Cricket story by Dominic Taylor, Thu, 22 Dec 2005 17:08:00 GMT


RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - England outwitted Pakistan by six runs in a low-scoring encounter at Rawalpindi to finish the one-day series on a high although they lost it 3-2.

Pacemen James Anderson and Liam Plunkett did the star turn for the Englishmen, who were without the services of Kabir Ali and had to use Andrew Flintoff as a batsman only. Pakistan also chose to rest speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Sami and captain Inzamam ul-Haq for what was a mere formality since they had wrapped up the series on Monday itself.

England began on a cautious note and were soon parted with their openers as debutant Mohammed Asif put in a huge spell of 2 for 14 off his seven overs. It was left to Flintoff, who scored 39 in 79 balls and Vikram Solanki with 49 to guide England to safety. Liam Plunkett ensured that they passed the 200 mark with some lusty hitting in the last overs.

Pakistan began steadily enough, but lost their hero Kamran Akmal to a beauty of a ball by James Anderson. After that Yasir Hamid and Mohammed Yusuf guided them to 152 for 3 in the 40 over, when Ian Blackwell prised out Mohammad Yusuf, Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik. Anderson returned to bowl with deadly accuracy and Pakistan fell six runs short of victory.

After the game Trescothick credited his bowlers with the victory, "It was a great performance - especially the way we bowled. That's twice in a row we've bowled really, really well," he said. "I thought our two guys at the end were outstanding. They were under pressure with six overs at the death. They came out on top and Ian Blackwell was superb as well."

Inzamam denied that Pakistan had taken the game lightly, "Yasir Hameed and Mohammad Yusuf got us off to a good start but after that England bowled really well. It wasn't an easy wicket to bat on. We needed to buckle down. We didn't do that and England fought hard," he said.

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