Unbroken stand of 112 sees England home by seven wickets with nine balls to spare
High-quality audio clips of post-match media conferences available
An unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 112 between Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen steered England to a convincing seven-wicket win over world champions Pakistan in the opening match of the WorldCall T-20 Challenge presented by Bank Alfalah at Dubai Sports City on Friday.
Morgan made an increasingly aggressive 67 from 51 balls while Pietersen weighed in with 43 from 43 deliveries and the duo ensured England comfortably overhauled Pakistan’s total of 129-8 with nine balls to spare.
The pair helped England recover from a nervous start as it slipped to 18-3 in the fifth over and as they grew in confidence they dominated the Pakistan attack.
Morgan finished off the match with 14 runs from the first three deliveries of the 19th over, bowled by Umar Gul, and with the final scoring stroke an emphatic six, his second of the innings to go with seven fours. Pietersen was more subdued but still hit three fours in his innings.
Pakistan's total equaled its second lowest in this form of the game. Its only score below it in Twenty20 Internationals came in its previous outing, against Australia in Melbourne earlier this month.
Shoaib Malik's men struggled to gain early momentum against some disciplined England bowling with Stuart Broad (2-23) and Graeme Swann (1-18) outstanding.
Pakistan was 39-4 at one stage before a middle-order rally from Malik (33 from 26 balls), Fawad Alam (23 from 23 deliveries) and Abdul Razzaq (22 in 15 balls).
The eventual total looked as though it might be competitive as England lost Joe Denly (1), Jonathan Trott (4) and captain Paul Collingwood (run out for 0 attempting a second run to deep midwicket) but Pietersen and Morgan put it into perspective with their fine stand, an England all-wicket record in this format of the game.
Razzaq (1-24), Yasir Arafat (1-18) and Saeed Ajmal (0-18 from four overs) all bowled well but in the end Pakistan simply did not have enough runs on the board.
Pakistan will be hoping the return of Shahid Afridi for Saturday's match has a positive effect on the team as it looks for a victory to earn a share of the series and send the team into the ICC World Twenty tournament in positive heart.
These two matches are the last both sides will play in the shortest international format of the game before that event in the Caribbean in April and May with Pakistan defending the title it won in the United Kingdom last year.
Ticket prices for Saturday's match start at AED50 and go up to AED400 and they are now available through www.boxofficeme.com, www.ticketingboxoffice.com or by calling +971 4 367 6520.
Corporate hospitality packages are also available and details can be obtained by contacting Ms Ekta Hutton at Dubai Sports City on +971 4 425 1111.
Saturday's match starts at 1800 local time with gates opening at 1500. |
