ahead to 2020, there is a World Cup in the format later that year.
Morgan post-play said as you would expect: his young team are happy and everything helps in terms of the World Cup ahead of them. He explained that the challenge today was very different to the one they dealt with, albeit just, on Friday in Ireland. He said with the ball they weren’t near their best but was complimentary of Tom Curran, which is a good sign for the young man.
Sarfraz Ahmed reflected on what a big omission Shadab Khan is but sounds relatively upbeat about him being fit and firing again for the World Cup.
Vic Marks will be here with his match report shortly. I’ll stick around to see if we can grab a comment or two from Eoin Morgan out of the post-game. Jofra Archer is the main talking point on TMS, who has impressed Jimmy Anderson. I thought Tom Curran was England’s best with the ball. I have no idea how they are going to work out the player that has to make way for Archer in this World Cup squad.
Well that’s that. England were never in trouble at any stage of their chase, Vince (36) starting the job in the power play before Morgan (57 not out) and Root (47) advanced the score from 66 to 131 for the third wicket. Denly (20 not out) showed his experience at the end alongside his skipper, never letting the required rate get anywhere near difficult. All told, not a game of cricket that had an awful lot riding on it, but with an ODI World Cup around the corner, it wasn’t for nothing either.
ENGLAND WIN BY SEVEN WICKETS! (with four balls in hand)
Morgan doesn’t mess around, leaning back and launching Faheem’s second ball back over his head and into the crowd! Clinically done by the England skipper, who finishes with 57 not out from 29 balls, Denly also unbeaten on 20 from 12.
Updated
Morgan to 50
With two that he slaps out to cover from the first ball of the 20th over. England need five from five balls, Faheem the man with the ball.
19th over: England 167-3 (Morgan 49, Denly 20) Target 174 There it is, Shaheen Afridi in Joe Denly’s swinging arc first ball of this penultimate over, the Kent mainstay loading up and popping it over the rope for six! Shaheen’s is straight back on it with a series of yorkers that England are happy enough squeezing out singles from now that the equation is very much in their favour. The full toss comes from the final ball, Denly smacking it to cover so hard that Morgan sent him back. A dot ball to finish, then. Seven needed from the final over. Somehow, Pakistan probably need to get Morgan with the first ball of the 20th. We’ll see!
18th over: England 157-3 (Morgan 47, Denly 12) Target 174 Morgan knows the deal here, going at the first ball of Hasan’s over to transfer the pressure back onto the bowler. It’s a fine shot - again taking advantage of mid-off being inside the circle - clearing him with the horizontal bat for back-to-back fours. Denly now has the freedom to free his arms and does just that, getting lucky with a bottom edge that goes past the stumps and down to the rope. It wasn’t a bad slower ball bouncer but it doesn’t matter now. 12 off the over, so England need 17 from 12 balls.
17th over: England 145-3 (Morgan 41, Denly 6) Target 174 Shaheen Afridi is a confident young man and is being backed by Sarfraz to bowl the 17th and one more over. With the exception of a legside wide, he’s landing his yorker well and making it as difficult as possible for either player to free the arms. Oh, scrap that: the final ball, to Denly, is made into a full toss and slammed down the ground. With the mid-off up, that’s four runs. They’re only a few big hits from ending this.
16th over: England 137-3 (Morgan 39, Denly 1) Target 174 Denly off the mark down the ground first up, Morgan not wasting any time in going again at Hasan behind square, helped by some bad fielding from Haris Sohail on the boundary rope. 15 from the over along with the Root wicket. 37 in 24 balls the job for the hosts.
WICKET! Root c Sarfraz b Hasan 47 (England 131-3)
Root is furious with himself for getting a little tickle on another of his ramp shots. This time, Hasan saw him coming so he popped it wider outside the off-stump. Root, already in the pose, went for it anyway. Hasan responds as you would expect, fired up and ready to go. Even more impressive is that he got the key breakthrough after starting the over going for SIX from a front foot no-ball, Morgan hoicking him over the square leg rope. England are still driving this game but if Pakistan can now get the captain in a hurry, it will be game on.
