Cook, Finn again script victory for England

Vineet Ramakrishnan/Zeenews Sports Bureau

Scorecard: PAKISTAN vs ENGLAND» Abu Dhabi: Chasing a target of 251 runs Pakistan were restricted to 230 runs by the England bowlers after Alastair Cook had compiled his second successive century helping England take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the four match series. England defeated Pakistan by 20 runs in the 2nd ODI played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Unlike the first match, Pakistan did a far better job of the chase with all their batsmen getting starts barring Younis Khan, but none of them carried forward to anchor the chase. England bowlers were able to get the breakthroughs at the right time whenever a partnership was building. Imran Farhat and Misbah-ul-Haq top scored with 47 runs each and for England, it was Steven Finn once again who did most of the damage ending up with four wickets and an identical figures of 4/34 in 10 overs like first ODI. James Anderson also played his part with two wickets which included the big wicket of Shahid Afridi at a crucial juncture of the match. Spinners Samit Patel (2/51) and Graeme Swann had choked the Pakistan batters in the middle over bowling a tight line and picked up the wickets whenever it was needed. Young gun Imran Farhat (47) ran himself out whereas Azhar Ali (31 off 50 balls) succumbed to the pressure of chasing to leave everything at the hands of Captain Misbah-ul-Haq (47 off 59 balls) who was again pushed to the hilt by an innings of one run in twelve balls by Abdur Rehman in the death overs. Earlier, with Captain Alastair Cook again leading from the front with a calculated 102 runs off 121 deliveries, England posted a competitive total of 250 runs for the loss of four wickets. Cook answered back his critics strongly racking up his second successive century, a first for an England ODI captain and along with Ravi Bopara (58) played out the Pakistan spinners with ease to anchor the England innings till the 40th over. For Pakistan, the bowlers disappointed barring Saeed Ajmal who bowled with venom throughout without any decent support. Shahid Afridi did produce some unplayable deliveries but he lacked the support of his fielders, particularly the make shift keeper Umar Akmal who had a torrid time behind the stumps. Aizaz Cheema picked up two wickets with Afridi and Ajmal sharing one each. UPDATES FROM 2nd ODI BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND ENGLAND Overs (41– 49) Pakistan 230 all out 49th Over WICKET Full and straight did the trick as Finn picked up his third wicket in the form of Umar Gul off the first ball and then wrapped up the Pakistan innings with wicket of Cheema off the last ball of the over. 48th Over WICKET Misbah-ul-Haq 47 (59 balls) succumbed to the pressure top edging one high up where Craig Kieswetter took a brilliant catch before hovering underneath the swirling ball. 47th Over WICKET (FoW: 217/8) Steven Finn puts Rehman out of his misery rattling the spinners stumps. Rehman’s innings of 1 run in 12 balls probably gifted England the match. 46th Over Misbah cuts the first ball to backward point to a boundary but Abdur Rehman plays out four dot deliveries. Pak need 38 runs from 24 balls. 45th Over WICKET MAIDEN (FoW: 207/6) James Anderson to the fore as he clean bowled Shahid Afridi 18 (18 balls). Afridi threw the kitchen sink aiming the mid wicket area but he missed it completely. It was a wicket maiden and possibly the game changing over for England. 44th Over Afridi goes big Cook took a gamble giving the ball to spinner Samit Patel with Afridi at the strikers’ end and Afridi stepped down the track and hoiked Samit for a straight six then timed the next ball to perfection through extra cover. 12 runs came off the over. 41th Over Samit Patel came in to bowl with Afridi facing and immediately he shot one to long-off where a diving Broad made a valiant effort. Broad had the ball in his hand but could not hold on. Overs (31 – 40) Pakistan 180/5 (71 runs needed from 60 balls) 40th Over Even with Afridi on strike, Broad gave away only a single run in the 40th over. 39th Over WICKET (FoW: 179/5) Umar Akmal 21 (23 balls) cracked the third ball of the 39th over to point boundary but slashed the fourth straight to Samit Patel at cover who takes a sharp catch. Akmal stood his ground and after many replays he was adjudged out. Earlier, Steven Finn drifted his first ball close to leg stump where Misbah failed to connect the flick but got a boundary. Finn went for review but the marginal decision went in favour of on-field umpire’s original call of not out. 37th Over With powerplay overs started Umar Akmal shifted his gears as Cook brought in his best bowler, Steven Finn. Akmal hit him for a four first ball getting seven runs of the over. 33th Over WICKET (FoW: 142/4) Samit Patel struck again and this time too it was a crucial blow. Azhar Ali went back to cut the ball but the ball hurried in to hit his off-stump. More importantly, Patel managed to cut short Azhar’s good start 31(50 balls) leaving Misbah with new man Umar Akmal with an ever increasing required run-rate. Overs (21 – 30) Pakistan 126/3 (RR: 4.20, RRR: 6.25) 30th Over Misbah ul-Haq and Azhar Ali were kept in check by the England spinners as only 39 runs came in last ten overs. Both Misbah and Azhar had to retort to reverse sweeps and paddle sweeps to extract some runs from the slow pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. 