Moeen magic not quite enough to save England
PAKISTAN ended their tour of England with a win as the Twenty20 international series finished level at 1-1 despite the best efforts of Moeen Ali, who returned to form in spectacular fashion at Emirates Old Trafford.
Half-centuries from teenage debutant Haider Ali and veteran Mohammad Hafeez propelled Pakistan to 190 for four after being asked to bat first in this third T20 before England lurched to 69 for four under lights in response.
Moeen had registered just 10 runs in four innings this summer and although he ended his slump with a spectacular 61 off 33 balls, Pakistan wrapped up a five-run victory after Tom Curran was unable to hit a six off the last ball.
Needing 11 off the last two deliveries, Curran creamed Haris Rauf over the covers for a maximum but the lower-order batsman was unable to repeat the trick as England’s run of five successive T20 series wins came to an end.
Eoin Morgan’s side head into a sprint format series against Australia later this week on the back of a defeat but Pakistan were well worth their triumph, with Haider showing why he is one of his country’s brightest prospects.
After his sparkling 54 from 33 deliveries, full of leg-side blows, Mohammad Hafeez amassed 86 not out from 52 deliveries – the best score by a Pakistan batsman in a T20 against England, who were left with a daunting chase.
England captain Eoin Morgan paid tribute to his bowlers, but admitted the batting line-up “stuttered” in the defeat.
Morgan told Sky Sports: “I think it’s an improvement on two days ago, certainly in the bowling department.
“To restrict Pakistan to a score like that with a short boundary and on a very good wicket was a great job for our bowlers. They’ve come on in the last two days which is great.
“With the bat it was much more disappointing, we stuttered in stages and then sort of regrouped – once Tom Banton was dismissed – with Moeen Ali and Sam Billings and proved that when you get a partnership together it is very difficult to stop you scoring.
“It was just disappointing that we continued to stutter once Sam got out.”
Morgan added: “But it was another really tight game where you see guys being put under pressure and who
performs who doesn’t is obviously key in that area.
“It’s games where you want to be playing in to try and learn as much as we can.”
When asked if it was harder for bowlers with the power-hitting, Morgan said: “I think I feel sorry for the bowlers simply because we haven’t played T20 cricket for so long and we’ve all been in lockdown, we’re all very rusty in some regards.
“But with the bat you can go and spend all day in the nets if you want to try and up your skill whereas bowlers can only bowl so much.
“So throughout this series they’ve probably had it rougher than the batters but hopefully the more we play going into the Australia series they will continue to get better.”
Hafeez, who was named player of the series, said: “I’m really happy, really pleased to perform here when it was needed and really happy to collect this (award) too.”
When asked about batting with 19-year-old Haider, Hafeez said: “Brilliant to watch, he was great under pressure, he just expressed himself in the way he plays everywhere.”