15th over: England 122-2 (Root 46, Morgan 27) Boy wonder stuff from Root to start Faheem’s new over, getting down low before the ball is delivered to connect with another lap sweep over the top of short-fine for four. Watching it back, that’s ABDV-esque - about the highest compliment that can be paid. With that boundary in the bank, they can knock the rest around the field without risk. Root is unlucky not to win a free hit for a waist high full toss, but having left his crease before the ball is sent own the square leg ump keeps his arm down. Nine from it. Grandstand finish or so they do this easy? That probably all depends on wickets now.
14th over: England 113-2 (Root 39, Morgan 25) Hasan Ali is a bowler with considerable experience in English conditions over the last couple of years. He isn’t giving either player a boundary ball early on, Root breaking his bat when miscuing a pull shot into the deep. But the new blade does the trick, Root coming down the track and flogging his off-drive past the man up on the circle for four. Eight from the over, leaving England 61 in the final six overs. That won’t concern this experienced pair. If they are there at the end, England win.
13th over: England 105-2 (Root 33, Morgan 23) Andy Zaltzman is all over it, noting on BBC that England and Pakistan were both 100/2 at exactly the same time. Hasnain, bowling his fourth over, has really found the range on his yorker, Root fortunate not to chop on. He lands with another ripper of a yorker, just missing the off-stump but completely beyond Root, clocking the radar at 91mph. But Root is such a confident and brilliant player that he gets down on his knee to lap the final ball over his left shoulder for a valuable boundary. “This is England’s game to lose,” is the assessment of Isa Guha. 0/29 for Hasnain on T20 debut and it looks like Pakistan have really found one with him. Very impressive pace and skills.
12th over: England 99-2 (Root 28, Morgan 23) Morgan gets juuuuuust enough on his miscue, clearing the long-off rope - and two fielders - by no more than a foot. To be fair, the pair looked more likely to collide with each other than take the catch. The captain keeps going, pulling beyond square for four then lashing an inside/out cover drive. Six, four, four. All up, with a couple spitting out behind square, 17 are added. They needed that to buy a little bit of breathing room.
11th over: England 82-2 (Root 28, Morgan 7) Imad’s final over, which I’m a touch surprised about - I thought Sarfraz might hold him back to have that option when it gets hot and heavy in about half an hour from now. Root is all over it to begin, crouching into a reverse scoop (so it is being called) from the first ball, executing it perfectly over the shoulder of the ‘keeper Sarfraz for four. The spinner fought back well though, giving up just three further runs; 1/24 are his final figures. England need 92 from 54 balls, which works out to a tick over 10 an over.
10th over: England 75-2 (Root 23, Morgan 5) A bit of consolidation as these two find their feet. That is until the final delivery, Morgan picking up Hasnain’s short one early, smashing it over backward square leg: one bounce over the rope. I’m sure they saw the England skip bounced out by Ireland for a duck on Friday and I’m equally certain that Morgan will be determined not to let that happen again.
“Afternoon Adam.” Simon McMahon, good afternoon to you. “All this World Cup talk is getting me rather excited, but has also served to remind me of the fact that I’m not yet over Scotland missing out on qualification. My first trip to Lord’s in July should help though.”
Remember when the ICC board argued that the reason teams in Scotland’s boat were not being included is because they aren’t competitive enough? Spare me. Enjoy your trip to HQ. For the Ireland Test, by chance? Can’t wait for that.
WICKET! Vince c Sarfraz b Imad 36 (England 66-2)
That’s an excellent decision, ultra-edge confirming a tiny inside edge from Vince. Really well taken by Sarfraz low to the turf as well; down the legside. A nice innings comes to an end but England have plenty of work to do as the skipper, Eoin Morgan, walks out to join the Test captain, Joe Root.
9th over: England 66-2 (Root 19)
VINCE IS GIVEN OUT. The successful Imad appeal was for caught behind down the legside. The opener has immediately sent it upstairs. We’ll see. Bring on the DRS.
