A gradual but inevitable descent into cricket-based loathing and bile.
Pakistan vs. England, Second ODI: Review
England 250/4 (Cook 102; Cheema 2-49)
Pakistan 230ao (Farhat 47, Misbah ul-Haq 47; Finn 4-34)
England won by 20 runs
In a word
Underwhelming.
In more words
On paper, this looks like an enthralling, tight game with a good balance between bat and ball. The truth of it is that this was more Gold Against The Soul than Generation Terrorists. Once again England’s innings was dominated by a marvellous hundred from captain Alastair Cook and though Pakistan should have been able to chase down a middling target, they perpetually lost wickets cheaply and at key moments. The end result being that England take a 2-0 lead in the four match series.
The home side
A disappointing day all round. The spin attack, hitherto dominant all tour, was strangely subdued and in these conditions, being overly reliant on seam is never going to work. However a continuing motif from the tour was the ability of the batsmen to get in and get out – again no batsman passed fifty and the soft dismissals of Imran Farhat and Shahid Afridi in particular were low points. Azhar Ali did little to dispel the image of him as a solid Test player who scores too slowly and in too few areas for the limited overs games, but there’s a certain handsome man who likes lambing about whom that was thought not so long ago.
Allan Lamb doing his natural thing
The away side
The twin heroes of Monday, messrs Cook and Finn, once again were to the fore. Cook was magnificent, his hundred coming in good time and he now averages over 50 in his 20 matches as captain at a strike rate of more than 90. World class in anyone’s book, even Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab, which actually improves with every read. Finn was tight early on and picked up regular wickets later and is arguably England’s premier one day bowler as it stands. On the negative front, Kevin Pietersen again looked ill-at-ease in the opening berth and Eoin Morgan’s 25* came with just a single boundary; a bizarre innings with so many wickets in hand on a pitch containing few demons. Samit Patel actually bowled quite well so we are unable to make any cheap jokes about him today. You might say he caused us to eat our words. Then he asked for a plate of what we were having.
England's players respond to the hilarity of the previous sentence
Outlook
The series now moves to Dubai with the next game on Saturday. The equation is simple enough for even John Dyson to work out; if Pakistan fail to win, the series is England’s. Quite unexpected given their travails in the Test series, but then they themselves have often succumbed to limp ODI defeats after a convincing Test series victory. Tim Bresnan and Jos “I hate you” Buttler may get their first action of the series for the tourists while Pakistan could continue their treatment of Shoaib Malik as a 2010s version of Mark Ramprakash by recalling him for the 1,774th time. There’s just time for us to say that Gold Against The Soul isn’t that bad; it has got La Tristessa Durera on it, after all.
Latest Poll
Loading ...
5 Comments
Post a Comment
1
Nichael Bluth
18 Feb 2012 03:54
Urban Hymns is rubbish. There, I’ve said it.
2
Matt H
17 Feb 2012 17:49
A Design For Life was a single, OK Computer an album. OK Computer was released in 1997, so would have been up for a Brit in 1998. Manic Street Preachers released albums that won Brits in 1996 and 1998, but not 1997. It was Urban Hymns that beat OK Computer to best album.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the internet, the contributrors to http://www.indieanthems.co.uk are getting confused about which players opened the batting for England in the mid-1990s.
3
Dan
16 Feb 2012 13:12
Hmmm. GATS is probably harshly looked upon because it followed Generation Terrorists. Like Be Here Now is actually a good album, but it got panned because it followed (the overrated, IMO) What’s The Story.
4
Anthony
16 Feb 2012 09:27
Design for Life beating OK Computer to the best album Brit is more laughable than setting up a theme park based on a short-lived TV “comedy” character in Morecambe.
But it’s still more credible than Ian Botham’s opinions on the sainted Chef.
5
Matt H
16 Feb 2012 07:44
Life Becoming A Landslide? Roses In The Hospital? Sleepflower? I think you’re giving Gold Against The Soul too little praise. Anyway, this was a really enjoyable ODI, with the result only really become inevitable in the last few overs once Anderson bowled his wicket maiden.