da esport bet： A devastating allround show from Shahid Afridi and somepenetrative quick bowling from Umar Gul eased the path to a comfortable 51-run victory
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran12-Sep-2007
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Effervescent: Shahid Afridi provided some fleeting fireworks and then went on to get four wickets © Getty Images
Just like Ireland before them at the 50-over World Cup, Scotland punchedwell above their weight against a strangely listless Pakistan atKingsmead, but a devastating allround show from Shahid Afridi and somepenetrative quick bowling from Umar Gul eased the path to a comfortable51-run victory. When Pakistan slumped to 50 for 3, and again when FraserWatts played some punishing shots at the start of the innings, there was aglimmer of an upset, but Younis Khan’s 41 and Afridi’s intervention withthe ball ensured that there was no danger of that ignominious Sabina Parkdefeat being reprised.Watts made a brilliant 46 from just 35 balls before his attempt to wallopMohammad Hafeez out of the ground flew to Imran Nazir at short third man.By then, Afridi already had the wickets of Gavin Hamilton and NeilMcCallum, both to slogs into the deep, and when he added the scalps ofDougie Brown and Colin Smith, the contest was effectively over. CraigWright, the former captain who had starred with 3 for 29 added 14 with thebat, but with Gul’s yorkers proving lethal, the last few overs were aformality.A one-sided rout certainly wasn’t on the cards early on, with John Blainbowling an outstanding first spell that was well backed up by thefielders. Dewald Nel, born in South Africa, played his part with asecond-over maiden to Salman Butt, and the pressure built up costing Nazirhis wicket as he hoicked Blain to deep cover.Butt struggled to put the ball away during his 13, and Blain was onceagain the delighted bowler as he glanced a delivery straight to the manstationed at short fine leg. Hafeez played a couple of lovely shots behindthe wicket, and with Younis playing himself in, the initial nervesappeared to have disappeared. But Ryan Watson, the Scottish captain, keptringing the changes cleverly, and the introduction of his predecessorproved an inspired one.Hafeez bunted one back, and Wright’s reflexes were sharp enough to latchon at the second attempt. Suddenly, memories of St Patrick’s Day cameflooding back and it took some powerful strikes from Younis and ShoaibMalik to restore sanity to the proceedings.
Scotland were never lacking in spirit and impressed in patches: Craig Wright holds on to a return catch off Mohammad Hafeez © AFP
But Scotland still had a sting or two left to inflict, and the first camefrom an individual of Pakistani origin who works as a delivery man. MajidHaq beat Malik in the flight, and Smith, the policeman, pulled off a smartstumping.Enter Afridi, and sixes over midwicket and long-on – brushing thefielder’s fingers – but after rollicking to 22 from just seven balls, hereplicated Butt’s dismissal, popping a full toss to short fine leg. Andwhen Younis’s knock of 41 ended with a heave off Haq that only found thedeep fielder, Pakistan faced the dismal prospect of not batting out theirovers.Kamran Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq, the man who replaced Mohammad Yousuf inthe squad, ensured that that wouldn’t happen with some punishing strokesin the final stages. Wright ended Misbah’s bright cameo with a fulldelivery and Akmal also holed out for 16, giving the Scottish supportersplenty to cheer, but 172 was well beyond the ambit of their batsmenagainst bowlers of the quality of Gul, Mohammad Asif and the man of themoment, Afridi.