Scorecard
Commentary
Shoaibs shine and Pakistan scratch home to stay in series
Pakistan vs Cricket Web XI - 3rd ODI
at the PDV Dome
Pakistan skidded through to victory in the crucial third one-day international match against the CW XI – a game saturated with drama. In the chase of 203, the visitors tumbled from a position of 116-1 to 129-4, but finally scratched home with 3 wickets intact.
Imran Farhat played the crucial innings of 67 at the top of the order, holding his team together on an unusually slow and difficult batting surface. It was Asim Kamal, however, who guided Pakistan home. Contributing just 14 not out, Kamal was partnered by number 9 Iftikhar Anjum when the target was attained.
Earlier the CW XI were inserted and found runs hard to come by against the seaming ball early on. Ian Markus and Liam Camps perished quickly to leave the score at 33-2. But Rob Dauth and Dinu DeSilva made worth of their batting promotions, adding a careful 102 for the third wicket.
It seemed that the Webheads were sensibly batting themselves into an excellent launch position, but when aggression finally came, it was a route to demise. Shoaib Malik cashed in with 4 middle order wickets, and the score slid to 173-7, from a strong 135-2.
Nathan Hoy and Tom Halsey pushed the innings along to the final over, entering it at 202-7. What followed was a spectacular display of fast bowling, as Shoaib Akhtar found life in the pitch and claimed a hat-trick of CW tailenders to wrap the innings with 3 balls to spare.
Searching for an attainable 203, Farhat and Afridi played sensibly to see off the early new ball threat, allowing captain Inzamam-ul-Haq to later smash consecutive sixes off Halsey, and accelerate toward the goal.
Pakistan now holds the series close at 2-1, with 2 highly anticipated matches to be played.
Cricket Web XI 202 all out (49.3 overs)
Pakistan 203-7 (49.2 overs)
Pakistan won by 3 wickets.
Man of the Match: Imran Farhat
How OUT:
Cricket Web XI
I Markus – not movement of feet, beating by in-seamer
LA Camps – loose drive at full delivery, played on
RJ Dauth – top-edged cut shot, caught smartly at lone slip
MW DeSilva – botton-edged cut shot, played on
MJ Robbins – bottom-edged sweep shot, bounced onto thigh, rolled back onto stumps
SE Fuller – lofted flat to short extra cover, caught brilliantly
A Crampton – swatted to midwicket, caught comfortably
TC Halsey – drove at wide and full delivery, caught gully
NS Hoy – not out
DJ Watt – gloved quick short ball, caught gully
NS Pickup – trapped lbw, ducking into a beautifully disguised slower ball
Pakistan
Imran Farhat – bowled between bat and pad by ball angled in
Shahid Afridi – slapped to gully at chest height
Shoaib Malik – trapped lbw by topspinner
Mohammad Yousuf – drove at quick legbreak, caught slip
Inzamam-ul-Haq – attempted to on-drive, leading edge caught low by diving mid-off
Younis Khan – attempted sweep against top-spinner, trapped lbw
Asim Kamal – not out
Yasif Arafat – top-edged reverse sweep, brilliantly caught by diving wicketkeeper
Iftikhar Anjum – not out
Glad to be amongst the wickets, and even more stoked to get a match.
