Ali’s sting in the tail can’t stop another debacle
ENGLAND are searching frantically for a new bowling coach, but their latest one- day calamity suggests that the top order is in more urgent need of specialist tuition.
Their leading batsmen selfdestructed for the third successive match yesterday to hand Pakistan victory in a series which should have been back in the balance going into tomorrow’s final match.
All the hard work had been done, as Inzamam- ul- Haq’s team were rolled over for 210. But England’s potential matchwinners came and went, offering precious little resistance in the process.
The situation demanded cool heads and composure but the batsmen were either tentative o r r e c k l e s s . T h e t o p s i x contributed just 81 runs, even worse than the previous two matches when they managed 99 and 102.
Certainly, the pitch helped the bowlers, but it was no nest of vipers.
It was left to the bowlers and all- rounders to show how it should be done. After Andrew Flintoff had mustered some defiance from his tired body, Ian Blackwell and Kabir Ali put on 50 for the ninth wicket, before Ali, replacing the ill Steve Harmison, almost dragged England over the line.
But it was not to be. Instead, last man James Anderson was brilliantly caught by Younis Khan at slip off Shoaib Akhtar in the penultimate over to leave Ali unbeaten on 39 and put Pakistan 3- 1 up in the fivematch series.
England captain Marcus Trescothick was in no doubt where the blame lay. ‘It’s important that the top order score heavily because it’s generally batters who win one- day games,’ he said. ‘It’s our job to score the runs, we shouldn’t be leaving it to the lower order.’
After losing the toss and replacing Ian Bell with supersub Anderson, England could not have hoped for a much better performance in the field. A burst of three wickets with the score on 34 set Pakistan back on their heels. Vikram Solanki athletically ran out Salman Butt and next ball Flintoff bowled Younis via an inside edge. Then Anderson struck gold by dismissing Kamran Akmal — a centurion in the previous two matches — with a ball that nipped back between bat and pad to knock over off stump.
Inzamam weighed anchor but England kept chipping away. A l i s n a r e d t h e durable Mohammad Yousuf with his fifth delivery. Blackwell took his turn, having Shoaib Malik caught at deep square leg before Liam Plunkett took up the baton.
Durham’s 20- year- old paceman ended Shahid Afridi’s pyrotechnics with an off- cutter and yorked Abdul Razzaq with his next delivery. Pakistan never recovered and lost their last three wickets for two runs to leave Inzamam unbeaten on 81.
The stage was set for England, but they fluffed their lines. Rana Naved was unplayable early on and richly earned the wickets of Matt Prior, who played a loose shot, and Andrew Strauss, who was undone by a perfect yorker.
Off- spinner Arshad Khan bamboozled many of England’s batsmen and he undid Trescothick with one that went straight on to clip the top of off stump.
Solanki failed to control a lifter from Shoaib and played on, while Paul Collingwood threw his wicket away with a careless drive to backward point. On and on went the procession. Flintoff was dropped on five and went on to reach 40, with four fours and a six, before Afridi trapped him lbw.
The Pakistan all-rounder then had Geraint Jones caught flashing away from his body at a ball outside off stump and the game appeared to be up. But Blackwell settled in and went about his business with quiet authority — sweeping with confidence and picking up ones and twos.
He and Ali appeared in control but just when England were daring to dream, Blackwell took a suicidal single and was run out by a direct hit.
When Anderson fell to the first ball of the 49th over, it was a cruel way for England to lose. But a victory would have merely papered over the cracks.
BRAD HODGE hit an
unbeaten 203 as Australia set South Africa an unlikely victory target of 491 in the first Test in Perth yesterday, while in the third Test in Ahmedebad, off- spinner Harbhajan Singh took four for 24 in 11 overs to leave Sri Lanka on 131 for five in reply to India’s 398.
c.foy@dailymail.co.uk