England lacked dedication and sensibility

Daniel Laidlaw

A courageous century by Marcus Trescothick went in vain as England collapsed to lose the fourth NatWest series one-day game against Pakistan in a last-ball thriller at Lord's.

Trescothick made 137 but only had support from second-gamer Owais Shah (62) as Pakistan stormed to victory by claiming England's last seven wickets for 44 runs.

The loss effectively ends England's NatWest series campaign after it crashed to a third consecutive defeat.

Pakistan completed one of its trademark comebacks and now has two wins from three matches to lie second on the table behind Australia. Fielding was the difference, as Pakistan effected three run-outs to England's none including the telling one that broke the 170-run fourth-wicket partnership between Trescothick and Shah.

Andrew Caddick and Michael Vaughan returned to the England side at the expense of Robert Croft and Alistair Brown, while Pakistan were forced to omit key bowlers Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar through injury and illness, with Saeed Anwar also replaced by Saleem Elahi.

England won the toss and bowled, hoping to take advantage of early swing and seam, although there was little of either. Shahid Afridi survived the odd extravagant swoosh and several play-and-misses, while Saleem Elahi applied himself concertedly with a couple of lovely on-drives. Pakistan were travelling safely if unconvincingly when after driving Darren Gough through mid on for four, Elahi played a dreadful shot, trying to pull a good length delivery that kept fractionally low from outside off.

Outside off was the key - the ball seamed in and struck him on the pad, but still outside the line. Umpire Neil Mallender gave the appeal the kind of inordinate deliberation that would have made Steve Bucknor proud before raising the deadly digit to leave Pakistan 1/28.

Yousuf Youhana was promoted to No. 3 in place of the ineffective Abdur Razzaq and it soon became apparent that there were communication difficulties between he and Afridi. Afridi played his natural game, which is to say he premidatedly selected the occasional ball to attempt to flay to the boundary in between sedate periods of defence against the new ball. Afridi evidently liked the way Andrew Symonds had played Mullally so when the left-armer relived Gough in the 12th over, Shahid leapt down the pitch and smacked him over long. The responsible Youhana disapproved, however, and seemed to take issue with some of Afridi's wilder strokes between balls.

Probably promoted to oversee the avoidance of early wickets like the ones lost against Australia, Youhana urged discretion while Afridi seemed to say "Why? I'm only playing the bowling on its merits."

Well, Afridi should have listened to his partner. On 30 and with the score at 59, Afridi tried to cut a short Caddick delivery, it seamed in, and the predictable edge went to slip. He immediately gave Youhana a reproachful glance before trudging off to sort it out with Waqar.

Inzamam-ul-Haq's dismissal in that same Caddick over was astonishing. Inzamam's first delivery was a spiteful no-ball that rose viciously off a length, striking him on the glove as he tried to evade it. Wary of the bounce, Inzamam completely lost sight of the next ball out of the hand, moving into line of off and ducking fearfully. The only problem was that it was not a bouncer but a low full toss, which ignominiously bowled him behind his legs for a golden duck, his second nought in succession. It deprived us of the chance to see him run with the hesitant Youhana, who should have been involved in at least one run-out that did not eventuate only due to a succession of England misses.

Perhaps wanting to protect his back, Caddick bowled his ten overs in succession, finishing with 2/37 -- ironically his most expensive over (11) also containing the two wickets. Younis Khan immediately began experiencing the same kind of running difficulties that Afridi had with Youhana.

Television commentator David Gower called Pakistan's running between the wickets "a matter of negotiation and re-negotiation", but it was Youhana who seemed to do all the dictating.

Recovering from that one over of Caddick madness, Youhana and Younis compiled a steady consolidating partnership of 80. Younis made an efficient 41 by working the ball around until he sliced a low catch to cover off Dominic Cork, the ball dipping in late and causing him to drive in the air. Never likely to reach a big total, Pakistan were assured of a competitive score thanks to Youhana's patient innings of 81 that laid the foundation for a solid score.

Rashid Latif helped turn up the intensity before he was bowled for 23 backing away to Mark Ealham, the partnership of 50 with the anchoring Youhana boosting the momentum of the innings. After Razzaq lofted Mullally to Gough at long on, Youhana finally departed when deceived by a Mullally slower ball, getting too much elevation under his hoist to mid wicket. Restricted by the fall of wickets, Pakistan stumbled in the final overs with 66 scored from the last ten but still managed to scramble a competitive 242/8.

Throughout the Pakistan innings England squandered numerous run out chances, as time and again throws missed the stumps. It took all of three overs for Shoaib Malik to show them how it was done. Racing in from cover to make an athletic pickup and underarm hit at the keeper's end, Malik ran out Nick Knight for 1 as the batsmen attempted a quick single. Two balls later, Youhana made what could have been the blunder that cost Pakistan the game. Trescothick, on five, attempted to pull Razzaq away but only got a top edge to third man, where Youhana spilt the catch trying to take it far too low.

That miss aside, Pakistan's new ball attack of Waqar Younis and Razzaq took control of the game. After taking 17 balls to score, Alec Stewart flicked Razzaq straight to point in one of those strange one-day dismissals that makes you wonder what the batsman was attempting, before an inspired Waqar struck by having Michael Vaughan caught at second slip trying to drive to leave England 26/3, well behind the run rate, and apparently sliding to defeat. But that did not take Marcus Trescothick into consideration.

For his first fifty runs, he barely was a consideration. Forced onto the defensive, England were 36/3 after fifteen overs and had improved little at 79/3 after 25. Although the loss of wickets had been stemmed, Trescothick and Owais Shah struggled to score above three per over against the penetrative bowling of Waqar and Razzaq. When Saqlain came on, all they could manage were a series of uninspiring premeditated reverse sweeps. Pakistan were defending the boundaries and apparently sentencing England to death by suffocation.

That all changed once Trescothick had carved out his fifty, which also coincided with the introduction of Shoaib Malik. Realising the run rate was in need of rectifying, Trescothick began to open up and find the boundaries against Mahmood and Malik. At first it was not pretty, with ugly premeditated sweeps and slogs, but it gradually got Pakistan on the defensive as England's innings finally picked up momentum.

The face-saving partnership England craved had arrived. Trescothick, after righting the ship, began sailing it towards victory. The assault on the off-spin of Malik was the key. For whatever reason he had the confidence to go after the young offie, belting him over mid wicket for consecutive sixes as his innings moved from patient to plundering, the exact opposite of the way a one-day opener's innings usually unfolds. Trescothick's first 50 runs took 77 deliveries, his second fifty just 27. As the ascendancy switched emphatically, England scored 85 runs between overs 25 and 35, an abnormally high number for that stage of the innings. But not much was normal about England's innings except, perhaps, its conclusion.

The fourth-wicket partnership of 170 would not have been possible without Owais Shah. Playing only his second game, Shah contributed a fine supporting hand of 62. As always, though, Pakistan only needed one wicket to become inspired and Shah was that wicket.

If England were not exactly cruising towards victory, they were as close as it gets before the result is a foregone conclusion. Fielding was the difference and the only way the wicket was going to arrive was via run out. Pakistan's fielding was not high quality by any stretch of the imagination but they hit the stumps when it mattered. At 196/3, with England requiring only 47 from 60 balls, it mattered.

Backing up so far at the non-striker's end in search of a non-existent run that he was reconciled to accuracy of the throw, Shah was fired by a direct hit from Younis Khan at point. Immediately, Pakistan knew they had an opening, as memories of England's collapse in the second Test at Old Trafford were undoubtedly revisited.

Waqar Younis, who left the field after 20 overs with what appeared to be a serious leg injury, returned to the bowling crease showing no ill affects and proceeded to dismiss Ben Hollioake first ball. Hollioake played the ball down into the crease and looked for the run instead of protecting his wicket, turning just in time to see the ball bounce back onto leg stump. At 197/5, Pakistan knew right there they could win.

Dominic Cork ran himself out in suicidal fashion, pushing back past the bowler and hopelessly trying to scramble a run to mid on. Youhana could hardly have missed from that range and did not disappoint, leaving England 6 down. The loss of wickets took precedence over run rate equations because the differential favoured England comfortably. For Pakistan to win they needed a succession of wickets, thus bringing the runs required-balls remaining differential into their favour.

Waqar bowled himself out, finishing with an outstanding 2/20 from 10 overs (including just four runs conceded from his first 6), leaving Razzaq and Shahid Afridi to take over with seven overs remaining. Afridi pinned Mark Ealham leg-before for a duck as he played for a leg-break to a ball that held its line and was drifting down leg, leaving England 7/205 as another batsman deserted Trescothick.

With the tail thus exposed the ascendancy shifted to Pakistan, as 34 were required from the last five overs. Gough went plumb lbw to a Razzaq straight one, playing across the line, with England needing 24 off 18, then 19 off 12, with only two wickets remaining. It stood at 15 from 9 when Trescothick finally got the strike from Andy Caddick and flicked Razzaq for a boundary to fine leg, with the fielder up in the circle. Caddick was able to flick two and give Trescothick the strike for the final over; England required 9 runs and Waqar had a huge decision to make: Persist with Afridi, whose 7 overs had cost 35, or risk bringing back Saqlain? He opted to recall his match-winning off-spinner, who proceeded to clinch another match, but not before some last-over drama.

With 6 off 5 needed for the home side, Trescothick swept and got a top edge to mid-wicket, where Malik and Afridi both converged on the ball and collided, somehow leaving an ecstatic Afridi standing with ball in hand. Malik had gone flying across Afridi, tripped, and went shoulder-first into the Lord's turf, leaving the field injured. The next ball was down the leg side and called wide, to the fury of the Pakistanis who clearly saw that it deflected off Mullally's glove. Umpire Palmer was accosted by four angry Pakistanis but the game continued and with three needed from the final ball, Caddick came down the pitch, missed, and was stumped.

Justice of a sort had prevailed, but not to Marcus Trescothick. His courageous 137, his first one-day international century, was wasted by the ineptitude of his team-mates. As familiar as Pakistan's ferocious comeback was England's collapse, which saw them lose 7/44 in 10 overs to lose by 2 runs. England's scorecard was a sorry sight. After Trescothick and Shah, third highest score was Caddick's with 10, if you don't count the extras tally of 16.

The loss was England's eighth consecutive defeat in one-day internationals and third in the NatWest series, which effectively ends their chances of contesting the final and makes the remaining preliminaries fairly insignificant.

For all the claims of inexperience, when a match is there to be won and all it requires is support for the established batsman, dedication and sensibility are needed. England could not produce it - again.