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Plunkett stars in England win over Pakistan
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December 10, 2005 21:27 IST

Liam Plunkett took three wickets as England [Images] scored their first major victory of the Pakistan tour with a 42-run win in the opening one-day international on Saturday.

After Andrew Strauss [Images] (94), Andrew Flintoff [Images] (72 not out) and Kevin Pietersen [Images] (56) had helped post a total of 327 for four, Plunkett, making his one-day debut, and Flintoff shared six wickets to bowl out Pakistan for 285.

Pakistan lost their last six wickets in just 18 balls for 23 runs.

Plunkett's first victim was Mohammad Yousuf [Images], caught by Vikram Solanki in the deep for 59. He also had Shoaib Malik [Images] (50) and Razzaq (13) caught behind by Geraint Jones in quick succession.

Flintoff wiped up the tail with two wickets off successive balls after conceding 41 in his first four overs.

Salman Butt [Images] and Younis Khan also contributed half centuries for Pakistan but their run-chase was derailed when in-form captain Inzamam-ul-Haq [Images] was caught behind by Jones off Paul Collingwood [Images] for 13 in the 28th over.

After Inzamam's dismissal on 179, only two boundaries were scored between the 25th and 42nd overs.

"I think our batsmen made a valiant effort to chase the total. Although it was a very good batting pitch but still 328 is a big ask under any conditions," said Inzamam, who scored 431 runs in the 2-0 test series win.

"I thought we didn't put the ball in the right places in the final five overs and gifted away 30 to 40 extra runs. We made it difficult for ourselves."

Pakistan started strongly with Butt, who scored 67 from 65 balls. Younis made 60 from 56 balls in a stand of 117 for the second wicket after James Anderson had bowled Kamran Akmal in the second over.

Butt was caught at wide mid-off by Flintoff off Harmison. Younis was third man out when he played a loose shot to Collingwood at gully off Flintoff.

Earlier, Strauss returned to form with his commanding innings to help England to their highest one-day total in Pakistan.

"It was very important for us to win today to get some momentum back into this tour because there is no substitute for victory," Strauss said.

"Things haven't exactly gone according to plan it was a test of character for us."

Pietersen scored his fifth half century from just 35 balls and Flintoff made Pakistan pay for dropping him on 31 by finishing unbeaten on 72, with five fours and three sixes.

He put on 90 in 66 balls with Paul Collingwood (34 not out) in the last 11 overs.

Scorecard

England:
M. Trescothick c Kaneria b Naved-ul-Hasan 13
 M. Prior lbw b Sami 45
 A. Strauss c Butt b Kaneria 94
 K. Pietersen st Akmal b Malik 56
 A. Flintoff not out 72
 P. Collingwood not out 34
 Extras: (lb-3, nb-5, w-5) 13
 Total: (for 4 wickets, 50 overs) 327

Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-94, 3-185, 4-237

Did not bat: G. Jones, I. Blackwell, S. Harmison, V. Solanki, J. Anderson

Bowling: S. Akhtar 10 - 0 - 60 - 0 (nb-4 w-3),  Naved-ul-Hasan 9 - 0 - 75 - 1, M. Sami 7 - 0 - 35 - 1, A. Razzaq 6 - 0 - 33 - 0, D. Kaneria 9 - 0 - 62 - 1 (nb-1), S. Malik 9 - 0 - 59 - 1 (w-2).

Pakistan:
 S. Butt c Flintoff b Harmison 67
 K. Akmal b Anderson 5
 Y. Khan c Collingwood b Flintoff 60
 M. Yousuf c Solanki b Plunkett 59
 Inzamam-ul-Haq c G. Jones b Collingwood 13
 S. Malik c G. Jones b Plunkett 50
 A. Razzaq c G. Jones b Plunkett 13
 S. Akhtar run out 3
 Naved-ul-Hasan not out 2
 M. Sami c Trescothick b Flintoff 1
 D. Kaneria b Flintoff 0.
 Extras: (lb-5 nb-2 w-5) 12
 Total: (all out, 46.5 overs) 285

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-132, 3-160, 4-179, 5-262, 6-279, 7-282, 8-282, 9-285, 10-285.

Bowling: S. Harmison 8 - 0 - 58 - 1 (w-2), J. Anderson 7 - 0 - 33 - 1 (w-2), A. Flintoff 8.5 - 0 - 73 - 3 (nb-2 w-1), L. Plunkett 9 - 0 - 51 - 3, I. Blackwell 10 - 0 - 45 - 0, P. Collingwood 4 - 0 - 20 - 1 

 Result: England won by 42 runs




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