8th over: England 61-1 (Vince 33, Root 17) The strike rotation tango continues, but in the middle of this Hasnain over Vince gets the chance to throw his hands at an impotent delivery outside of the off-stump, thwacking it into the gap in front of point for his third boundary to the posh side of the ground.
7th over: England 53-1 (Vince 27, Root 15) Spin for the seventh, as is the custom. One, two, three, four, five singles in succession, Vince and Root rotating the strike without much concern. This is shaping up nicely for a 20th over finish.
6th over: England 48-1 (Vince 24, Root 13) Root is busy this time around, pulling Shaheen for two then tucking another couple. Good running. To finish, he picks up a shorter ball and turns it around the corner with the a horizontal blade, beating backward square to lodge his first boundary to end a solid power play.
5th over: England 38-1 (Vince 23, Root 4) James Vince is in lovely nick, steering Hasan Ali behing point with complete ease to finish this otherwise uneventful over. Root is in no hurry, taking his time to settle in. Remember that he did a stint at the Thunder in the Big Bash last southern summer to improve his T20 game.
4th over: England 31-1 (Vince 18, Root 2) Hasnain is on with his right arm seam, the 19 year old on T20I debut today. He’s born in April 2000 - how old does that make you feel? Has a lovely, traditional side-on action with a bit of a sling so I’m looking forward to seeing him with the red ball in his hand. Good first set, with the exception of a bouncer that balloons two feet over Vince’s head. Oh, I’ve talked too soon: a full toss outside off stump to finish is smashed away past point by Vince. Speaking of young guns, Jofra Archer is on the Sky TV commentary now, during an innings where he might have to bat later. Is there anything he can’t do?
“If they organised the World Cup as a knockout but with the teams that lose the first round going into a draw and play each other with the winners of this being reentered into the competition proper,” suggests Dave Manby. “This way you would cope with “freak” results in the 1st round and make all matches count.”
Sure. But there are better ways to make all the games count. If I were Cricket King, I’d simply repeat the 2003 system. 14 teams; groups of seven. Six group games that all meant a lot as only three teams progress from each group. The Super Six is cut throat, including carry over points (which were improved in 2003 so that NRR was less of a factor). I’ve spent a silly amount of time looking into this recently.
3rd over: England 24-1 (Vince 13, Root 1) Oh, and how about the wicket-celebration? Arms our like Shahid Afridi! Outstanding. Reminds me of a story he told when he took his international wickets when we were in Harare last July. He got his first pro game, so goes his yarn, because they mistook him for, you guessed it, the great Boom Boom. Pakistan cricket: the best there is.
WICKET! Duckett c Imad b Afridi 9 (England 21-1)
Caught at mid-off! Nothing wrong with him coming down the track to make room, and the ball was there for it, but Duckett has picked out the man on the circle at mid-off and that’s that. Shaheen Afridi is in the book in the space of three balls.
2nd over: England 17-0 (Vince 12, Duckett 5) Target 174. Faheem with his right arm seam beats Vince first up with his front-on action, hitting the seam and darting away. Oooh, the opener doesn’t miss when he gets a short one though, swatting it over long on for SIX! Real stand and deliver stuff. Faheem drops short a second time and Vince briefly considers repeating the shot before electing instead to pull into the turf to long on. Duckett times the final ball through backward point, adding three more. Ten from the over. Nice start.
1st over: England 7-0 (Vince 5, Duckett 2) Target 174. Both openers are away with singles forward square to start this chase; Vince then down the ground for one. Some tidy fielding prevents Duckett from beating the circle at cover but he does give Vince one further opportunity. He clips that final ball like VVS Laxman, stopped on the boundary by the man running around from midwicket.
We’re back. Vince and Duckett are the new England opening partnership. Wales’ favourite son, Imad Wasim, has the ball in his hand for his left-arm ortho. PLAY!
Jofra Archer. Being brilliant.
Imad’s excellent shot to finish. Better than I thought on first watch.
