England stroll to resounding win

A splendid and a professional show by the fast bowlers set up the game for England and the batsmen scaled down the modest target with ease to register a record seventh T20I win for them on the trot, thereby clean sweeping the series 2-0.

After opting to bat on a sporting deck, Pakistan got off to a worst possible start and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. They lost there top four premier batsmen in the first five overs and managed to add just 23 runs in the Quick Start Overs. The visitors never recovered from the early blows and struggled throughout the innings to build a sizeable partnership. The biggest partnership they managed was of 29 runs for the eighth wicket between Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul with the latter hitting few lusty shots but in the end Pakistan innings was bundled out for a paltry 89 runs in 18 overs out of which 30/5 came in the Extreme Performance Overs. The Brits bowled to a strategy and bounced the Asian team who didn’t resist the pull shot and fell prey to it. The fast bowlers hunted seven wickets among them with Tim Bresnan being the best by picking up three wickets and earning a Bowling Efficiency of 330. 

Chasing a mediocre target for a win, the English side got off to a rollicking start by adding 26 runs in no time but then suffered a couple of setbacks. England managed 35 runs in the Quick Start Overs for the loss of two wickets. Ravi Bopara and Paul Collingwood came together and added 31 runs for the third wicket and sealed the game in their side’s favour. The duo then departed in quick succession but once again, like the last match, Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy saw their team home with an unbeaten 27-run stand for the fifth wicket. The Pakistani bowlers tried their best but in the end were left with too little to defend. 

Without any doubt, England completely overwhelmed Pakistan with an overall Castrol Index of 168 in comparison to Pakistan’s 83. Tim Bresnan bagged the Man of the Match award for his fabulous bowling, earning an Overall Castrol Index of 327 while Shoaib Akhtar once again was the top performer for Pakistan with an overall Index of 160. Now, these two sides will collide in a 5-match ODI series starting at Chester-le-Street on Friday, the 10th of September, 2010.