The fight back!

Does this squad know how to fight back or what! After losing the first one-dayer due to a failure of the bowling lineup to contain the English, Pakistan completely reversed their fortunes with some spot-on bowling and some bravado with the bat.

After England had reached 30 off the first 6 overs, things may have appeared reminiscent of the first one-dayer as neither Shoaib nor Naved looked particularly menacing. But was that a false claim or what. Within the space of 5 deliveries, England were left reeling at 30 for 2, with both Trescothick and Strauss back in the pavilion after some deadly deliveries from Shoaib Akhtar. Things looked reasonably settled again for England as they reached 74 for 2, and then the wheels came off the bus again. First match hero Pietersen and Flintoff were both dismissed in the space of 5 deliveries, leaving England reeling once again at 74 for 4. Things continued to plummet, and at one point England were at 130 for 8 after another inspired spell by Shoaib Akhtar to remove Jones and Blackwell. With some fine batting from Plunkett and super-sub Solanki England were able to reach a respectable score of 230 all out. Shoaib ended up with 5 for 54.

Pakistan responded with some explosive batting with 86 off the first 15 overs. Salman Butt was dismissed for 43, and Younis Khan was also bowled at 15, leaving Pakistan at 113 for 2. But the man of the day was Kamran Akmal. 15 fours and 1 six, 102 off 156 deliveries. It was an impressive innings and laid the foundation for Pakistan's victory. Dismissed with 43 runs required off 13-odd overs, it was only a matter of time before Inzamam and Yousuf brought up the required total with 6 overs to spare. While Shoaib received the man of the match award, Kamran Akmal's performance
with the bat, and the glove (the Strauss dismissal was wow!) also hold him in good stead.

With Afridi eligible again for the 3rd match, it will be interesting to see who Pakistan choose to drop. Mohammad Sami has been bowling in a decidedly uninspired manner, and even though he was economical at 10 overs for 33 runs, was not amongst the wickets again. With 7 wickets in the three tests at over 60 a wicket, and only 1 wicket in the two ODIs, Sami really either needs to turn up the volume here, or be replaced. Afridi will give the team more batting prowess and some reasonable amount of bowling as well. Even if Afridi is not brought back, this might be high time to give Mohammad Asif a bowl or even Yasir Arafat a try, or see if Umar Gul is fit. A minor tinker may be needed here.