England - Pakistan ODI series

Fouth ODI match of the Pakistan-England series was played at Lord's, London. England were leading the series by 2-1. England needs one more victory to win the series. Pakistan team got the toss right and they decided to bat first.

Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez opened the batting innings for the Pakistan team. Both opened well and made a first wicket partnership of 62 runs before Kamran Akmal gave a catch to Andrew Strauss. After the first fall, Pakistan quickly lost 2 more wickets which increased the pressure for their team. The middle order batsmen played well and came out of the critical situation by contributing some good runs to the teams total. At the end of the innings, Abdul Razzaq quick-fired scoring 44 runs from just 20 deliveries which included 8 fours and 1 six. After 50 overs, Pakistan ended up scoring 265 runs loosing 7 wickets. Graeme Swann was the most economical bowler for England with an economy rate of 3.7 runs per over and 4 wickets.


England needed 266 runs to win the match from 50 overs. Steve Davies and Andrew Strauss were the openers for their team and started off very well. They put up a very good partnership of 113 runs which made their team be very confident of winning this match. After the breakage of England's first wicket, Pakistan gained pace in gaining wickets. Soon, England started to loose wickets in regular intervals. They could not resist the bowling attack made by Pakistan. By 46.1 overs, England lost all its 10 wickets and ended up scoring a total of 227 runs. Pakistan won the match by 38 runs. All the credit goes to Umar Gul and Shoaib Akthar who took 4 and 3 wickets respectively. Man of the match was Umar Gul for his brilliant bowling performance.


After this win, the series has been leveled to 2-2. Now either of them can win the series.

3rd ODI - England vs Bangladesh

Bangladesh and England have won one game respectively and leveling the series by 1-1. The 3rd and the last ODI was played yesterday at Edgbaston, Birmingham. This was an crucial match for both the teams, whoever wins this match will win the series. England won the toss and elected to bat first.

Craig Kieswetter was out and returned to pavilion by getting bowled in the Mashrafe Mortaza over. Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott made a brilliant partnership of 250 runs in 240 deliveries. After the fall of Trott, England lost few wickets. Later, Ravi Bopara came in to bat and hit a magnificent 45 runs from 16 deliveries which included 2 fours and 4 sixes. By 50 overs, England scored an magnificent 347 runs in total and lost 7 wickets. Andrew Strauss scored 154 runs from 140 deliveries which included 16 fours and 5 sixes. Jonathan Trott scored 101 runs from 121 deliveries which included 12 fours and no sixes. Mashrafe Mortaza was the only economical bowler from Bangladesh side where his economy rate was just 3.1 runs and also took 3 top order wickets.


Bangladesh needed 348 runs from 50 overs with 10 wickets in hand. But things did not go right for them right from the start of their batting innings. They kept on loosing wickets in quick intervals with drop in run rate. By 45 over, Bangladesh lost all its 10 wickets and scored only 203 runs in total. Mahmudullah was the highest scorer from Bangladesh team scoring 42 runs 81 deliveries. 


England won the match by 144 runs and there by winning series with 2-0. Man of the match and the man of the series was chosen as Andrew Strauss for his brilliant batting performance throughout the series.