SOUTHAMPTON: Jason Roy overcame a dizzy spell to lead England’s charge to a 44-run win under the Duckworth/Lewis method in a rain-marred first One-day International against Pakistan in Southampton on Wednesday (partly reported in Thursday’s edition).
Opener Roy’s quickfire 65 fired England towards an initial victory target of 261 after Pakistan had made 260-6.
But following a third and final rain interruption of this day/night fixture at 9:37 pm local time (2037 GMT), the umpires eventually called the game off with England 194-3.
England captain Eoin Morgan, was 33 not out and Ben Stokes on 15.
Roy and Joe Root (61) took England to the brink of victory with a second-wicket stand of 89 in 14 overs.
Roy sparked England’s chase with three fours in four balls off Umar Gul.
But there was a worrying moment when Roy, on 20, needed several minutes’ on-field treatment for a dizzy spell.
“It was a case of not having enough sugar on me apparently, that’s it plain and simple,” Roy said. “I had a headache, felt a bit dizzy, they got the physio and the doctor on, they told me to get some sugar on board.
“I was able to get my bearings, settle and re-set myself and just go again,” he added.
Meanwhile opening partner Alex Hales again fell cheaply. He was out for seven when he guided Umar straight to Mohammad Hafeez at slip.
Mohammad Amir had five catches dropped off his bowling during the Test series and the Pakistan paceman’s bad luck continued on Wednesday.
Roy, on 24, skied left-arm quick Amir high on the leg-side. The ball appeared to be heading straight to Umar at square leg.
However, wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed called for the catch, only to make insufficient ground and drop the chance despite getting both gloves to the ball.
Pakistan may have recently climbed to the top of the Test rankings, but this was the kind of fielding error which had helped leave them languishing in ninth place in the equivalent ODI standings.
Roy swept left-arm spinner Imad Wasim for the first six of the match before completing a 43-ball fifty also featuring five fours.
But his innings ended when a lofted drive off spinner Mohammad Nawaz was brilliantly caught just inside the boundary by Babar, running round from long-off.
Root was untroubled while hitting six fours in 72 balls. But when Morgan dropped the ball into the offside and set off, Root failed to beat Azhar’s direct hit.
Later skipper Azhar felt his side had fallen short with the bat.
“300 obviously, we always look to score 300, but definitely 280-290. One of your top order has to score and bat long, triple figures would be nice and you always build a total when the top order perform,” said the opener.
The five-match series continues at Lord’s on Saturday.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Azhar Ali c Moeen b Rashid 82
Sharjeel Khan c Buttler b Wood 16
Mohammad Hafeez c Hales b Root 11
Babar Azam lbw b Rashid 40
Sarfraz Ahmed c Wood b Woakes 55
Shoaib Malik c Rashid b Plunkett 17
Mohammad Nawaz not out 17
Imad Wasim not out 17
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4) 5
TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 260
FALL OF WKTS: 1-25, 2-52, 3-113, 4-178, 5-224, 6-226.
DID NOT BAT: Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Umar Gul.
BOWLING: Woakes 10-2-43-1; Wood 10-0-57-1 (3w); Plunkett 10-0-52-1; Root 4-0-26-1 (1w); Moeen Ali 7-0-30-0; Adil Rashid 9-0-51-2.
ENGLAND:
J.J. Roy c Babar b Nawaz 65
A.D. Hales c Hafeez b Umar 7
J.E. Root run out 61
E.J.G. Morgan not out 33
B.A. Stokes not out 15
EXTRAS (LB-6, W-7) 13
TOTAL (for three wkts, 34.3 overs) 194
FALL OF WKTS: 1-27, 2-116, 3-158.
DID NOT BAT: J.C. Buttler, Moeen Ali, C.R. Woakes, L.E. Plunkett, Adil Rashid, M.A. Wood.
BOWLING: Imad Wasim 5-0-23-0; Mohammad Amir 6-0-33-0; Umar Gul 6-0-46-1 (2w); Wahab Riaz 6-0-30-0 (5w); Mohammad Nawaz 6.3-0-31-1; Shoaib Malik 5-0-25-0.
RESULT: England won by 44 runs (D/L method).
UMPIRES: R.J. Bailey (England) and Simon Fry (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: M. Erasmus (South Africa).
MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Jason Roy.
SECOND MATCH: Lord’s, Saturday.
THIRD MATCH: Trent Bridge (D/N), Aug 30.
FOURTH MATCH: Headingley, Sept 1.
FIFTH MATCH: Cardiff (D/N), Sept 4.
Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016
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