Afridi restrict England march

Lahore, October 27 : Pakistani leg-spinner Shahid Afridi derailed England in the second One-Day match at Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday wi...

Lahore, October 27 : Pakistani leg-spinner Shahid Afridi derailed England in the second One-Day match at Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday with a career-best performance.

The 23-year-old allrounder finished with 5-40, breaking England’s back after their flying start and leaving them with just 211-9 in 50 overs.England entered the match favourites with a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after their five-wicket win in Karachi.

Afridi’s figures are the best in any One-Dayer between England and Pakistan, beating England’s Bob Willis and Mike Hendrick both 4-15 and Saqlain Mushtaq’s 4-26.

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Sent in to bat, England’s openers took to the attack in cavalier style, with both openers charging at the pace bowlers to post 50 in the first 10 overs, including a Marcus Trescothick six off Abdur Razzak.

But then Pakistani skipper Moin Khan brought in leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed who removed Alec Stewart off his first delivery for 22, with the score at 66.Somerset left-hander Trescothick posted his third One-Day half century off 50 balls with five fours and a six as he and captain Nasser Hussain put on 50 for the second wicket.

But with the score on 116, Trescothick became Afridi’s first scalp when he mistimed a drive and was caught at square leg for 65.

Graeme Hick managed only one before being run out after failing to ground his bat at the keeper’s end, showing the complacency his captain had warned against before the match.

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Graham Thorpe and Hussain added 49 off 60 balls for the fourth wicket before Hussain, who followed up his 73 in the first match with a patient 54, fell to the Afridi trap.

At this point the wheels came off England’s innings and Pakistan never let them recover from that position despite several dropped catches.England lost their last six wickets for 27 runs, slumping from 171-3 to 198-9 with the spinners causing the damage.

England:
M Trescothick c sub (Imran Nazir) b Afridi 65, A Stewart st Moin b Mushtaq 22, N Hussain st Moin b Afridi 54, G Hick run out 1, G Thorpe b Afridi 20, A Flintoff b Saqlain 17, C White st Moin b Afridi 0, M Ealham b Saqlain 3, A Giles b Afridi 3, D Gough not out 6, A Caddick not out 6, Extras (b-2, lb-6, w-6) 14, Total (for nine wkts of 50 overs) 211

Fall of wickets:
1-66, 2-116, 3-122, 4-171, 5-178, 6-178, 7-185, 8-194, 9-198

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Bowling:
Wasim Akram 6-0-30-0, Abdur Razzak 10-1-38-0, Azhar Mahmood 4-0-27-0, Mushtaq Ahmed 10-1-34-1, Salqain Mushtaq 10-0-34-2, Shahid Afridi 10-1-40-5.