Kolkata, Nov 11: England produced their best performance of a disappointing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup campaign, beating Pakistan at Eden Gardens by 93 runs as both teams exited the tournament at the group stage. Pakistan began proceedings knowing that they had the slimmest of chances of still reaching the semi-finals, requiring a win by an enormous margin to force a gargantuan swing on net run rate.
And the prospect of such a result soon vanished as England built towards a sizeable first-innings score.
Ben Stokes, whose future in the One Day International format is uncertain, smashed 84 from 76 balls to help spark England in their final game of the tournament, while Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root also hit half-centuries in the 337/9.
And, with the ball, England were right on the money right from the start, with David Willey starring on his final day in an England shirt.
Willey finished with figures of 3/56, becoming the 14th England men’s player to reach 100 wickets in the ODI format, helping his team secure a guaranteed top-eight finish that cements the team’s qualification for the next Champions Trophy. A brilliant spell of swing-bowling early in the second innings saw Pakistan lose both of their openers, with Willey taking both wickets with the new ball. Abdullah Shafique was trapped in-front off just the second ball of the innings for a duck. And Fakhar Zaman departed two overs later, caught by Stokes for 1, leaving Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan requiring a rebuild.
The pair did see out the powerplay, but captain Babar’s tidy innings came to an unsatisfying end when he was caught at midwicket off Gus Atkinson for 38.
Any lingering hopes for Pakistan were effectively snuffed out when Moeen Ali saw Mohammad Rizwan coming, pulled back his length, and turned the ball back through the gate to clean up Pakistan’s number four for 36.
Rizwan’s ugly-looking dismissal was made all the worse by the batter suffering with cramp in the follow-through from his big heave.
On a turning wicket it was Adil Rashid and Moeen who took advantage of the scoreboard pressure, with Rashid removing Saud Shaeel for 29, bowling him around his legs, and then cleaning up Shadab Khan (4) with a peach of a googly. The leg-spinner finished with 2/55, while Moeen – who also had Iftikhar Ahmed caught for 3 – took 2/60 in what could also be his final ODI for England.
Willey returned to pick up his third, reaching 100 ODI wickets in his final England appearance with the dismissal of Agha Salman, who had provided some resistance for Pakistan with 51 from 45 balls.
Some late hitting limited the margin of Pakistan’s loss, as Shaheen Shah Afridi (25) Mohammad Wasim (16*) and Haris Rauf (35 from 23) connected some big late shots.
But it was too little too late for a Pakistan side who join England in departing the tournament at the group stage. Earlier, England captain Jos Buttler decided to bat after winning the toss. From Pakistan’s perspective, this wasn’t the best of news, given the huge net run rate swing they required to snatch the fourth semi-final spot, but skipper Babar Azam added that they’d try to make the best of the circumstances. (Agencies)