“It shouldn’t be difficult to organise a World Cup qualifying system the way other disciplines do,” writes John Starbuck. “This ought to allow an ascending scale of T20s, ODIs and Tests for teams to progress through. I seem to recall that earlier attempts were thwarted by the prospect of West Indies losing out - box-office disaster - when going through a bad patch at the time. We’d all like to see the ‘smaller’ nations and how the ‘bigger’ ones cope with the unfamiliar conditions. Don’t forget that whenever Yeovil Town did well in the FA Cup someone would always bring up their sloping pitch, which had plenty over the Lord’s version.”
You’re right, it shouldn’t be. But India were eliminated in 2007 in the group stage, which, for reasons that we’ll never properly understand, were set up in football groups of four rather than 6/7/8 per the 1996/1999/2003 tournaments. In 1999 and 2003 they got it right; you can read about 3000 words from me about this very topic in the Nightwatchman, coming out next month. Anyway, India (and Pakistan’s) early exits in 2007 means we will never had a properly sized World Cup again.
Pakistan 173/6
20th over: Pakistan 173-6 (Imad 18, Hasan 0) Imad sticks the landing with boundaries off the final two balls! With long-off up, he beat the man on the circle from the penultimate delivery before flicking perfectly off the pads into the gap to finish the innings for Pakistan. His unbeaten 18 came in 13 balls, enjoying the chance to knock it around in the country of his birth - in keeping with our conversation theme of the afternoon. Righto, England need 174 to win. I’m grabbing a drink.
WICKET! Faheem c Denly b Jordan 17 (Pakistan 165-6)
Faheem tries to slap Jordan over long off for the second time in a row but slices it out to Denly on the extra cover boundary, who completes the easy catch. The ball before was a mightly wallop, lifting a low full toss over long-off for six. That’s the modern game for you; almost nothing wrong with the delivery. Two balls left.
19th over: Pakistan 157-5 (Imad 9, Faheem 10) Morgan has thrown the ball to Rashid for the penultimate over and Imad is cool with that, smashing the spinner back over his head for four. But just five other singles around the sweepers is a result that England would once again be happy with. Jordan to now finish it off.
18th over: Pakistan 148-5 (Imad 3, Faheem 7) Imad, who, would you believe, was also born in Wales (Swansea), gives the strike to the new man Faheem. He does really nicely to turn Archer very fine down to the boundary. Even so, just seven runs from the over is a big win for England at this stage of the innings.
“What is it about Papua New Guinea?” asks Dave Manby in relation to Geirant Jones. “I have a mate whose first language is Welsh and he was born and brought up in Papua. I know the story about the Welsh community in Patagonia but don’t know about any connection with Papua New Guinea.”
I suspect that’s a coincidence? My grandmother, who was from Denbigh in deep North Wales, didn’t learn English until she was 16 years old. Always loved that.
17th over: Pakistan 141-5 (Imad 2, Faheem 1) Three wickets in nine balls has done the trick with the scoring rate too, eight runs coming from the Archer and Jordan overs. Coming at the time when Pakistan were motoring, now, they’ll be lucky to get to 170. They’d probably take that. 200 was on the cards ten minutes ago.
“To be fair, the Isle of Man does most things as an independent nation (crown dependency),” notes Ed Mac, correcting the record.
WICKET! Asif run out Jordan (Pakistan 139-5)
Brilliant awareness from Jordan! Imad walloped a staight hit back at the fast bowler, who wasn’t able to drag the catch down but did keep his cool to gather and run out Asif at the non-strikers’ end. In the end, he made it look easy.
WICKET! Babar run out Archer (Pakistan 135-4)
Make that two in an over! Archer is brilliant off his own bowling, racing around to collect in his follow-through before pinging the stumps at the non-strikers’ end. The direct hit left Babar well short. Both set players are now gone thanks to the man on debut, in the space of three balls. With that, England are back in business.
