Eoin Morgan led England to an impressive win over Pakistan at Old Trafford
Here is the report ...
Related: Eoin Morgan and England chase down Pakistan's total of 196 to set T20 record
Time for a quick review of the BBC coverage. It was sparky, inclusive, full of good humour. Anderson, as our correspondents have noted, was illuminating about his craft. Phil Tufnell wasn’t, but we knew to expect that from TMS: he’s all about being Phil Tufnell, rather than actually saying anything.
Isa Guha was excellent as a frontperson, not quite so good as a commentator, when she forgot the first rule of questions in journalism – keep them short and open. Vaughan was Vaughan, as analytical as Nasser Hussain but not as concise. Shan Masood was wryly likeable. Andy Zaltzman, the stand-up comic who doubles as the TMS scorer, was the wittiest of the lot. All told, I did miss the sound of silence, but then Richie Benaud isn’t with us any more. And this is a more frantic form of the game than he ever found himself covering.
So the BBC get something that didn’t come along too often in the Nineties: an England win. It was achieved at more than ten runs an over, with an aplomb that would have been quite unthinkable in those days. And without eight of last year’s World Cup winners – Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.
“In my time,” says Michael Vaughan, “ we were struggling to find five or six white-ball players. Now we’ve got 25 or 30.” That’s an exaggeration, but not an outrageous one.
“I’m a newbie,” says John Dench, “but what’s the relevance of wickets to margin of victory in T20? Surely overs/runs remaining is the measure in this game when the second to bat wins.” Fair point, though wickets do count too, and they are still the official yardstick, even if they shouldn’t be. Let’s say England won by five wickets and with five balls to spare.
The man-love is flowing, and not just for Morgan and Malan. “Jimmy really is superb as a commentator,” says Guy Hornsby. “Is there anything he’s not good at? I wonder what the odds are on Jimmy and Stuart commentating on 150 Tests together after they’ve both hung up their spikes? They seem to be made for bowling analysis, such is their love of it.” The commentary box is in danger of going like the England white-ball teams, with too much talent to fit into one line-up. Mark Butcher, who is fearlessly forthright, can’t even get a game.
“Further to my comments about the BBC showing live cricket for the first time in 21 years,” said Nigel Phillips a few minutes ago, “it strikes me this game might be over by 6pm.” And so it came to pass. “I remember they used to last five days. What the hell is happening? Covid nonsense.”
Malan has the strike at the start of the 20th over and he calmly strokes Shaheen through the covers to get England over the line. That is a superb run-chase, though it could have been very different.
If Morgan had been given lbw when he was on 0, we would probably be congratulating Pakistan on a fine victory. As it is, Morgan and Malan got the job done with a spectacular partnership of 112 off 10.2 overs – half ice-cold strokeplay, half canny calculation.
Billings! He flicks for four, over his left shoulder, then stands and delivers with a thwack down the ground for four more. The commentators are just calling him The Finisher when, with the scores level, he slaps Rauf to cover.
Mid-19th over: England 187-4 (Malan 50, Billings 2) Malan cover-drives Rauf for a comfy single. Billings digs out a yorker, a 90mph toe-ball, and that’s another single. Malan makes room to squeeze yet another single and reach 50 off 35 balls. His T20 international record is extraordinary.
18th over: England 184-4 (Malan 48, Billings 1) Billings hits a shot along the ground, which is more than poor old Moeen managed, and Malan takes a single off the last ball to keep the strike. England need 12 from 12.
After almost getting caught first ball, Moeen manages it off his second, chipping lamely to midwicket. Are England choking?
17th over: England 178-3 (Malan 44, Moeen 0) Needing only 23 off 24 balls, England saw no reason to stop helping themselves from the buffet. Malan pulled the first ball of the over from Haris Rauf for four, but then Morgan perished, and Moeen is in no sort of form – it would surely have made more sense to send out Sam Billings. Well done Haris Rauf. Now England need 18 at a run a ball.
They’ve got him! For once, Morgan doesn’t fully get hold of his swing to leg, and it’s a simple catch for the sub fielder at deep square. Is it too late, or can Pakistan turn this round?
