World Cup 2023: Pakistan get eliminated officially, Willey shines on farewell and other key moments from ENG vs PAK matc
World Cup 2023: Pakistan get eliminated officially, Willey shines on farewell and other key moments from ENG vs PAK matc
Ahead of the penultimate league match of the 2023 ICC World Cup at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, England were already out of reckoning as far as the race to the semi-finals was concerned. Pakistan, on the other hand, were mathematically alive and needed to defeat Jos Buttler and Co by astronomical margins to pip New Zealand to the top four. Some sections of Pakistan cricket fans were even hopeful of their team posting a total in excess of 400 and bowling the Englishmen out for 100 or less. Or pulling off a successful chase in a little over six overs for that matter.
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In the end, however, it was England signing off from the World Cup with smiles on their faces, having registered back-to-back wins towards the end of their campaign after losing five out of their first six. Pakistan had briefly reignited hopes of sneaking into the semi-finals following a late resurgence and could have walked out with their heads held high by delivering a strong performance in the second match of the Saturday double-header.
Instead, familiar problems resurfaced for the Men in Blue as they ended up falling well short once again.
Here are some of the key moments from the England-Pakistan match at the Eden Gardens:
Bairstow, Root and Stokes set the tone
The trio of Jonny Bairstow (59), Joe Root (60) and Ben Stokes (84) vindicated skipper Buttler’s decision to bat first at the Eden Gardens, each of them scoring a half-century and laying the foundation for what would be a match-winning total for England, who found themselves cruising at 240/2 at the end of the 40th over thanks to their efforts. Stokes, who had regained his touch with scores of 64 and 108 against Australia and Netherlands respectively, collected 11 fours and two sixes during his 76-ball knock.
The southpaw had come out of ODI retirement for the World Cup, and given Saturday’s match against Pakistan might be his final appearance in the format, he would have loved to sign off with back-to-back hundreds in winning causes. Instead, he was cleaned up by a terrific in-swinging yorker from Shaheen Afridi to depart for a well-made 84.
Pacers fight back, keep England below 350
England could have had a lot more runs on the board and their victory over Pakistan might have been a lot more one-sided had it not been for the pace trio of Afridi, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Wasim fighting back in the last 10 overs of the English innings. Afridi bagged the key wickets of Stokes and Root in successive overs, dismissing the former with a beauty. Rauf would then strike just when Harry Brook and Buttler were starting to tee off, dismissing the former with a slower delivery before running the England skipper out with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.
Rauf used the slower ball in the penultimate over as well to fox Moeen Ali and finished as the pick of the bowlers with 3/64. Wasim would then remove David Willey and Gus Atkinson in successive deliveries in the final over before collecting a dot in the hat-trick delivery. England were eyeing a score well over 350 at one point but ended up with 337 in the end.
Pakistan officially out of semi-final race
Pakistan needed to chase the 338-run target down in 6.4 overs if they were to beat New Zealand to a top-four finish and reach the World Cup semi-finals for only the second time since their runner-up finish in 1999. Instead, they lost wickets up front with Willey removing openers Abdullah Shafique (0) and Fakhar Zaman (1) in successive overs with the former departing in the second delivery of the chase. Pakistan could only reach 30/2 in the fourth delivery of the seventh over, as a result of which the India-New Zealand semi-final in Mumbai became official.
Willey completes 100 ODI wickets
Willey had already announced his intention to hang up his boots from international cricket at the end of the tournament after being overlooked in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s central contracts list.
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