16th over: Pakistan 137-4 (Asif 2, Imad 0)
WICKET! Sohail c Willey b Archer 50 (Pakistan 134-3)
Boy, how England needed that. Archer took a bit of pace off his short ball there by the looks, Harris miscuing an attempted slap over cow, caught by Willey on the midwicket rope. The end of a 103-run union that has set Pakistan up nicely.
Sohail to 50
15th over: Pakistan 133-2 (Babar 64, Sohail 50) Curran’s turn to take some tap, Babar this time deliberately and cleverly opening up the blade to beat cover. Another top shot. He’s turning the strike over at will now, finding the gaps on the legside for two on a couple of occasions. Earlier in the set, a Sohail single moved him to 50 for the first time in this format of the game, acquired in 34 deliveries.
14th over: Pakistan 122-2 (Babar 54, Sohail 49) Willey is back on for his first over since this odd delay in play earlier. He’s trying to bowl wide of the crease aiming at the tram tracks to Sohail but on two occasions the umpire calls him for wides. Pretty stiff, if you ask me, but it’s a batsman’s game/world. Fully aware of what the left-armer is up to, Sohail leans into the final delivery from that same line, carving it over backward point into the gap for four. That’s a super white-ball cricket shot. Sohail is such an impressive and (underrated) cricketer.
“Two quick questions, if you don’t mind.” Okay, John Davis. Let’s do it.
“A. Thinking about smaller cricketing nations, as you brought up with the European examples, I saw recently Nepal - who I have a soft spot for - were 11th in the world at T20s (and 14th at ODI). They also seem to have done well at U19 level. How would you suggest developing the ‘smaller’ nations so that they are allowed to compete at World Cups etc?”
Well, this is the first World Cup where the ICC have been successful in executing their disgraceful cull. I could go on all day about this. It is unlikely that the World Cup will ever go beyond ten teams again, I’m afraid to say. Not while the BCCI run the show at board level with the support of CA/ECB, officially or otherwise.
“B. What on Earth was ‘Joffa’ short for at Aussie cricket clubs?”
Jeff/Geoff. If that is your name, and you play cricket in Australia, you are Joffa from the moment you walk into any club. I have tried to use it as a nickname for Geoff Lemon but it hasn’t stuck, to my chagrin.
Babar to 50
13th over: Pakistan 111-2 (Babar 51, Sohail 43) BOOM! BOOM! Joe Denly’s first two balls have gone for six! Brilliant from Babar, who sits back and waits for the poor leg breaks to each him, heaving them both over midwicket into the crowd with no fuss at all. Morgan has a chat to his bowler, who is having a ‘mare. He fights back well, conceding three singles from the final four balls, but the damage is done. In the process, Babar reaches his half-century in just 31 deliveries. Easy peasy. That’s his tenth T20 fifty in 30 innings, Andy Zaltzman notes on TMS.
12th over: Pakistan 96-2 (Babar 37, Sohail 42) Curran, England’s best bowler today so far, successfully breaks the run of overs with boundaries. He has 1/17 from his three overs so far. But they really need to break this partnership.
Updated
11th over: Pakistan 90-2 (Babar 36, Sohail 37) Rashid was on top in for the first four balls of the over but dropping a fraction short to Babar with his penultimate delivery, the right-hander slams him through midwicket in the gap for four. A couple more to into the same region makes nine from it.
“As someone who would like to see the West Indies get back to respectability, if not greatness, in international cricket, forgive me if I don’t derive any great joy from Archer succeeding with England,” emails Robert Speed. “I consider it simply unsporting for England to have poached him like they have. In fact, relying on other countries to develop international-calibre cricketers before poaching them, or hiding them in county cricket, seems to be something of an English cottage industry.”
This is such a complicated area, I don’t think it’d be right to weigh in via a pithy line during a rapid-fire T20. Needless to say, a lot of people share your view about England’s recruiting. And not just with Archer, of course. On the other hand, I’m pretty keen to see Ryan Sidebottom and/or Steve Eskinazi in the England team as the Australian pair (trust me, there are two Ryan Sidebottoms) qualify. The latter already has, I believe.
