England vs Pakistan: England look to build on first Twenty20 victory

A brilliant batting performance by Eoin Morgan, ably backed up by Kevin Pietersen, helped England to a convincing win in the first of two Twenty20 matches against Pakistan. After some great bowling from Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, England put in one of their great fielding performances, to restrict Pakistan to 129 for 8 after their 20 innings. Things didn’t start well in England’s riposte, as openers Jonathan Trott (4) and Joe Denly (1) both fell incredibly cheaply. Fortunately, coming to England’s rescue was Kevin Pietersen, who has looked nowhere near his immaculate best since returning from injury on the tour of South Africa. He looked steady though, getting back to what he does best, creaming the ball all over the park, scoring 43 from 43 balls. It was Eoin Morgan’s heroics though, coming in after Captain Paul Collingwood had gone for a duck, that really pushed England along. His blistering attack, scoring 67 from 51 balls, was full of control, composure, and some fine stroke play. He won the game for England, with two fours and a six, with an over and a half to spare.

The seven wicket victory by England, will boost the players, who haven’t exactly showed a lot of promise in this abridged version of the game. These are warm ups ahead of the tour of Bangladesh, and good practice ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 Championships in April. There are, evidently, still problems in the opening positions, but England have tinkered and juggled players around the top batting order so much, they look to be sticking with this duo. But that will only last as long as they are performing. Waiting in the wings is Craig Kieswetter, who is on tour with the England Lions, and is tearing up the bowling which is being thrown at him, even helping the Lions to defeat the senior England squad in a warm up match.

But Pakistan, who should have all the tools in place to be a great side, will welcome the return of Shahid Afridi on Saturday. Afridi was banned for two games after being caught biting the ball in a match against Australia recently. Pakistan are also without their star bowler Mohammed Asif for the games in Dubai, as the UAE won’t let him in after being stopped for opium possession in 2008. There should be some kind of fight back from Pakistan on Saturday, and although they have not been in great form since winning the Twenty20 World Cup last year, they are still an awesome threat with some quality players. Recent infighting and discipline problems in the team though, won’t have helped either.

Second Twenty20 International
Pakistan to win: 10/11 at Boylesports
England: Evens at Totesport