Morgan, Pietersen lift England past Twenty20 champions

by Josh Charles

CRICKET: DUBAI, Feb 20, 2010: Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen put on a record fourth wicket century partnership as England beat World Twenty20 champions Pakistan by seven wickets here Friday in the first of their two-match Twenty20 series.

At Dubai Sports City, England were in trouble at 18-3 chasing Pakistan's modest total of 129-8, but Morgan (67 in 51 balls) and Pietersen (43 in 43 balls) put together an unbroken stand of 112 as England reached 130-3 in 18.3 overs.

It was Pakistan's first Twenty20 loss at the Dubai Sports City stadium where they had already beaten Australia and New Zealand in three wins.

A delighted England skipper Paul Collingwood said: "We had them under pressure and never really let them off the hook. When we came into bat they had the measure of us initially but hats off to KP and Morgan."

Pakistan captain ShoaibMalik said: "We were at least 20-25 runs short. The wicket was slow. We were expecting a bit of bounce. But the England bowlers bowled very well under the circumstances.

"With Shahid (Afridi) back in the team, I am hopeful that we will bounce back tomorrow."

Regular Pakistan Twenty20 captain Afridi, who was serving a two-match suspension for tampering the ball, returns to the team as a player.

Malik will continue to lead the side in the second and final match of the series on Saturday.

Malik won the toss and elected to bat first, but Pakistan never got going as they lost wickets at regular interval.

Imran Nazir fell in the very first over from Stuart Broad, the fourth of the innings when he top-edged a simple catch to Joe Denly. Imran Farhat hit two lovely boundaries off Tim Bresnan, then survived a mix-up and was eventually run out the very next ball for 14 thanks to some smart fielding from Pietersen.

The bowling changes worked for Collingwood every time. After Broad removed Nazir, Luke Wright struck in his first over, inducing an edge from Khalid Latif to wicketkeeper Matt Prior. Then Graeme Swann came in and was rewarded with the wicket of the dangerous Umar Akmal, who was caught brilliantly by Broad.

At the halfway stage of their innings, Pakistan were just 48-4.

Malik top-scored for his team with 33, but just when he seemed to be settling in with two successive boundaries off Wright, he lobbed a simple catch to his counterpart at midwicket off Swann.

In reply, England were 18-3 in just the fourth over after losing Denly, Jonathan Trott and Collingwood. But Pietersen and the impressive Morgan saw their team through with some sensible batting.

Morgan was 13 not out after 25 balls, but then powered ahead and made 54 runs in the next 26 balls.

PAKISTAN

I. Nazir c Denly b Broad 		 2
I. Farhat run out	        	14 
K. Latif c Prior b Wright	 	 4
U. Akmal c Broad b Swann		13
S. Malik c C’wood b Swann		33
F. Alam c Prior b Broad			23
A. Razzaq c Broad b B’nan		22
S. Ahmed Ahmed c Broad b Bresnan	 5
Y. Arafat not out 			 9
U. Gul not out 				 1
Extras (lb1, w1, nb1)            	 3
Total (for eight wickets)		129

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Nazir), 2-20 (Farhat), 3-26 (Latif), 4-39 (Akmal), 
5-86 (Malik), 6-106 (Alam), 7-115 (Ahmed), 8-119 (Razzaq). 

Bowling: Sidebottom 4-0-21-0, 
	 Bresnan 4-0-30-2, 
	 Broad 4-0-23-2 (w1), 
	 Wright 4-0-27-1 (nb1), 
	 Swann 3-0-18-2, 
	 Collingwood 1-0-9-0.  

ENGLAND
J. Trott b Razzaq  			 4
J. Denly c Farhat b Arafat		 1
K. Pietersen not out			43
P. Collingwood run out 	      		 0
E. Morgan not out			67
Extras (lb5, nb1, w9)         	 	15
Total (for three wickets; 18.3 overs)  130

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Denly), 2-10 (Trott), 3-18 (Collingwood)
 
Bowling: Razzaq 4-0-24-1, 
	 Arafat 4-0-18-1 (w3), 
	 Malik 3-0-28-1 (w3), 
	 Ajmal 4-0-18-0 (w1), 
	 Gul 3.3-0-36-0 (w2)