10th over: Pakistan 81-2 (Babar 30, Sohail 35) Cheeky from Sohail, the catalyst for this burst of energy. Pushing back to make room for himself outside the leg stump, he opens up the blade expertly to steer Archer through about first slip just beyond the diving Foakes. Earlier in the over, he picked up another four in the same direction, albeit off a more traditional outside edge. Frustration for Jofra, 13 runs coming from his over. The 50 partnership is also up between the pair.
“Can it be true that the Isle of Man play cricket as an independent nation, but Wales don’t?” observes Andrew Benton. “How odd. How so?”
In a word: moolah? And not unreasonably so, by the way. People who know a lot more about this than we do - Steve James, for instance - is adamant that that the status quo is the best possible result for Welsh cricket. It’s a worthwhile discussion, though. I just want Bread of Heaven at the cricket, to be honest.
9th over: Pakistan 68-2 (Babar 30, Sohail 22) Babar’s turn to go big, getting down the track to launch Rashid over midwicket for six! That’s not a shot known for its elegance, but Babar makes it easy on the eye. Singles from every other delivery makes 11 from the over and 16 from the last two.
8th over: Pakistan 57-2 (Babar 22, Sohail 19) A touch belated, but Pakistan are away! 15 taken from this Jordan over with a six and two fours. Sohail used his feet to give himself the chance to whack the short ball over cow corner over the rope, the first big one of the day. Nicely struck. Next, he cuts delicately using the pace of Jordan, placing into the gap for four more. Babar’s turn, flaying a drive past point to finish, once again into the gap. Classy cricket.
For some reason the embed function isn’t working for me today but check out the first two wickets of England’s 2019 home campaign, here and here.
7th over: Pakistan 42-2 (Babar 18, Sohail 8) Spin now via the leggie Rashid with the field back, the set man Babar driving him down the ground to start. Sohail immediately takes him on, also down the ground, but doesn’t get much of it, the ball landing in front of Archer. Babar gives the strike back to Sohail, Rashid getting his wrong’un out for the first time but the right-hander was up to the task with a clip from the pads. Sohail does likewise to retain the strike. Just four from it though - another good result for England. Jimmy Anderson on TMS doesn’t think that Pakistan are taking enough chances. They’ll need to turn the volume up soon.
“Further to John Starbuck’s point,” begins Matt Dony. “As I understand it, in the early days of the ECB when charters and whatnots were being set up, they wrote to Glamorgan CC to get their thoughts on the name of the representative team. Glamorgan didn’t bother replying, and so the the ECB understandably just went with ‘England’. So it’s basically our own fault.”
I should note that any (unlikely) move to give Wales a team of their own would mean Glamorgan’s exit from the county championship. A shame it has to be that way, but it’s only fair. Tim Wigmore wrote a piece on this topic for The Economist a couple of years ago that I’ll dig out during the innings break.
6th over: Pakistan 38-2 (Babar 16, Sohail 6) Lovely way to get off the mark for Sohail, slamming Jordan’s second ball of the afternoon over point for four. He bounces back well with three dots on the bounce before the left-hander collects a couple off his pads to finish. England wins the power play, no doubt about that.
“Afternoon Adam (afternoon everyone).” Hi Joseph Sweeney. “I wonder given their respective moves up the order this summer, whether the Vince - Duckett opening partnership has been pencilled in for the Ashes? A bit drastic, or the kind of madcap derring-do that made this country ‘great’?”
SIGN ME UP!
WICKET! Imam c Foakes b Archer 7. (Pakistan 31-2)
Jofra! Imam looked well suited to the 90mph pace early in the over of the super quick, but he’s nabbed him with a short ball, gloved through to the waiting Foakes. That’s all pace. Sure enough, Archer has a wicket in the first over of his T20 debut.
5th over: Pakistan 31-2 (Babar 16, Sohail 0)
4th over: Pakistan 25-1 (Babar 15, Imam 2) The familiar sound of horns hooting from the Pakistan fans around Sophia Gardens, such a major part of the 1999 World Cup when the men in green made it all the way to the final. They don’t have a lot to be excited about in this over, though, Curran keeping Imam, the man on debut, down the business end for all but one delivery with a single behind square the only run. The Surrey all-rounder was very good on Friday too.
