1st T20: Billings stars as England beat nervy Pakistan by 14 runs

E-Paper | April 29, 2026

Sam Billings played an inspired innings to help England to a comfortable 14-run victory in the first Twenty20 international against Pakistan.

Billings smashed 53 off 25 balls to lift England to a competitive total of 160 for five on a slow pitch and Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals in their reply.

England, who won the toss, slumped to 19 for three before James Vince, who made 41 on his debut, shared a third-wicket partnership of 76 with captain Eoin Morgan.

That laid the platform for Billings to use terrific improvisation to plunder runs all round the ground.

The young wicketkeeper, deputising for the rested Jos Buttler, hit two sixes and five fours in a stand of 65 with Morgan who finished unbeaten on 45.

Pakistan lost three early wickets and never looked like chasing down their target, Sohail Tanvir top-scoring with 25 not out as seamers Reece Topley and Liam Plunkett took three wickets each.

The second game in the three-match series is in Dubai on Friday.

Teams:

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Rafatullah Mohmand, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Imran Khan junior, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz

England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, James Vince, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, Stephen Parry, Liam Plunkett

Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK and Shozab Raza (PAK) Tv umpire: Ahmed Shahab (PAK) Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)

Our readers are at the heart of everything we do.
Do you have a thought to share or a way we can improve? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to us at feedback@dawn.com.

niju

Nov 26, 2015 09:40pm

Pakistan is not grooming the right talent at right time....check the example of misbah one of the oldest player discovered by Pakistan cricket..or imran tahir who changed his nationality to become one of the best spin bowler of international cricket.

Recommend 0

Sab Se Pehle Pakistan

Nov 26, 2015 09:54pm

Can anyone please tell me why are we playing so many pacers on a spinning Dubai wicket?

Recommend 0

Sarah

Nov 26, 2015 10:18pm

We are playing Imran Khan in T20 giving away 19 runs in over.Need a break from this team.That is why they scared of Amir.Selectors need sacking.

Recommend 0

Rizwan

Nov 26, 2015 10:24pm

Well below par performance by Pakistan.

Recommend 0

Asif

Nov 26, 2015 10:39pm

Shahid Afridi must retire respectfully.

Recommend 0

chaudhary

Nov 26, 2015 11:15pm

'respectful retirement' is something unknown to our players.

Recommend 0

Mohsin Raza Nadeem

Nov 26, 2015 11:22pm

No good performance since few weeks . Why they are wasting national wealth ? Why they are sticked to team even they are not performing well ?

Recommend 0

blunt khan

Nov 26, 2015 11:24pm

To be honest its a complete utter jok watching pak team playing T20 or a ODI matches worst team for this era, thumbs up for sir misbah he has kept pak team alive in test cricket...

Recommend 0

sanaya

Nov 26, 2015 11:35pm

When you cant make so many runs then why do you give so many?

Recommend 0

Canada

Nov 26, 2015 11:36pm

Time for Afridi to follow Younis and retire after first game. Worst bowler and worst PK batsman.

Recommend 0

Divergence

Nov 26, 2015 11:40pm

Looks like going to lose 2020, pathetic performance

Recommend 0

AXH

Nov 26, 2015 11:48pm

Afridi has become a liability and needs to be dropped. The media should also stop portraying him some kind of maverick because that has gotten to his head.

Recommend 0

STRANGE

Nov 26, 2015 11:52pm

Afridi please retire now. Waqar please forgive the team and get out.

Recommend 0

Javid Shirazi

Nov 26, 2015 11:53pm

Time for Shahid Afridi to gracefully retire. He was inconsistent all through out his career. Others are waiting in the wings. In addition, Mr. Afridi also imposed Umar Akmal on the team. Selectors appear to be muppets or lack spine.

Recommend 0

Asgher Ali

Nov 26, 2015 11:54pm

Afridi's performance was right on the spot. A failure at its best!