16th over: England 173-2 (Malan 39, Morgan 66) Malan has been playing a shrewd second fiddle to Morgan, but now he cuts Imad for four and cover-drives him for four more. This partnership is 107 from 9.3 overs. Somewhere in the skies, the old BBC commentators wonder what on earth is going off out there.
15th over: England 162-2 (Malan 29, Morgan 65) Mohammad Amir emerges from the dressing-room, but only to be given his marching orders by Babar – he’s clearly unfit. Another left-arm quick, Shaheen, comes back on, and aftre a rather harsh call of wide, Morgan clips a low full toss for six to reach a fabulous fifty. He almost blows it next ball, bottom-edging into the crease, setting off for a single, thinking better of it and only escaping because Shaheen’s kick goes wide of the stumps. That was untypically uncool from Morgan, but he gathers himself, swings for four, chips for four, and finally nicks for four more. That’s 20 off the over. Morgan has 65 off 31 balls, and Pakistan simply have to get rid of him.
14th over: England 142-2 (Malan 28, Morgan 47) Shadab returns from his ponderings and he too goes for six as Malan plays a slog sweep. England need 54 off the last six overs. These two batsmen have put them right on top, but there’s still time for it all to go wrong.
13th over: England 130-2 (Malan 19, Morgan 45) Babar keeps Haris Rauf on and Morgan swings his first ball away square for another six. Shaheen Shah Afridi fetches the ball from the stand, rather forlornly. The last ball is a full toss and Morgan thwacks it over mid-off for four, to go to 45 off 24 balls. England have hit 31 off two overs: controlled carnage.
12th over: England 117-2 (Malan 17, Morgan 34) Iftikhar continues and Morgan immediately plays a phenomenal shot, going inside-out, with fast hands, and getting six over extra-cover. That deserved ten. Malan joins the fun by rocking back and cutting for four, and then Morgan follows suit. That’s 18 off the over, and this partnership is already worth 51, off 33 balls.
11th over: England 99-2 (Malan 10, Morgan 23) Off goes Shadab, to ponder the fickleness of fate, and on comes Haris Rauf, who is, of all the bizarre things, a right-arm seamer. He dishes up some yorkers and Morgan manages to dig them out, but the over goes for only five, which is not enough for England.
10th over: England 94-2 (Malan 8, Morgan 20) A few singles and a two off Iftikhar, who looks harmless but isn’t easy to hit. At the halfway stage, England need 102, which is feasible if Morgan stays there for at least five more overs. Mohammad Rizwan, who is a fabulous wicketkeeper, is blotting his copybook by talking non-stop into the stump mike. At this rate, he too will become a commentator, and he won’t even have to retire first.
9th over: England 88-2 (Malan 6, Morgan 16) Morgan sees those figures of Shadab’s and decides to ruin them with a slog-sweep for six. That’s off the first ball of the over, then, after some milking, Morgan pummels the last for four, back past the bowler. Shadab now has 2-0-16-2, as Dr Ebb slips into his seat next to Mr Flow.
8th over: England 74-2 (Malan 5, Morgan 3) So England have two left-handers, and two veterans. Dawid Malan opens his face and shows his class with a late dink for four off Iftikhar.
7th over: England 67-2 (Malan 0, Morgan 1) That was a thrilling first over from Shadab Khan, who turned the innings round in the space of two balls. His figures are ridiculously good: 1-0-2-2.
That was umpire’s call on impact too, and because it hadn’t been given out by Martin Saggers, Morgan escapes. Is that going to be a turning point?
Not given, but it looks good...
Another one! Banton misreads the top spinner, sweeping, missing, and finding the ball hurrying on to hit his right thigh. He reviews, it’s hitting, and it’s umpire’s call on the impact, so he has got to go. One brings two, and Pakistan are back on top.
The breakthrough! Bairstow top-edges a sweep, Imad takes it comfortably on the 45, and Shadab, who started an England collapse on Friday, has taken a big wicket with his second ball. Bairstow’s 44 came off only 24 balls, at a personal rate of 11 an over.