25th Over WICKET (FoW: 104/3) Samit Patel provided the vital breakthrough of Younis Khan (5) as the veteran played round his pads to a straight delivery only to be given out LBW. 21st Over WICKET (FoW: 92/2) Imran Farhat (47) brought upon his own demise getting run-out after Broad had appealed for an LBW. He ran down the pitch without knowing where the ball was – an aware Broad picked up the ball in his follow through hitting the wickets before Farhat could make his ground. Overs (11- 20) Pakistan 87/1 (RR: 4.35, RRR: 5.46) 20th Over Bouncer scare for Farhat Stuart Broad had started the 20th over with a well directed bouncer which was negated well by Farhat but another bouncer in the 4th ball had Farhat in tangles -- he edge it high to Kieswetter who made a mess of the half chance deflecting it to a lucky boundary. 16th Over WICKET (Fow: 61/1) Mohammed Hafeez got out tamely after facing 43 deliveries for 26 runs. Anderson got the wicket as the right hander mistimed the on drive, Trott pocketed a simple catch at midwicket. 13th Over Fifty up for Pakistan Mohammed Hafeez and Imran Farhat brought up Pakistan’s 50 runs in 12.5 overs. This was also the duo’s fourth 50-run stand. 11th Over Graeme Swann into the attack and immediately he got turn and Farhat had no clue about it. Keeper appealed for stumping but in vain as third umpire gave it not out after just one replay. But that was a positive sign for Swann. Overs (1 - 10) Pakistan 33/0 (RR: 3.30, RRR: 5.45) 10th Over Both Farhat and Hafeez went about their business rather slowly scoring 33 runs in first 10 overs as opposed to England who scored 49. But they did not lose any wicket. 6th Over First boundary of the innings James Anderson bowled a loose one drifting down leg, Farhat capitalised clipping the ball towards mid-wicket boundary. 5th Over Finn continued his good form from Monday night as Anderson and Finn tied down the Pakistan openers giving away only 9 runs in 5 overs. 1st Over Last match’s destroyer, Steven Finn started off the proceeding with Hafeez at the stirkers’ end and Imran Farhat at the non-strikers’. Finn got movement first up but Hafeez and Farhat played positively moving their feet well in the first over. England Innings Overs (41 - 50) Eng 250/4 (RR: 5.00) 50th Over WICKET (FoW: 250/4) Ravi Bopara 58 (66 balls) was out on the final ball of the innings as he threw the kitchen sink only to scoop the ball straight up for Akmal to complete a simple catch. 49th Over First six of the innings was hit by Eoin Morgan, as the southpaw after missing a lot of slog sweeps managed to connect one off Ajmal over deep midwicket boundary. 48th Over Fifty for Bopara Ravi Bopara after playing second fiddle to captain Cook reached his 8th international fifty in just 58 deliveries. 41st Over WICKET (FoW: 194/3) Afridi strikes with the vital wicket of Alastair Cook for 102 (121 balls), but the Captain had already done the job for his side. Cook failed to pick up the top spin lobbing the ball straight to Afridi. Overs (31 – 40) Eng 192/2 (RR: 4.80) 40th Over Cook reaches 100 Run machine Alastair Cook once again anchored the England innings with a classic one day century off 118 deliveries scoring 10 boundaries in the process. 37th Over 50 run partnership Bopara and Cook accumulated runs at a brisk pave during the powerplay overs knitting together a solid 50-run partnership. 35th Over 150 up for Eng Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara combined once again as they negated the Pakistan spinners with ease to bring up the team’s 150 in the 34th over. Overs (21 – 30) Eng: 129/2 (RR: 4.30) 27th Over WICKET (FoW: 116/2) Jonathan Trott was picked up by Aizaz Cheema for 23 (38 balls) as the right hander tried to cut the wide ball only managing a faint edge to keeper Umar Akmal. 25th Over Fifty for Cook Captain Cook once again was in the middle with a defiant knock of 50 from 66 balls as Jonathan Trott gave him good company. 23th Over 100 up for Eng Pakistan let England off the hook after Pietersen’s wicket as a half tracker from Afridi was dispatched to the mid-wicket fence with ease by Cook to bring up the visitors 100 runs. Overs (11 - 20) Eng: 88/1 RR: 4.40 16th Over WICKET (FoW 67/1) Ajmal into the act as he scalped Kevin Pietersen LBW for 26 (46 balls). It was a straight delivery, KP played the wrong line. 15th Over Akmal drops Cook First ball of 14th over Cook tried to cut getting a slight deflection and the make shift keeper Umar Akmal drops it. Cook survives a scare on 28. 13th Over KP SURVIVES REVIEW: Close call for Pietersen as Afridi went for a review. Hawk eye showed the ball clip the outside of leg stump. Lucky for KP the umpire went with the original decision. 50 run partnership 12th Over Cook and Pietersen bring up their 3rd 50 run partnership in twelve innings. This one coming in 62 balls. Overs (1 - 10) Eng: 49/0 RR: 4.90 10th Over Pietersen at his best- - he slashed a wide delivery hard over covers, and then presented the full face of the bat to pick up another boundary, this time down the ground. 9th Over Alastair Cook cracked two exquisite boundaries off Hafeez as both Cook and Pietersen built on a solid start. 6th Over First bowling change as Mohammed Hafeez who has been opening the bowling for Pakistan comes into the attack replacing Cheema. 3rd Over Kevin Pietersen scored the first boundary of the match as he flicked one to long leg. 2nd Over Playing his first match of the series, Aizaz Cheema had a nervy start bowling three wides. 1st Over Umar Gul started off the proceedings with a maiden. England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the 2nd ODI at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Umar Akmal(w), Shahid Afridi, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook(c), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter(w), Samit Patel, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steven Finn