CAPE TOWN, Feb 22: Pakistan squandered a great chance of bowling out England for a much lower total after skipper Nasser Hussain won the toss and elected to bat first in ideal batting conditions.

It was the same story on Saturday, in fact a repeat of Australia when Pakistan had Aussies on the ropes but let Ricky Ponting’s men off the hook. It could prove disasterous again as the Pakistanis are never known to be good chasers especially batting under lights.

Needing a knock-out punch having removed five batsmen for 118, poor leadership by Waqar Younis and very ordinary stuff by Shoaib Akhtar allowed England to post a fighting 246 for eight in the 50 overs despite some fine efforts by veteran Wasim Akram and spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi.

The most disappointing effort came from the controversial Shoaib Akhtar who was punished by England batsmen, who garnered 63 runs from his nine wayward overs. He was even hit for a six by tailender Ashley Giles.

It seems Pakistan’s most expensive and over-pampered player was only interested in bowling the officially clocked fastest ball ever fired in which he succeeded clocking 161.3 kilometres in an One-day International.

England owed their challenging total to Michael Vaughan (52) and Paul Collingwood (66 not out) and useful contributions from Alec Stewart (30) and Andrew Flintoff (26).

Wasim as usual gave Pakistan the ideal start removing dangerous Marcus Trescothick in his second over and was unlucky to achieve another landmark in his illustrious carreer when he had Michael Vaughan caught by Saqlain off a no-ball in the same over.

So the demon bowler still needs a wicket to become the first bowler to capture 500 scalps in limited over version.

For Pakistan the plus point was they generally fielded well and accepted all their chances with wicket-keeper Rashid Latif having an excellent day behind the stumps while Shahid Afridi’s effort to dismiss Giles was an outstanding catch.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND: