England down Pakistan in warm-up match
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: England did well to conquer Pakistan by six wickets in their warm-up match ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Brisbane on Monday.
Set to score 161, England rode on the batting heroics of Harry Brook (45*) ad Ben Stokes (36) to race to the target with 26 balls to spare.
Brook smacked four sixes and two fours in his 24-ball knock. Ben Stokes, who had missed Pakistan’s tour, smashed three sixes and two fours from just 18 balls.
Sam Curran in the end left an impression with the willow, scoring a quick-fire 14-ball 33 not out, featuring three sixes and two fours. Liam Livingstone, also coming from injury, chipped in with a solid 16-ball 28, hammering two sixes and one four.
Earlier, Phil Salt (1) and Alex Hales (9) got out early which put some pressure on England who recently won a seven-match series against Pakistan 4-3.
Mohammad Wasim Junior bowled well, picking 2-16 in 2.4 overs while Naseem Shah (1-31) and Shadab Khan (1-30) were the other main wicket-takers. Shaheen Afridi, who returned from injury, conceded just seven runs in two overs he bowled.
Mohammad Hasnain was the most expensive of Pakistan’s bowlers as he conceded 36 runs in just three overs.
Earlier, Shan Masood (39) and Mohammad Wasim Junior (26) did well with the bat to guide Pakistan to 160-8 in the allotted 20 overs.
Shan, who hit seven fours from 22 balls, added 49 runs for the opening stand with Haider Ali who struck a 16-ball 18 with three fours.
Wasim Junior, in the end, used long handle, hitting one six and three fours in his peroductive 16-ball 26.
Iftikhar Ahmed fell for an 18-ball 22, striking three fours. David Willey was the pick of the bowlers with 2-22 in two overs.
Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and Chris Jordan got one wicket each. Pakistan rested skipper Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Haris Rauf.