3rd over: Pakistan 24-1 (Babar 15, Imam 1) Shoooooot. Babar is a joy to watch when on song, striking a glorious cover drive off Willey here that looks little more a defensive push but the timing is so good that it races into the rope. It’s easy to see why he’s the No1 T20 batsman in the world, boasting an astonishing average of 54. Four other risk-free runs beforehand makes it eight from the over.
We have a weird delay. Running in to begin his second set, Willey has stepped on... a trap door? In the pace before his delivery stride, the left-armer has popped his right foot into the box on the field that looks to contain a bunch of cables. Gee, watching the replay Willey is very lucky not to have turned an ankle. He’s smiling now, but I wouldn’t be. You can’t ask him to change his angle, can you? As Charles Dagnall notes on TMS, that isn’t a good look for the venue.
While we wait, I can tell you that West Indies’ Cambpell and Hope finished their opening stand on 365 in Malahide, in case you were wondering. As Andy Zaltzman says on BBC, that’s the highest opening partnership in the history of ODIs.
Okay, the ground staff have done a bit of bashing with hammers and so forth and Willey is set to start his over again.
WICKET! Fakhar c Morgan b Curran 7 (Pakistan 16-1)
What a catch! The skipper Morgan at cover had only enough time to throw up his right hand and he’s pulled down a beauty! Better still, it came at the end of an over where Pakistan collected two boundaries, the now-dismissed Fakhar leaning into a perfectly placed square drive to register the first four of the day before Babar repeated the dose using the pace of the ball to deflect through third slip. But Curran has the last laugh with the dangerous Fakhar out of the way.
2nd over: Pakistan 16-1 (Babar 8)
1st over: Pakistan 6-0 (Fakhar 2, Babar 3) Fakhar is away with a push to cover, Willey then missing his line to Babar to give up an extra. He’s better with his next offering, squaring the right hander up and finding a leading edge that spits out to third man for a single. Fakhar gives the strike back with another single to cover before a bit of drama with Babar, who drives two to deep point and decides to return for a third but without the consent of his partner. Sent back, he has to dive, fortunate that the throw from the deep wasn’t better to Foakes. Phew.
“It’s generally understood that Wales and England are a single entity when it comes to cricket viz,” emails John Starbuck. “Glamorgan in the County Championship; it’s quicker to say ‘ECB’ than ‘E&WCB’. The problem is the lack of support throughout the valleys for any more senior level teams. If there were to be an independence movement it would probably have to be promoted really well. Speaking of which, several counties now have a couple of webcams for view, along with links (at least at Trent Bridge) to the local BBC Radio commentary. Follow good examples!”
Yeah, I don’t think it’ll ever happen. It sucks that the acronym ignores Wales and says a fair bit. Agree with your second point; those live streams, linked with radio comms, have been outstanding. Surrey do a super job with this too.
David Willey has the ball in his hand. He’s starting England off from the Cathedral Road End. Fakhar, one of my faves, is on strike. PLAY!
Oh, Jerusalem is playing. I’m not sure about popping that on before a T20 but each to their own. Should be Bread of Heaven in Wales. Anyway. Down the steps they run in their solar red clobber. They are followed by Pakistan’s brilliant openers, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam - the latter the top-ranked T20 bat in the world.
Ben Duckett’s a great story. As Isa Guha notes on TMS, it’s his first international “since pouring a pint over Jimmy Anderson’s head” during the 2017-18 Ashes/Lions tour.
What japes they were at the (in)famous Avenue Nightclub. Will Macpherson, formerly of the OBO parish, wrote a nightclub review of it during the Perth Ashes Test. We had a nice time.