6th over: England 65-0 (Banton 19, Bairstow 44) Amir is going to finish this over even if it kills him. Bairstow thwacks him for two twos, and that’s the end of the powerplay. England are 14 ahead of where Pakistan were at this stage, but then Hafeez had yet to make his entrance.
“Jimmy Anderson,” says my colleague Stephen Moss on Twitter, “is an excellent commentator/analyst. Long media career ahead if he wants it.” Yes – though, as in the wickets table, Stuart Broad will be hot on his heels. And Mark Wood will make a great presenter when his dodgy ankle finally defeats him.
Mid-6th over: England 61-0 (Banton 19, Bairstow 40) Bairstow plays the first-ball trick on Amir again, staying deep in the crease, waiting for the cutter, and swinging it over square leg for six. Amir seems to have an injury, and it’s not just a bruise to his ego. He manages a dot ball, only the seventh in 33 balls, but he seems to have gone in the hamstring. Something possesses him to bowl one more ball, and then he’s flat on his back, and there’s a delay while the physio attends to him. Two balls of the powerplay to come.
5th over: England 53-0 (Banton 18, Bairstow 33) Back comes Shaheen, from a different end. An attempted yorker turns into a full toss that is also a no-ball. Bairstow clonks it for two and scampers back for the free hit, which is a monster slog, all height and not enough distance, and that’s two more. “Such a good start by England,” murmurs Michael Vaughan.
“Been looking forward to watching cricket on TV for the first time in 21 years,” says Nigel Phillips, “and BLOODY HELL it’s changed. The ball is white and they are wearing shell suits. It’s like amateur baseball.”
4th over: England 43-0 (Banton 16, Bairstow 27) Pakistan’s secret sauce today was attacking the first ball of the over, which often went for four or six. Bairstow squirts a bit of that on his meal, glancing Mohammad Amir’s first ball for four, and then he flicks the second for six. His 27 has come at very nearly two runs a ball, which is what you need from one of your top order. Hafeez almost managed it, with 69 off 36.
“Every cricketer has their moment in the sun, eh?” mutters Damian Clarke. “I’ll channel my inner Fran Healy and ask why did it always rain on me.”
3rd over: England 30-0 (Banton 15, Bairstow 15) Tom Banton sees Bairstow’s fours and raises him a six– with a reverse sweep off Imad. We need the BBC commentators of the Nineties back, right now, to tell us just how outrageous that was. Bairstow, not to be outdone, plays a conventional sweep for four. Banton then top-edges a slog-sweep, but gets away with it as the ball lands in the middle of nowhere. A very good over for England.
2nd over: England 14-0 (Banton 4, Bairstow 10) It’s Shaheen Shah Afridi, swinging it back into these right-handers – but Jonny Bairstow is ready for him, clipping him over midwicket and then just skimming it over extra-cover. That’s the slips gone already, and England are in the groove.
“Nice to see an ex-Settle CC pro getting runs today,” says Anthony Bradley. “Would like to say we taught Hafeez all he knows - but perhaps not!”
1st over: England 3-0 (Banton 2, Bairstow 1) It’s Imad Wasim with his slow left-arm, which isn’t all that slow – he spears it in at middle-and-leg, like a mirror image of Eddie Hemmings. And he restricts England’s buccaneering openers to three singles. That’s a great start for Pakistan.
“Every cricketer has their moment in the sun,” says Tom Bowtell, choosing his pronoun carefully, “and today we’re seeing Mohammad Hafeez’s.” Yes, he was terrific. It’s not just England’s Test team who have an old master.
20th over: Pakistan 195-4 (Iftikhar 8, Shadab 0)Stanhope, sorry Curran, just wanted to prevent boundaries in this last over and he succeeded – a one, a two, a one that should have been four as it was a hip-high full toss, a two that was basically identical to the one before. Then came the wicket, which stopped Pakistan getting to 200. But 195 is still a very good score, their best in this format against these opponents. Babar was imperious, Fakhar explosive, and Hafeez majestic. England were scrappy at best. They can chase almost anything when they have Roy, Buttler and Stokes, but can they do it without them? We will soon see.
Hafeez finally gets it wrong, toe-ending a chip to extra-cover. That’s a flat end to a beautiful innings.
