I'll do things a bit differently and start with the county stuff, seeing as England and Pakistan appear to be simply going through the motions with other things on their minds right now. First of all, the lineup for the Lord's finale has been confirmed as Somerset versus Warwickshire. Somerset put up masses of runs against Essex at Taunton, which despite the rapid run rate the visitors managed was never going to be achieved with wickets in hand. Warwickshire were away at Yorkshire and managed to restrict them to a chaseable target which they got to after adjustments made owing to the various rain interruptions. The final should be a good game, particularly if the Bears have their England men (Trott and Bell) available. Somerset should win if they keep to the principles which have served them so well in one-day cricket this year.
The Championship is now into its final round of games (apologies for this post not going up beforehand, my computer has been virus-riddled). I'll keep those for next week but a grand finale has been set up after the top 4 in Division 1 all played each other last week and ended up with the tightest possible scenario. It really has been Notts' to lose but lose it they might well do after Yorkshire bowled them out for 59 on Day 1 and never really looked back as they eventually got home by 5 wickets. Skipper Andrew Gale stood out with 151* in the 1st innings. He really has excelled in gelling a young team together in his first season at Headingley. Ajmal Shahzad starred with the ball - he will have some role to play in the Ashes I would hope. Lancashire were taken out of contention for the title after Somerset beat them by 9 wickets at Taunton. Craig Kieswetter's 84 and 52* from Murali Kartik down at number 10 gave us enough runs to play with and the bowlers all contributed to secure the win. So, we go into the last week with Notts top, with Somerset just two points behind and Yorkshire a further 5 behind. With some dodgy weather around, it could all come down to bonus points. Congratulations to Sussex, who made one of my pre-season predictions come true with an innings victory over Northants taking them back to the First Division at the first time of asking.
Now to the internationals:
2nd T20 (Cardiff) - England 90-4 (14 overs) (Saeed Ajmal 3-0-13-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-15-1, Shoaib Akhtar 4-1-18-1) beat Pakistan 89 (18.4 overs) (Bresnan 3.4-0-10-3, Broad 4-0-18-2, Yardy 4-0-10-0) by 6 wickets with 36 balls remaining. You really have to go some to get bowled out in T20. England simply had to put the ball in the right areas and Pakistan conspired to their own downfall. It was pretty dull viewing in all honesty. Umar Akmal was fun briefly as he launched into Graeme Swann, but this spinner is far too canny and as Akmal tried to hit his third six, Swann tossed it up more and bowled him. I love the attitude of a spinner who can say "Well done, good shot. Now try and do it again." It's an attitude I use in my own game and does invariably bring success, although generally at a cost! Tim Bresnan was man of the match and deservedly so, using the short ball frequently along with Stuart Broad. The batsmen simply could not deal with this onslaught but nor could they deal with the darting spinners of Michael Yardy. If you can play neither pace nor spin, you're going to struggle to post a total! England never broke sweat in their run chase - the Pakistan bowling figures look good but when chasing 90, a few economical overs aren't going to bother anybody!
1st ODI (Chester-le-Street) - England 274-6 (41 overs) (Davies 87 off 67, Trott 69 off 78, Saeed Ajmal 9-0-58-4) beat Pakistan 250-9 (41 overs) (Kamran Akmal 53 off 61) by 24 runs. Plenty of positives for England to take here as they won comfortably against a side who for once were not abject. Steve Davies looks a player. Some of his strokeplay off his hips and driving off the back foot was stunning, although he never looked to overhit the ball. In the T20s, he got out playing his favourite shots, but here in the longer form he was able to score freely but build an innings within himself without having to force the issue. His keeping looks tidy and he looks like the man for the World Cup. I liked Trott's innings in contrast, he never looked to hit boundaries and simply accumulated at a healthy rate. Fireworks were provided late on by the returning Ravi Bopara who has simplified his approach to cricket and looks a lot more mentally sharp as a result. He hit three big sixes in 35* off 27. Only Shoaib Akhtar was able to keep the runs down (8-1-28-0) and proved that he can still be effective even if his pace and fitness is in decline. Pakistan never looked like getting 275 to win but were still spirited with the bat. James Anderson was excellent on his return to the limited overs team (9-0-35-2).
2nd ODI (Headingley) - England 295-6 (49.3 overs) (Strauss 126 off 134, Trott 53 off 71) beat Pakistan 294-8 (50 overs) (Kamran Akmal 74 off 72, Asad Shafiq 50 off 58, Broad 10-0-81-4). Comfortably the game of the summer. Blazing sunshine, a capacity crowd and a great atmosphere put to one side the troubles this series has had. Add in a batsman's paradise of a wicket and you have success! England, Anderson and Swann aside, did not bowl well at all early on, the short ball being used far too often - it is becoming predictable and you can guarantee the Pakistan batsmen will have been working on it. Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez (43 off 61) played contrasting innings at the top, with Akmal looking to be the aggressor as Hafeez rotated strike. This is the most efffective way to open up, as you cannot have two guys blasting away for long periods realistically! Mohammad Yousuf (46 off 48) also looked great and proved he still has an appetite for international cricket. Broad came back well to pick up late wickets and will always be expensive if he is asked to bowl in the batting powerplay and Tim Bresnan is shaping up to be a useful death bowler with his pace variations and yorkers. Chasing 295 is never easy but skipper Strauss put up his hand and made the necessary innings to win the game. Pakistan did bowl to his strength wide outside off and were cut away mercilessly - the 7ft Mohammad Irfan looks anything but an international class bowler just now. Strauss found an ally in Trott who just did what he does best yet again! When those two got out there was a bit of a scramble across the line, but local boy Bresnan got them there.
Kamran Akmal is my Victoria Sponge LAD of the week, for putting behind him his role in the spot-fixing scandal (he's innocent), his clangers behind the stumps and an awful run of batting form to produce two lovely fifties filled with the glorious shots we always knew he was capable of
RM
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