England storm back against shoddy Pakistan

England saved face – and their place in the competition – with a very professional 48-run win over a weirdly lacklustre Pakistan at the Oval.

Put in to bat by Younus Khan, England made three changes to the side who had lost to the Neterhlands on Friday: Kevin Pietersen, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Graeme Swann returned to the side in place of Rob Key, Eoin Morgan and Ryan Sidebottom.

England were on the money from off, racking up 185/5 off their 20 overs; Pakistan managed just 137/7, at no stage seeking to increase their run rate against a disciplined English bowling performance.

Man of the match Luke Wright (34 off 16) again got England off to a great start, with Kevin Pietersen’s 58 off 38 anchoring the innings, along with Owais Shah’s 33 off 32.

Only off-spinner Saeed Ajmal (2/23) applied the brakes, foxing England with his doosra and picking up the wickets of Collingwood and Pietersen in the same over. Earlier, Umar Gul (2/37) had clean bowled Wright and Shah with perfect yorkers

England looked purposeful – they managed six sixes tonight and their running between the wickets showed far greater intent than it had on Friday. But they were aided by a supremely slack Pakistan fielding performance that saw at least five catches go down – KP survived two sharp caught-and-bowled chances – as well as a series of costly misfields; Umar Gul let a regulation stop on the boundary go through his legs for four; off-spinner Shoaib Malik even bowled two no-balls in one over, with Kevin Pietersen hitting a six from one of the extra balls.

England’s fielding, by contrast, was uniformly excellent – one embarrassing late lapse from Ravi Bopara aside – a fact helped by using ace sub fielder Morgan instead of Owais Shah, a canny move that recalled some of Duncan Fletcher’s tactics from the 2005 Ashes. Opener Salman Butt’s favoured scoring shots were closed down by canny, packed off-side field placements; he hit 28 off 23, and after the Powerplay Pakistan had just 41/3 – compared to England’s 63/2, a gap that was never to be narrowed.

Adil Rashid looked a different bowler: bowling full and straight and not looking to spin the ball so much, he offered the batsmen little width and got through his four-over spell conceding just 24 runs. Stuart Broad (3/17) also bounced back well from Friday’s disappointment.

But positively as England played – they are now certain to qualify for the Super 8s – Pakistan fans will have been deeply disappointed with their own side’s showing. The sight of Shahid Afridi playing forward-defensive shots in a T20 will have mystified many and while skipper Younis Khan managed 46 off 31, he never looked to attack the bowling or even to dominate the strike when well set.

Misbah-ul-Haq, the batting star of the last ICC World T20, came in at No 7 when the game was already lost. In all, it was a pale and feeble showing from Pakistan who had the best T20 record of any international side at the start of this tournament.

Afterwards, Younus blamed his side’s abject fielding for their defeat. “I would never had thought we would end up chasing 185. Our fielding was bad and we easily gave away 20-25 runs. This is a matter of concern for us. I have no idea why our fielders are unable to field properly. Maybe they are under certain pressure. It is not as if we are not working hard but we are not just getting it right for reasons unknown to me.”