Umar Gul Stuns England As Pakistan Keep Series Alive

Gul Stuns England As Pakistan Keep Series Alive

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi (left) and strike bowler Umar Gul celebrate the wicket of Graeme Swann

©Action Images / Paul Harding Livepic

Pakistan 241 (Fawad Alam 64, Anderson 3-26) beat
England 214 (Morgan 61, Umar Gul 6-42) by 23 runs
3rd One-Day International, The Oval
Scorecard

Umar Gul produced an outstanding spell of swing bowling to return six for 42 and bowl Pakistan to a 23-run win over England in the third One-Day International at The Oval to keep the series alive.

Fawad Alam scored 64 and James Anderson took three wickets as Pakistan were bowled out for 241 before England, despite half-centuries from Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan, were dismissed for 218 as Pakistan reduced the series deficit to 2-1 with two matches to play.

The tourists won the toss and chose to bat but were quickly in trouble when James Anderson had Mohammad Hafeez (1) caught by Steven Davies and Kamran Akmal was bowled by Tim Bresnan via his thigh pad for five.

When Mohammad Yousuf was trapped in front by Anderson for ten, the ball possibly going over the top, Pakistan were at 31 for three but they recovered partially thanks to Asad Shafiq's 40 and Alam's 64 - his third ODI half-century.

Spinners Graeme Swann (1-53) and Michael Yardy (1-42) then dismissed Shafiq and Alam respectively and it took innings of 34 in 29 balls from Shahid Afridi and 31 in 24 from Abdul Razzaq to get Pakistan past 200 as Anderson trapped Saeed Ajmal in front for two to return figures of three for 26.

Afridi was run out in slightly bizarre circumstances when, having turned his back on a throw from Swann, he failed to react quickly enough after the ball clipped his bat and hit his stumps with him short of his ground.

Stuart Broad, who had Razzaq caught by Anderson, was the other England bowler to take a wicket.

England made a decent start to their run chase with Davies making a quick 18 and Andrew Strauss making a classy 57 in 54 balls but wickets fell at the other end.

Jonathan Trott (2) and Ravi Bopara (7) both failed and in the absence of Paul Collingwood, a late withdrawal due to illness, England's batting proved to be light.

However, while Eoin Morgan was compiling a fluent, nerveless 61 in 74 balls, they still appeared to be on course for victory, particularly when he was batting alongside Luke Wright, who finished unbeaten on 48.

The pair put on 98 for the sixth wicket before Gul turned the game in Pakistan's favour. First, he had Morgan caught by substitute Wahab Riaz at deep backward square leg and having already bowled Strauss and had Michael Yardy trapped in front for four, he bowled Tim Bresnan for nought and Stuart Broad for four.

A seaming delivery on a length did for Bresnan while Broad was done by a fuller ball and Gul completed a new career-best mark in all one-day cricket when Swann drove the last ball of his spell to Afridi at cover.

That left Anderson alongside Wright and despite their best efforts, they had been left with too much to do and the innings was ended when Anderson was bowled by Razzaq for three.

England led the five-match series 2-0 following wins by 24 runs and four wickets at Chester-le-Street and Headingley respectively. The fourth game is at Lord's on Monday 20th September.

© Cricket World 2010