DAWSON FREAKS!
FURIOUS ALL-ROUNDER BLAMES HIMSELF AS ENGLAND FALL JUST SHORT
ENGLAND all-rounder Liam Dawson could not hide his emotions as he went from hero to zero during England’s nerve-shredding Twenty20 defeat to Pakistan last night. Chasing 167 to win, England looked dead and buried before Dawson’s brilliant cameo of 34 off just 17 balls. But Dawson then chipped tamely to midwicket and the England tail was blown away as Pakistan won a thriller by just three runs to square the seven-match series at 2-2. Harry Brook, Ben Duckett and Moeen Ali all got out while well set. Earlier, Reece Topley was the pick of the bowlers as Pakistan reached 166-4 off their 20 overs. It was just enough.
For the second time this weekend, defeat for an England team was confirmed by a run- out. Like their female colleagues hours earlier, there was anguish at the non- striker’s end. But thankfully no acrimony.
And so, a series contested in impeccable spirit thus far heads to Lahore today locked at 2-2 after England silenced the fourth full house of the week at the National Stadium with an unexpected dash for the finish line by Liam Dawson, then brought it back to its raucous best with a calamitous finale.
An equation of 33 from 18 deliveries had been reduced to five from 10 when Dawson spooned a short ball from haris rauf to midwicket and stood motionless as the catch was taken.
The decision to remain stationary rather than run proved crucial. It left debutant olly Stone rather than the more competent Adil rashid facing rauf’s toe-crushing thunderbolts and then reece Topley a ball later when, to an increasingly mesmerising din, a perfectly pitched yorker lit up the stumps and the stands.
Topley survived a leg- before review from the next, but found himself on strike when the ball was thrown to Mohammad hasnain, primed for redemption following his mauling at Dawson’s hands, with four needed.
It was in trying to get rashid back on strike that Topley succumbed as the second ball of the final over dribbled out on the leg side and Shan Masood produced a more decisive dive than that of the giant England fast bowler, a direct under- arm into the stumps sealing the three-run success.
on such narrow margins series swing, but captain Moeen Ali, who opted to chase on the same pitch used for Thursday’s 10-wicket romp by the Pakistanis, said: ‘With three wickets left, we should have won but these things happen. That’s what pressure does.’
Matches involving Pakistan tend to induce chaos but they were relatively blameless here compared to England, who had appeared to have stolen a 3-1 lead through the efforts of an unlikely hero.
Dawson began hasnain’s penultimate over of the evening by advancing to loft a six over longoff and by the end of it, some of the locals were streaming for the exits as four consecutive fours, the first from a no-ball, plus a single saw 23 wiped off the requirement.
A man primarily picked for his slow left arm looked as though he was about to revel in the finest 15 minutes of an England career that had a four-year hiatus before a recall at the start of 2022. only for his departure for a quick-fire 34 to lead to Pakistan celebrating their 200th Twenty20 international in style.
It appeared fortune was with England when, after a disastrous start to a chase of 167, man of the moment harry Brook was dropped on four and then survived when a delivery from part-time spinner Iftikhar Ahmed clipped off-stump but failed to dislodge a bail.
But Brook’s luck ended when he was sixth out, hooking a bouncer
from Mohammad Wasim straight down the throat of fine leg.
Brook and Ben Duckett, England’s two leading batters of the tour, were reunited at the crease in just the second over of the chase when the tactic of getting ahead of the asking rate with ultra-aggression in the power play left the tourists 14-3.
Phil Salt struck two boundaries from the first three balls sent down by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz but succumbed trying to hit a third when he dragged straight to deep midwicket.
Hasnain then profited from banging the ball into the middle of the pitch when he dismissed the returning Alex Hales and Will Jacks in quick succession.
But England eked their way back through Brook and Moeen. Both used their feet to hit huge sixes off Nawaz, in an over that cost 19, and England had as many runs at the halfway stage as Pakistan.
The four in the wickets column was the trouble, though, particularly given that the trio of changes made by England, including Sam Curran for David Willey and debutant olly Stone for Mark Wood, lengthened the tail.
The decision began to be exposed when, with 62 required from 42 balls, Nawaz was reintroduced to the attack and slid his first ball back under Moeen’s full swing.
Earlier, Mohammad Rizwan provided the backbone of Pakistan’s score when he judged a winning range and reacted, striking a measured 88. But it was the returning Asif Ali that ultimately put the home team out of reach by hitting two of the three balls he faced in Topley’s innings-closing over the ropes in the arc at midwicket.
As with most things, Moeen took the result in his stride and with good grace, when he added: ‘It was an amazing game of cricket, it went both ways and kept swinging.’