Cricket: Ealham's England advance

England 206 Pakistan 144 England win by 62 runs

WITH LITTLE more than injured pride to play for England ended a run of three straight losses by beating Pakistan - a rare victory - but such is their wont when there is little riding on the result. Even in an age where one-day cricket has become mundane currency, there have been few more worthless games than the one played yesterday.

Entirely outplayed when it mattered, England can nevertheless return home safe in the knowledge that they did not equal their worst losing streak, a run of eight consecutive losses recorded over eight months in 1989-90.

That particular sequence spanned three continents, which may give some idea to how one-day internationals used to be rationed back then. Over the same period since August, England have played 18. Mind you, the other two sides in this competition, India and Pakistan, have probably played each other more times than that in the past few months and the remaining two matches here, including Friday's final, will see two more added to the list.

Chasing 208 off 48 overs (two overs were docked by the match referee for bowling their quota too slowly), Pakistan never got themselves in the hunt and the shortfall of 62 runs was, for a low-scoring game, a whopping margin. They did not look too bothered about that and, apart from Salim Malik who ended unbeaten on 47, most of the top order did not tailor their shot selections to suit the conditions.

While Salim was still there, Alec Stewart's team could not be complacent. He once won a game against Pakistan in the semi-finals of the Nehru Cup almost single-handedly, which Angus Fraser in particular still has cause to remember. Yesterday Fraser, off a new shortened run, was as mean as ever and his 10 overs gave him the fine figures of 3 for 32.

Fraser was not the only one to strike and just as a partnership between Salim and Moin Khan seemed to be developing potential, Moin was bowled by Andrew Flintoff. Not to be outdone, Mark Ealham, who until this game had been fairly anonymous, weighed in with three wickets in six balls. Providing he plays in England's opening World Cup match against Sri Lanka - the contract row has still has to be cleared up - Ealham will be on a hat-trick.

As his captain suggested after the match: "It will be nice for him to get some of the headlines for a change."

For once Stewart won the toss, which gave his batsmen first use of a pitch now hosting its third game in six days. The advantage of batting first on a slowing pitch did not help Stewart himself though and again he departed cheaply, Ijaz Ahmed clinging on to a catch at backward point as he drove at Shoaib Akhtar. In the four games here Stewart has scored 42 runs and, coupled with some odd tactical decisions, has not had a good tournament.

Stewart readily acknowledged the problem. "The start of our innings has been a problem to us because we've generally gone two or three down inside the first 15 overs," he said. "It goes back to the starts I've been getting and that needs working out.

"From there we usually have to rebuild and I will be sitting down with David Lloyd and Adam Hollioake when I get back to discuss which matches I'll be playing for Surrey, but I would expect to play in at least one Championship match and one National League game."

His Surrey team-mate ,Graham Thorpe, has had no such difficulty. He was again the mainstay of the batting with a 62 off 80 balls. In contrast to his skipper, Thorpe has scored 179 runs over the four matches with no visible ill-effects to his back. In a rare departure from their usual trend the tail stayed with him, and the 63-run partnership he made with Ealham for the seventh wicket was vital.

There is still much room for improvement, however, and one can tell a jittery team by the number of run-out opportunities it presents. Although only one resulted in a wicket here, the hesitation between players who by and large know each other's foibles was alarming.

Before the issue of contracts became over-riding, the main aim of this trip was to bond. Unless this win dramatically improves the mood in the camp, David Lloyd had better apply the superglue fast.

SHARJAH SCOREBOARD

England won toss

ENGLAND

N V Knight c Wasim b Shoaib 26

45 min, 35 balls, 3 fours

*A J Stewart c Ijaz b Shoaib 11

54 min, 33 balls

V J Wells run out (Ijaz) 3

38 min, 20 balls

G A Hick b Azhar 24

53 min, 33 balls, 1 four

G P Thorpe b Shoaib 62

119 min, 80 balls, 3 fours

A Flintoff b Azhar 0

2 min, 2 balls

N H Fairbrother c Wajahatullah b Arshad 25

45 min, 38 balls, 1 four

M A Ealham b Shoaib 36

60 min, 47 balls, 2 fours

I D Austin run out (Salim-Moin) 1

2 min, 1 ball

D Gough c Afridi b Saqlain 5

12 min, 8 balls

A R C Fraser not out 0

1 min, 0 balls

Extras (lb6 w5 nb2) 13

Total (220 min, 49.1 overs) 206

Fall: 1-42 (Knight) 2-43 (Stewart) 3-60 (Wells) 4-86 (Hick) 5-86 (Flintoff) 6-129 (Fairbrother) 7-192 (Thorpe) 8-193 (Austin) 9-206 (Ealham) 10-206 (Gough).

Bowling: Wasim Akram 7-0-25-0 (nb2,w2) (one spell); Shoaib Akhtar 10- 1-37-4 (w2) (6-1-20-2, 4-0-17-2); Saqlain Mushtaq 9.1-0-41-1 (w1) (5-0- 24-0, 4.1-0-17-1); Azhar Mahmood 10-1-37-2; Arshad Khan 9-0-40-1; Shahid Afridi 4-0-20-0 (one spell).

15 overs score: 51-2.

Thorpe's 50: 96 min, 63 balls, 2 fours.

PAKISTAN

Wajahatullah Wasti c Thorpe b Fraser 31

76 min, 53 balls, 4 fours

Shahid Afridi c Wells b Gough 3

16 min, 10 balls

Ijaz Ahmed c Knight b Fraser 16

16 min, 13 balls, 3 fours

Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw b Fraser 5

21 min, 14 balls

Salim Malik not out 47

117 min, 77 balls, 1 four, 1 six

Azhar Mahmood c Wells b Ealham 13

24 min, 21 balls, 2 fours

Moin Khan b Flintoff 23

52 min, 37 balls, 1 four, 1 six

*Wasim Akram lbw b Ealham 2

6 min, 8 balls

Saqlain Mushtaq b Ealham 0

6 min, 7 balls

Arshad Khan lbw b Ealham 0

1 min, 1 ball

Shoaib Akhtar c Wells b Flintoff 0

2 min, 2 balls

Extras (lb1 w2 nb1) 4

Total (173 mins, 40.2 overs) 144

Fall: 1-12 (Shahid Afridi) 2-34 (Ijaz Ahmed) 3-55 (Inzamam-ul-Haq) 4- 72 (Wajahatullah Wasti) 5-91 (Azhar Mahmood) 6-138 (Moin Khan) 7-141 (Wasim Akram) 8-143 (Saqlain Mushtaq) 9-143 (Arshad Khan) 10-144 (Shoaib Akhtar).

Bowling: Gough 8-1-39-1 (nb1 w1) (6-0-32-1, 2-1-7-0); Fraser 10-2-32- 3, Austin 8-0-29-0, Ealham 10-0-30-4, Wells 2-0-18-0, Flintoff 2.2-0-3- 2 (one spell).

15 overs score: 66-3.

Result: England won by 62 runs.

Umpires: K T Francis and I D Robinson.

TV Replay Umpire: D B Hair.

Match Referee: S Wettimuny.

Compiled by Jo King