Pakistan to meet England in semi-final today

Published December 3, 2018
SYDNEY: Sagheer Abbas receives the man-of-the-match award at the presentation ceremony after Pakistan beat England on Sunday.
SYDNEY: Sagheer Abbas receives the man-of-the-match award at the presentation ceremony after Pakistan beat England on Sunday.

KARACHI: Pakistan edged out England by three wickets in the seventh and final round of league matches to finish second in the team standings of the Over-50 World Cup Cricket Tournament in Sydney on Sunday.

Both Pakistan and England, having already qualified among the top four sides before their league encounter, will be in action against each other again as they clash in the semi-finals at the Rosedale Oval on Monday.

Hosts Australia, who topped the standings, will be pitted against fourth-placed New Zealand in Monday’s other semi-final at the Hurstville Oval.

With the last league match being of just academic interest, Pakistan opted to rest three of their prolific players, skipper Ghulam Ali, Sajid Ali and Shahid Anwar, and England also did likewise. Pakistan were captained by Ghaffar Kazmi.

England, batting first, mustered 137 in 44.5 overs with Mel Hussein (35), Neil Brathwaite (22) and Scott Scratton (19) being their leading run-getters.

Leg-spinner Zafar Ali was Pakistan’s star performer with figures of 4-17 in 6.5 overs, while Asif Hayat bowled a tight spell of eight overs to claim 2-25.

Despite being restricted to a low total, England fought back gallantly to take seven of the Pakistan wickets before the score crossed 100. But Sagheer Abbas, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, kept his cool in the trying conditions to finish with an unbeaten 35 off 62 balls to see his team over the line. He was ably assisted by Javed Hafeez who remained undefeated on a run-a-ball 21.

For England, Sean Cooper (2-15), Mel Hussein (2-19) and Mo Fayyaz (2-35) shared the bowling honours.

In the other fixtures played on Sunday, Australia — powered by Peter Solway’s 151 — hammered Sri Lanka by 97 runs, New Zealand outplayed South Africa by eight wickets and Wales overcame Canada by six wickets.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2018

Opinion

Editorial

Quetta bombing
Updated 10 Nov, 2024

Quetta bombing

THERE appears to be no end to the stream of violent incidents occurring in Balochistan, indicating a clear failure ...
Burdened courts
10 Nov, 2024

Burdened courts

ACCORDING to recent reports, the new chief justice has set about implementing a recently adopted plan for clearing...
Playing in Pakistan
10 Nov, 2024

Playing in Pakistan

MOHSIN Naqvi, Pakistan’s cricket chief, has shown a brave face. Now he has to be unrelenting and put the onus on...
Wake-up call
Updated 09 Nov, 2024

Wake-up call

Pakistan must heed UN's wake-up call and bring its laws and practices in line with its international human rights obligations.
Foreign banks’ exit
09 Nov, 2024

Foreign banks’ exit

WHY are foreign banks leaving Pakistan? In the last couple of decades, we have seen a number of global banking...
Kurram protest
09 Nov, 2024

Kurram protest

FED up with the state’s apathy towards their plight, the people of Kurram tribal district took to the streets on...