19th over: Pakistan 188-3 (Mohammad Hafeez 66, Iftikhar 4)For some reason, the slower ball has been a disaster today. Jordan tries the off-cutter and Hafeez swings it serenely over midwicket for six. Jordan restores a measure of order by ditching the slow stuff for the yorker, and then has Hafeez technically dropped by Morgan – more of a save, tipping it over the bar. Jordan finishes with the uncharacteristic figures of 4-0-41-1.
“Another one here very excited to be watching,” says Damian Clarke, “but still following on OBO. Going back a few overs, I played Stanhope in a school production of Journey’s End, but being only 12, my Tom Curran moustache was glued on.” I suspect his may be too.
As the batsmen run a cheeky single with the ball in the crease, Jonny Bairstow does well to throw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end, but it’s not out.
18th over: Pakistan 177-3 (Mohammad Hafeez 56, Iftikhar 3)I was wrong about Mahmood, who does get a fourth over after all. Hafeez’s eyes, understandably, light up: he goes down on one knee to play a ramp for four and reach a sparkling fifty off only 26 balls. “He may be 39,” says Michael Vaughan, “but he’s playing a blinder.” To celebrate, he belts another four down the ground.
17th over: Pakistan 165-3 (Mohammad Hafeez 47, Iftikhar 2)Shoaib had just played a lovely shot, going inside-out to loft the first ball over mid-off for four, so that’s a good recovery by Jordan.
Just when Pakistan were running away with it, Shoaib gives England some hope by chipping Jordan to extra-cover.
15th over: Pakistan 155-2 (Mohammad Hafeez 46, Shoaib Malik 8)Tom Curran returns and has a shocker, dishing up a full toss that is also a no-ball – and Hafeez swings it for six. The free hit is then whacked, baseball-style, over extra-cover for four. There’s one good ball amid the carnage, an inswinging yorker, but the last delivery goes for six more as Hafeez spots the slower ball and pulls it. That’s 23 off the over. Never mind 180 – 200 is within range now.
Just when I was wondering if he’d abandoned us, here’s Mac Millings. “As you were reminiscing about the good old days of cricket on the BBC, I thought I’d share with you my all-time Classic Television XI. (Warning: one of them may not be a cricketer).
15th over: Pakistan 132-2 (Mohammad Hafeez 28, Shoaib Malik 4)At his age, Hafeez doesn’t want to do much running. When Mahmood drops short he plays a pull for four that goes straight back past the bowler. And then he does it again. It will be a surprise if Mahmood gets a fourth over. With five overs to go, Pakistan should get 180.
14th over: Pakistan 119-2 (Mohammad Hafeez 18, Shoaib Malik 2)Gregory is back, risking Morgan’s wrath with a wide but then regaining some semblance of control. Hafeez, who is in the mood, takes the aerial route, only for the ball to stop in the hinterland behind mid-on.
“Apologies for the odd subject,” says Ed Smyth, “but it’s been a while since I’ve been able to watch cricket happening somewhere other than the compelling words of the OBO. Do batsmen and/or keepers have to wear trousers under their pads, rather than shorts? I ask as a hockey GK, and I can’t think of many things less comfortable than pads/straps over tracksuit bottoms. Surely long, football style socks could deal with the kit colour on the calf if required?
13th over: Pakistan 113-2 (Mohammad Hafeez 15, Shoaib Malik 1)Out comes Shoaib Malik, who is 38, so we have two batsmen who are older than Jimmy Anderson. This could be interesting.
The big one! I may have given the impression that Rashid was struggling with his length. In fact he was setting Babar up for a miscued pull to cow corner, where Billings takes a nice calm catch. That could be the difference between a colossal score and a chaseable one.
12th over: Pakistan 109-1 (Babar Azam 55, Mohammad Hafeez 13)Morgan brings back Saqib Mahmood, the man whose half-tracker got Pakistan going from ball one. He digs it in again and Hafeez just helps it round the corner for six! Mahmood, as before, recovers well.
And here’s another of the cricket phenomena that were unknown back in 1999: Gary Naylor. “Have they,” he wonders, “cut to Haydock for the 2.30 yet?” Ha.
