Cook, Finn make it 2-0 for England

England should once again thank skipper Alistair Cook and pacer Steven Finn for handing them a 2-0 lead in the four match series against Pakistan. First, Cook’s splendid century helped England to a challenging total of 250 and Finn took four wickets in an economical spell to ensure Pakistan fell short by 20 runs.

Pakistan needed to put in a much improved batting show to chase down what was a decent target. Unlike the first match when in pursuit of a similar score and they had faltered badly, their openers started swell even though Steven Finn bowled a parsimonious five-over spell upfront in which he conceded just six runs. Despite that, Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat were successful in laying a 61-run foundation for the middle-order to build on.

Hafeez was the first one to fall in the 16th over as he offered a simple chance to Trott at midwicket. Imran was joined by Pakistan’s star in the Test series, Azhar Ali, playing only in his second 50-over game. Although, Ali looked at ease in coloured clothing but he may have to add some ODI shots to his repertoire just like Cook has done. His used up 50 balls for his 31, a touch slow considering his team was chasing.

Meanwhile, Farhat after doing all the hard work wasted an opportunity to play a match-winning innings. He was on 47 when Stuart Broad went for a LBW appeal which was turned down by the umpire but Farhat, eager to know his fate, forgot to get back in his crease and the bowler was alert enough to hurl the ball at the stumps and scored a direct hit. As a result, a promising knock was cut short by his mindlessness. To make it worse, Younis Khan was sent back cheaply, pinned in front of the stumps by Samit Patel for five.

At 142 for 4, Misbah-ul-Haq was the one to steer his side home. However, he needed support from the lower order. Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi briefly entertained but didn’t stay at the crease long enough to make their contributions count. England kept getting wickets at the right time-Umar was smartly caught by Patel and Afridi, after two big shots, was clean bowled by Anderson.

Misbah’s strategy of scoring big at the end didn’t materialize as Abdur Rehman couldn’t get the required single to get him back on strike. When Misbah did get the chance to free his arms, the release shot never came, instead a top-edge resulted that found Craig Kieswetter. Eventually, Pakistan were all-out with six balls remaining with Finn castling last man Aizaz Cheema to return with figures of 4-34.

Earlier, England produced another solid batting effort as Alistair Cook hit his second successive century and Ravi Bopara contributed a useful fifty to set Pakistan a stiff target. Cook once again led from the front on a track that was touch slower than the one used in last match and stitched together valuable partnerships all through his 102-run knock ensuring that the bowlers had a healthy total to defend under lights.

Without a second thought, Cook opted to bat first after calling correctly at the toss. From the outset, England seemed to have a definite game plan- bat steadily and post a total anywhere near 250. So, the newly formed opening pair of Cook and Kevin Pietersen started sluggishly, although the bad balls were punished, the scoring rate never crossed 5 per over, rare for modern times.

With the Pakistan pacers failing to make an impact with the new balls, spin was introduced as early as the sixth over. But, Cook was equally comfortable against pace and spin; a far cry from the Test series where English batsmen were like sitting ducks against the hosts’ battery of slow bowlers. Having said that, Pietersen continued to have his share of problems and was trapped in front by Saeed Ajmal for 26, the first wicket stand yielded 67. Jonathan Trott too didn’t look in the best of nick and was caught behind for 23.

Meanwhile, Cook was solid as ever and kept the score board ticking over with pushes, nudges and the occasional big shot. Actually, Pakistan could have had him early but Umar Akmal, true to his family tradition, shelled an easy chance off Shahid Afridi when Cook had made only 28. It proved to be a costly miss as the southpaw calmly reached three figures, the fourth time in his ODI career.

With Essex teammate Ravi Bopara, Cook added 78 for the third wicket. Not only did the two keep Pakistan spinners at bay through the middle overs but also accelerated during the batting powerplay. Finally, Cook’s superb knock was ended when Afridi took a catch off his own bowling. After the captain’s departure, Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan added 56 runs to take the score to 250; the former was out on the last ball for 58.