Brisbane: Harry Brook and Sam Curran were the architects of England’s convincing victory over Pakistan in a T20 World Cup warmup game in Brisbane on Monday. Pakistan posted 160 at the loss of eight wickets, with Shan Masood top scoring with 39 runs.

No other batsman could play a noticeable innings as pacer Mohammad Wasim scored 26 runs, followed by Iftikhar Ahmed (22) and opener Haider Ali (18). The match was reduced to 19 overs each due to rain. Both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were rested, with Shadab Khan taking the charge temporarily. While defending the total, pacer Naseem Shah made early inroads by dismissing opener Phil Salt in the second over but Ben Stokes neutralised the bowling attack with his quick 18-ball 36 that took his team to 49-1 in 5 overs.

Fast bowler Wasim managed to dismiss Stokes while skipper Shadab sent Alex Hales to the pavilion. But a quick-fire innings at the bottom from Liam Livingstone (28 off 16 balls), Brook (45 off 24 balls) and Curran (33 off 14 balls) took England home with 26 balls to spare. Pakistan will play their next warm-up match against Afghanistan on Wednesday. Pakistan and India will lock horns at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23 in their opening fixture of the T20 World Cup a day after Australia begin their title defence against New Zealand in Sydney.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 18 2022

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