11th over: Pakistan 99-1 (Babar Azam 53, Mohammad Hafeez 5)Rashid isn’t quite getting his lengths right. He drops short, and again Babar punishes him with a pull; then he goes too full and Babar off-drives for four more, to reach fifty off only 37 balls. He’s been imperious. But he can’t cash in later in the over when presented with a full toss, or, as Phil Tufnell puts it, “an absolute pie”.
10th over: Pakistan 87-1 (Babar Azam 43, Mohammad Hafeez 3)The new batsman, Hafeez, is 39 – even older than Jimmy Anderson. But the main man for the moment is Babar, who late-cuts Lewis Gregory for four. If there are any purists left from the last time cricket was on the Beeb, that will have them purring. At the halfway stage, Pakistan are still in the driving seat.
9th over: Pakistan 75-1 (Babar Azam 37, Mohammad Hafeez 1) So Rashid strikes – just after Fakhar had swung him for six.
At last! Fakhar gets a great big top edge and Tom Banton keeps his cool at long-on. “Banton was nine months old,” says Andy Zaltzman, “the last time an England player took a catch live on BBC television.”
8th over: Pakistan 66-0 (Babar Azam 35, Fakhar Zaman 30) Time for England’s sixth bowler, Lewis Gregory, a fine cricketer for Somerset but a novice at this level. His first ball goes for four as Babar chips him over mid-off. He keeps calm and carries on, restricting the batsmen to four singles off five balls, which is almost a triumph.
“I caught the Tony Lewis expletive live too,” says Mark Hooper. “A live summary from a rooftop as I remember. After he got his words muddled, he kept a fixed smile for a few seconds and then unleashed ‘Oh FFS!’ (but not in initials). When they went back to him a few minutes later he calmly said, ‘And I must apologise for my uncontrolled outburst earlier.’ And that was that.”
7th over: Pakistan 58-0 (Babar Azam 29, Fakhar Zaman 28) Here, as usual at the end of the powerplay, is Adil Rashid. He starts with an LBW appeal against Babar, but it’s sliding down the leg side. Then he beats Babar with a ripper! Shades of Shane Warne to Mike Gatting, but pitching on off stump rather than leg. Babar reasserts himself with a ferocious pull, whipped past Sam Billings in cow corner.
6th over: Pakistan 51-0 (Babar Azam 23, Fakhar Zaman 27) Curran bowls a great ball, digging it in, taking the glove, generally paying homage to Jimmy’s 600th – except that there’s nobody at slip and it goes for four. At the end of the over, he gets away with a rank full toss as Babar clips to deep square. And that’s the powerplay done with Pakistan still on top but not running riot.
5th over: Pakistan 42-0 (Babar Azam 19, Fakhar Zaman 22) Morgan gives Jordan a second successive over, and surely regrets it. Babar cuts the first ball for four, Fakhar straight-drives the fourth for four more, and there are a few singles. Fakhar’s 22 has come off only 14 balls. It’s all Pakistan at the moment.
4th over: Pakistan 31-0 (Babar Azam 13, Fakhar Zaman 17) Fourth over, fourth bowler: Tom Curran replaces Moeen, so England have both their death bowlers on already. He starts with a slower ball, and another, then a no-ball which was also a wide. He does well with the free hit, though, a back-of-the-hand back-of-a-length ball that Babar can only slap, on the bounce, to the man at extra cover. And then yet another slower ball is pulled for four by Fakhar. Curran, incidentally, has a moustache, which gives him the look of a student in a production of Journey’s End.
3rd over: Pakistan 24-0 (Babar Azam 12, Fakhar Zaman 12) A bowling change straight away as Morgan summons Chris Jordan. He bowls an attempted yorker outside off which turns into a full toss, driven for four by a grateful Fakhar. “Might have slipped out of his hand,” says Jimmy, empathetically. Babar picks up another hard-run two with a guide to third man. Pakistan still on top.
Here’s Ian Copestake. “The sartorial angst of Tom van der Gucht,” he says, “made me imagine whether he might react in this way to shiny shoes.”
