England bowl over Pakistan Rajiv Kumar - 12 April 1999 CricInfo report

The saying ``anything is possible in cricket'' was further strengthened yesterday when England beat Pakistan convincingly by 63 runs. England might have lost its last seven ODIs and in contrast Pakistan might be World Cup favourites but that did not mean victory was automatic for Pakistan. While it is true that this game was meaningless, because England had already been eliminated from the Coca Cola Cup, it cannot be denied that the Pakistan middle order is susceptible when chasing a total.

Alec Stewart finally won the toss and immediately decided to bat first. Not surprising since every time a team has batted first they have won the game. The English openers made a quiet start. While Akram and Akhtar did not bowl at their quickest, they did maintain good line and length. Nick Knight was the more aggressive of the two openers. He pulled Akhtar for a majestic boundary in the sixth over. However, Akhtar had his revenge when he tricked Knight with a slower ball. The left hander played too early and ended up giving an easy catch to Akram at short mid wicket. Stewart struggled once again and in the 12th over he played away from his body to Akhtar and was caught, after an elaborate juggling act, by Ijaz.

Thorpe and Hick added 26 runs. In the 23rd over Hick, and the man who followed him, Flintoff, were clean bowled by Azhar Mahmood. Hick was outsmarted with a slower ball and Flintoff with a quicker ball. After 25 overs, England were 89/5.

In the next 11 overs, Thorpe and Fairbrother stabilised the innings. They avoided too many fancy shots and focussed on rotating the strike. In the 34th over Fairbrother finally tried to hit a six but was caught by Wasti right on the edge of the long off boundary. Television replays showed that Wasti was touching the line when he took the catch. But the umpires were not aware of this so Fairbrother was given out instead of been given six runs!

Thorpe and Mark Ealham added 63 runs. Ealham was looking in very good form. He placed the ball in the gaps and kept the scoreboard ticking. The English collapse began in the 47th over when Thorpe was yorked by Akhtar. He had made 62 valuable runs. The other 3 wickets fell quickly and England had set Pakistan a moderate score of 207 to win.

With Saeed Anwar rested for this game, Wajahatullah Wasti opened the innings with Afridi. The pitch was quite slow and the batsmen struggled to get the bowling away. Angus Fraser and Darren Gough bowled exceptionally well. In the 5th over, Afridi holed out straight to Wells at mid on. Ijaz played some cracking cover drives but his aggression got the better of him when he lofted Fraser over cover. Nick Knight, running to his left pulled off a sensational catch without using his hands! The ball popped out of his hands and after a complicated circus act he managed to trap the ball between his thighs. Inzamam and Wasti did not last long and by the 25th over Pakistan had lost 5 wickets and had not crossed the 100 run mark.

Salim Malik's 47 run partnership with Moin Khan was the only time that Pakistan looked like it would win the match. They both attacked part time bowler, Vince Wells. But sensational bowling spells from Ealham and Flintoff destroyed Pakistan's hopes. In the 37th over, Flintoff was introduced into the attack and he immediately struck by bowling Moin. Ealham cleaned up the tail by getting Saqlain and Arshad Khan off 2 successive deliveries. He missed the hat trick but ended with exceptional figures of 10-0-30-4. Pakistan were all out for 144. They had lost their last 5 wickets in the space of only 6 runs.

For his all-round performance, Ealham was the man of the match. India and Pakistan meet tonight in the final league match which is really a preview to Friday's final.