“Greetings from Perth.” Greetings to you, Keith Cundale. “I hope that Jofra Archer does better for England than he did in the Big Bash at Perth Stadium this year. As a keen Perth Scorchers fan I readily joined in the hoots of derision as the “star bowler” for the Hobart Hurricanes was unceremoniously removed from the attack. Still, I am sure that his enthusiasm will be under control this time.”
Naughty, Keith. Don’t worry about Jofra, he’s a good’un. Because I’m Australian, I keep adding an extra ‘f’ having grown up with so many Joffas at cricket clubs.
Back to Cardiff. Talking at the toss, Eoin Morgan said he wasn’t fussed about Pakistan batting because he would have bowled anyway. Nice when everyone is happy, innit?
Good grief. West Indies are currently 330/0 (after 45) at Malahide against Ireland to begin their ODI series. Campbell is 156 and Hope 158. Eeek.
David Carter adds that Simon Jones is very much Welsh. No debates there. What a bowler. “Career sadly truncated by injury. His dad was pretty useful too, I just about remember seeing him play.”
I know this isn’t the most popular view in the village but I reckon they should have their own international team. Joining Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands as a group of four comparatively small but growing cricket nations in Europe. Of course, this’ll never happen. I mostly believe this because my family are Welsh and my grandfather spent some years up there being a scallywag after the war.
For Pakistan, Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hasnain are on debut too.
Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Haris Sohail, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain.
England have three men on debut. None of them are Phil Salt, so let’s park that storyline. But Jofra Archer and Bens Foakes and Duckett are all turning out in a T20 International for the first time.
James Vince, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Joe Denly, Ben Foakes (wk), David Willey, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer.
Pakistan won the toss and are batting
XIs as named with you shortly.
“Geraint Jones is from Papua New Guinea,” writes David Carter. Good technical point. But you know what I mean. Jones was also kinda Australian. Options galore.
The (North) Wales connection is strong. Phil Salt, of Sussex, is on international debut today, assuming they pick him at the toss. He’s in for Dawid Malan, who picked up a groin injury against Ireland on Friday. Salt, a right-handed bat, is Welsh. Making him the first England cricketer from there since... gosh, Geraint Jones? Or am I missing someone? If so, let me know in the usual ways.
Also, Shadab Khan. He’s not playing today and it’s a bit of a big deal, I’m afraid to say. The 20-year-old leggie is the real deal, one of the main drivers of Pakistan’s T20 success. But, according to reports during the week, he has been floored with hepatitis, contracted at his dentist. He’s definitely out of this series (both today and the ODIs) and, again according to reports, might not be fit for the World Cup. I interviewed him in Harare last year during the tri-series with Zimbabwe and Australia and he’s a lovely young man. Get well fast.
Preamble
International cricket scheduling - gotta love it, don’t you? Inside a month from the ODI World Cup, England are starting their white-ball series against Pakistan with... a T20. Of course, the skills from one feed the other and all that, but, for mine, this should be a game of the 50-over variety. Whinge over: the last I’ll mention it.
Oh, good afternoon there! It’s England’s first match on home soil for 2019. Well, on Welsh soil, but you know what I mean. Cardiff, a ground where Eoin Morgan’s side have a formidable record, is playing host this afternoon. On the other hand, it is also the ground where their opponents today, Pakistan, shocked them out of the 2017 Champions Trophy in the semi-final.
It won’t be a full strength XI when they hand over team sheets with IPL stars Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes given this one off but Jofra Archer is playing, so there’s ample interest. Last week was not a good one for England with the excommunication of Alex Hales and all that went with it, but they have a chance here, ahead of five ODIs running into the World Cup, to get back on the groove. Don’t forget that only two days ago they barely got out of jail against Ireland.
This doesn’t mean a huge amount given how inconsistently T20 cricket is played between nations, but Pakistan are the number one team in the world and have been for quite a long time. Until South Africa knocked them off a couple of months back, it had been three years sine Sarfraz Ahmed’s side had been beaten in a series.
Righto, we’re about 15 minutes away from the toss and teams, so go and grab a cuppa to warm up on this chilly Sunday. I’ll be back with you for that shortly.