Recommend 0

Avi

Nov 27, 2015 12:19am

Just another day for Afridi

Recommend 0

Asif

Nov 27, 2015 12:20am

Pakistan will not win until selfish people are there in selection committee and coach is waqar younis with likes of hafeez and afridi in the team

Recommend 0

Majid Khan

Nov 27, 2015 12:23am

Shahid Afridi should have retired long ago honorable or he should be kicked out.

Recommend 0

Nooru52

Nov 27, 2015 12:28am

Wonder how they will play India

Recommend 0

Fahd

Nov 27, 2015 12:29am

People always complained regarding the inconsistency of Afridi. Atlast he has found consistency in his batting at the end of his career. He is failing consistently now.

Recommend 0

Zia

Nov 27, 2015 12:33am

All the batsmen except Umar Akmal failed. Even though I don't like UA much but it was not his fault. The idiotic batsman Sohaib at the other end seemed like he was so very afraid to go to other end. He was haf down and would have saved the wicket had he kept running with full strength but he decided to play with UA and take revenge. What a pity! On the other side look at Pakistani bowlers in batting. They did a lousy job in bowling but did very good in batting. Anwar Ali, Sohail and Wahab kept hopes alive. From the looks of it it seems Afridi is trying to be head master in the room and not even letting Sarfraz to contribute. Afridi shoud go before WC T20 if Pakistan wants to save face.

Recommend 0

Shakil USA

Nov 27, 2015 12:36am

Very poor performance. Afridi please follow Younis.

Recommend 0

ravian

Nov 27, 2015 12:37am

A sorry all round performance. Selection of players is jaw dropping. An opener who is almost 40 years old. A fast bowler who delivers 105-130 km. A run out in which one player does not move. Captain ,no wicket no score. The current bunch deserved an inglorious end and got it.

Recommend 0

Gen Pasha retd.

Nov 27, 2015 12:40am

@niju - even our politicians are getting dual nationality to get out of the country - tahir did a very sensible thing

Recommend 0

Fahd

Nov 27, 2015 12:40am

Someone please tell Sohaib maqsood that he doesn't need to come out of his crease every time against spinners. He is not playing tape ball cricket in a street without a keeper behind the stumps.

Recommend 0

Nov 27, 2015 12:42am

I fail to understand why shahid afridi is in the side. Every time he's is a big disappointment. He is alive and great performer only due to media.

Recommend 0

Mr Pakistan.

Nov 27, 2015 12:43am

Don't blame Afridi - blame Our gullible citizens that have made him a hero while in fact he is a zero When we won the World Cup he was coming in at 3 , now he wants to take the easy route and come in at 6

Recommend 0

Nov 27, 2015 12:55am

Consistently unable to score - Shahid Afridi. It's a virtual pain to see him bat now a days.

Recommend 0

FirstLast2016

Nov 27, 2015 12:55am

@sanaya LOL you right. Spot on.

Recommend 0

Fiz

Nov 27, 2015 12:56am

Much Ado about nothing!

Recommend 0

Divergence

Nov 27, 2015 01:19am

Pakistanis ought to win the next two 2020's, otherwise stop dashing people's hopes and time.

Recommend 0

Imran A.

Nov 27, 2015 01:45am

We should ask who else has a problem in selecting Mohammad Amir and sack that person first. Bunch of useless players who cannot play, but only know how to complain about Amir's selection. I feel for Afridi, he is a good captain but batting is not his strength.

Recommend 0

Nov 27, 2015 03:41am

How long that is going to take.

Recommend 0

Branded Content

NexGen Auto (Nishat Group) to Introduce iCAUR in Pakistan

As one of Pakistan’s leading business groups, Nishat Group operates across key sectors including textiles, cement, banking, insurance, power and agriculture.

NTL and Unikrew Solutions establish additional strategic understanding for potential transformation opportunities

Collaboration brings together complementary strengths to jointly pursue high-impact opportunities in Pakistan and international markets.

Indus Cloud signs strategic partnership agreement with PTCL to deliver cloud excellence

The partnership marks a significant step in Indus Cloud’s and PTCL’s joint efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s cloud and data centre infrastructure and expand access to enterprise-grade digital services in the country.