KARACHI: Former international Sajid Ali struck a superb unbeaten century while guiding Pakistan to the final of Over-50 World Cup Cricket Tournament with a five-wicket defeat of England at the Rosedale Oval in Sydney on Monday.

Pakistan’s opponents in the title-decider on Wednesday will be hosts Australia who edged out New Zealand by four runs in the other semi-final at the Hurstville Oval.

England, batting first, struggled to at the start of the match but recovered significantly through half-centuries from Foster (71 off 97 balls) and Mo Hussein (56 off 92s) to finish with a fighting total of 184 for five in the allotted 45 overs.

Pakistan’s spearhead Dastagir Butt claimed a couple of wickets in his opening spell of five overs while the pressure was sustained by the spin quartet of Jaffer Qureshi, Zafar Ali, Javed Hafeez and Imran Tarar.

Pakistan’s reply was held together by Sajid who blasted 102 off 127 balls, while striking six boundaries. He was later adjudged man-of-the-match.

Sajid received useful support from Ghaffar Kazmi (29 off 53 balls), Javed Hafeez (19 off 28) and captain Ghulam Ali (17 off 36) as Pakistan reached the target with an over to spare.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018