England XI beat PCB XI by 100 runs

England XI beat PCB XI by 100 runs

England XI overcame the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI by 100 runs in a three day tour match at the ICC Global Cricket Academy, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, January 13, 2012.

The home team’s skipper Sarfraz Ahmed opted to field first after winning the toss, as he expected the bowlers to get some assistance off the pitch in the first couple of sessions.

The decision proved to be a very good one, as fast bowler Mohammad Talha troubled the opposition batsmen with the new ball.

England’s captain Andrew Strauss and veteran batsman Jonathan Trott failed to make an impression and were dismissed after scoring 3 and 0 respectively.

However, the innings was stabilised by Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen, as the pair put on 83 for the third wicket. The latter failed to make most of the start to his innings and got out for 38.

The English middle-order collapsed and the team was 121/5 at one stage. Cook and Matt Prior did not give up easily though and contributed 90 runs for the sixth wicket partnership.

The left-handed opener top scored the innings with 133 runs whereas Prior ended up with 46 before Strauss declared the innings at 269/9.

PCB XI’s Talha and Yasir Shah did a fabulous job, picking up 4 and 5 wickets respectively in the innings.

In reply, the home team failed to make an impression with the bat and lost 8 wickets for just 119 runs. However, tail-enders Raza Hasan and Talha put up a brave show, scoring 54 runs for the ninth wicket. They scored 50 and 31 before Sarfraz declared the
innings at 200/9.

England’s Monty Panesar had a terrific outing, scalping five wickets in the innings, helping his side to a 69-run first innings lead.

The tourists’ changed their batting order in the second innings, as Trott came out to open with his captain. The move worked out well, as the pair put together 130 runs for the first wicket. They scored 93 and 62 respectively and the innings was declared
at 181/3.

PCB XI had to chase down 251 for victory, but the entire team was dismissed for 150. Test player Fawad Alam was the only one to make an impression, scoring 51 runs whereas the rest of the batting was below par.

Panesar was once again impressive for England, picking up three wickets this time around.

The first Test between England and Pakistan will be played on Tuesday, January 17 in Dubai.

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Posted by Waqar Masood on Jan 13 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry