CRICKET/One-day international: All it takes is BBC television to show an interest in English cricket again and the wheels come off. Just one late night for Andrew Flintoff and the team, in order to accept BBC bouquets in the Sports Personality of the Year programme, and a trouncing from Pakistan in the second one-day international predictably follows.
Whatever the reason for the seven-wicket defeat, the former England opener Geoffrey Boycott was not impressed by the cricketers' appearance on the show. "It's not right. If you've got a proper match, you shouldn't be up at 2.30 in the morning disrupting your sleep. The two guys that got eight hours' sleep batted well and got runs," he said.
"The players will put their hands up and say it didn't affect them but how can they know that?"
England, lest it be misconstrued, were not making excuses. Marcus Trescothick, England's captain, said: "Of course it was not ideal preparation but we are professional enough to understand the situation. It is not the be-all-and-end-all as to why we lost."
Duncan Fletcher, the coach, echoed: "I don't believe the late night had anything to do with it."
England, in any event, were routed by Shoaib Akhtar. "I had no idea about their late night," he said, "but it seemed they were struggling a bit."
Trescothick and Fletcher put defeat down to a slightly two-paced pitch and a failure to recognise, after scoring 327 on a benign surface on the same square two days earlier, that 270 might be a more realistic aim this time.
That critique must surely have been aimed at Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff. Pietersen's 27 from 28 balls was so piratical he should have batted with a patch over his right eye. It ended with a cutlass-slash across the line at Naved-ul-Hasan and the loss of his off-stump.
Flintoff fell to Naved for nought, pulling his fourth ball to short midwicket. If it proves to one talented young cricketer that even the likes of Freddie can rarely work miracles on four hours' sleep, then it might not have been a duck in vain.
Irrespective of all this, it was a day when Shoaib, roused by a pitch of surprising carry and a semblance of swing, bowled wonderfully. He took five for 54 with a mix of fierce bouncers and mystifying slower balls that have unhinged England throughout the tour.
Against the new ball Trescothick was bewildered by a slower off-cutter, which hit his off-stump, and Andrew Strauss was nearly poleaxed by a bouncer that he could only fend down the legside to the wicketkeeper.
Shoaib was just as potent with the old ball. Geraint Jones fell to another vicious lifter, which he fended to first slip in a desperate attempt to withdraw; Ian Blackwell's flaky resistance, 10 from six balls, including a tennis forehand back over Shoaib's head, ended with an uprooted off-stump.
Throughout it all, England delayed fielding an extra batsman - their super sub, Vikram Solanki - in the hope that disaster might be averted. At 130 for eight, their hand was forced, Solanki walked out at number 10 and James Anderson, a pace bowler, was jettisoned before he had made a contribution.
Solanki and Liam Plunkett then shared a record England ninth-wicket stand in one-day internationals of 100 in 18 overs, to give England a whisker of a chance. Plunkett survived some initial thick edges but then batted confidently against the spinners, using his feet nimbly to hoist Shoaib Malik over long-on for six and making 56 from 80 balls before he was out in the penultimate over, carting Shoaib's slower ball skywards.
Pakistan's chase soon became a non-event, although notable for Kamran Akmal's second one-day hundred, a crisply struck 102 from 111 balls ending when he pulled Steve Harmison to midwicket. England's fielding was mediocre and Plunkett's star waned as he conceded 63 from seven overs. Pietersen, struggling with an old rib injury which will need a cortisone injection today, eventually left the field, pleading back spasms, and may not be fit for the third ODI in Karachi on Thursday.
A mixture of devilish leg-spin bowling by Anil Kumble and sublime stroke-making by Irfan Pathan put India in a dominant position at the end of the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Delhi.
The tourists could not cope with the trickery of Kumble, who completed a six-wicket haul, as they added just 32 to their overnight total before being bowled out for 230 in their first innings.
Starting their second innings 60 runs ahead, Pathan - with an inspired career-best knock of 93 - helped guide the hosts to 237 for five by stumps, giving them a lead of 297 going into the fourth day.
Pathan, opening the batting for the first time in Test cricket, brushed aside the cheap dismissals of fellow opener Gautam Gambhir (three), VVS Laxman (11) and Sachin Tendulkar (16) to power 10 fours and two sixes in his 143-ball, 205-minute innings.
He found a dogged ally in captain Rahul Dravid, who helped put on a fourth-wicket partnership of 92, before Pathan pushed at a wide Dilhara Fernando delivery and was snapped up by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara with the score at 178 for four.
Dravid passed his half-century but was then run out by Mahela Jayawardene for 53, leaving Sourav Ganguly (22) and Yuvraj Singh (28) to occupy the crease until the close of play.
Chaminda Vaas claimed his 300th Test wicket - only the second Sri Lankan to do so - with the dismissal of Gambhir on his way to two for 58 off 17 overs.
ENGLAND INNINGS
M Trescothick b S Akhtar ... 16
M Prior b A Razzaq 32
A Strauss c K Akmal b S Akhtar 0
K Pietersen b Naved-ul-Hasan 28
A Flintoff c Sub b Naved-ul-Hasan 0
P Collingwood c & b D Kaneria 23
G Jones c Y Khan b S Akhta 7
I Blackwell b S Akhtar 10
L Plunkett c & b S Akhtar 56
V Solanki not out 39
S Harmison run out 0
Extras (b5, lb5, w3, nb6, pens 0) 19
Total (48.4 overs) 230
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-30, 3-74, 4-74, 5-89, 6-103, 7-120, 8-130, 9-230.
Bowling: S Akhtar 8.4-1-54-5; Naved-ul-Hasan 8-0-42-2; M Sami 10-1-33-0; A Razzaq 8-0-25-1; D Kaneria 6-0-24-1; S Malik 5-0-26-0; A Khan 3-0-16-0 (Solanki replaced Anderson after 30.1 overs; Arshad Khan replaced Kaneria after 39.3 overs)
PAKISTAN INNINGS
S Butt b Flintoff 43
K Akmal c Solanki b Harmison 102
Y Khan b Collingwood 15
M Yousuf not out 28
I ul-Haq not out 31
Extras (lb4, w5, nb3, pens 0) 12
Total 3 wkts (44 overs) 231
Fall of wickets: 1-86, 2-113, 3-187.
Did not bat: S Malik, A Razzaq, N-ul-Hasan, S Akhtar, M Sami, A Khan.
Bowling: Flintoff 8-1-30-1; Harmison 10-0-52-1; Plunkett 7-0-63-0; Blackwell 7-0-28-0; Collingwood 9-0-43-1; Solanki 3-0-11-0
Pakistan won by 7 wkts
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