2nd over: Pakistan 15-0 (Babar Azam 9, Fakhar Zaman 6) At the other end, Morgan turns to spin. It’s Moeen Ali, which may be a ploy to bamboozle the left-handed Fakhar. He nudges a single, comfortably enough, and Babar steals a couple into no-man’s-land at wide mid-on. And then Fakhar plays an even better shot than Babar’s pull, a late cut for four. Pakistan are on top already.
1st over: Pakistan 5-0 (Babar Azam 5, Fakhar Zaman 0) The first ball goes for four! It’s short and not very fiery from Mahmood, and Babar sees it so well that his pull goes all the way to the midwicket boundary. Mahmood does better thereafter and has an appeal for LBW against Fakhar, but it pitched outside leg. “Looks like a very good pitch,” says Jimmy Anderson, gloomily.
The players are out there, it’s cloudy but dry, and Eoin Morgan has handed the new ball to Saqib Mahmood.
Never mind the commentators, let’s move onto the clothes they’re wearing.“What is it with cricket commentators over a certain age having some sort of mid-life shoe crisis and beginning to match trainers with suits?” wonders Tom van der Gucht. “[Michael] Vaughan on the BBC and Ian Ward on Sky were both rocking the casual dad combo. And I’m pretty sure Warne was too during the Tests. At least Jimmy [Anderson] has the decency to look smart in what appear to be a pair of leather shoes – although they’re not brogues.”
“Why is it so hard,” asks Jonathan Hodgson, “to find a kind word for the BBC’s former coverage of cricket? Sure it was ‘staid’, chiefly because it belonged to a more staid era. Funnily enough, one of the most renowned commentators nowadays is Atherton, who is almost a throw back to former times. Do we really need the childish screams every time a six is scored in T20? Isn’t Richie Benaud’s moderation preferable? Just because something’s modern doesn’t mean it’s good.”
Interesting view. Of course I didn’t mean to suggest that modern automatically equals good. Nor to be unkind – I spent many happy summers soaking up that coverage, and should have said so. Yes, Richie was a master, not just for his moderation, but for his dry wit, his reading of the game, his refusal to state the obvious, and the way he could dance to a different rhythm, starring on Channel 4 and Kerry Packer’s Channel Nine as well as the Beeb. But are you sure about “childish screams”? That doesn’t seem very representative of today’s coverage, which is highly analytical as well as exuberant. And isn’t excitement one of the things we watch sport for?
“Tony Lewis,” says the subject line of an email from Nick Lewis (no relation, or not that he’s admitting to). “I am reminded of a time, early nineties-ish, when I stopped by my old mum’s house in the middle of my working day (as I was passing, you know, from one urgent appointment to the next. Skiving, yes. Skiving) to watch a few overs of the Test match. Lewis (the ever elegant, gentlemanly Lewis) was summing up after the morning’s play, fluffed a line, and then, after finishing his piece, thinking the camera was off, unleashed a fusillade of expletives. Live, on the Beeb. Hilarious. I wonder if anyone else caught it.”
Both sides take the Liam Gallagher approach to selection: no change. As England hinted that they’d be using their whole squad in the series, that presumably means a few changes to come on Tuesday.
Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Iftikhar Ahmed, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Eoin Morgan wins the toss and, as usual, chooses to chase.
A blast of Soul Limbo, and heeere’s Isa. “Welcome to the first live cricket on the BBC this century,” she says, teeing up a very short history of the past 21 years. Freddie, KP, Jimmy, the Super Over....
Afternoon everyone and welcome to the second T20 international of this so-called summer. The first was, of course, ruined by the rain. There are two things you need to know right away: (1) the weather forecast is 90-per-cent dry, and (2) the game is going out live on the BBC. Not just the radio – the telly! And not even BBC2 – BBC1!!
It’s 21 years since this last happened to an international cricket match, when the BBC shared coverage of the 1999 World Cup with Sky. The Beeb did not, alas, go out with a bang. England, the hosts, were so hapless that they managed to tumble out of the tournament before the official theme tune was released. There was a classic semi-final, which could not have been closer, but the final, between Australia and Pakistan, was dismally one-sided.
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