Gooch man of match in win for England over Pakistan

Press, 24 October 1989, Page 38

Gooch man of match in win for England over Pakistan

NZPA-Reuter Cuttack, India Graham Gooch’s reshaped England cricket team are almost certain to reach the semi-finals of the six-nation Nehru Cup tournament after a four-wicket win over Pakistan on Sunday. Pakistan, who won the toss and decided to bat, were pinned down by some accurate England pace bowling and managed only a modest 148 for nine in their 50 overs.

England also found the going difficult on a pitch which gave the bowlers considerable assistance, but they completed victory at 149 for six with almost seven overs to spare.

Hammered 4-0 by Australia in the recent Ashes series and rocked by defections to a rebel squad to tour South Africa, England toppled a Pakistan team which arrived only on Saturday after comprehensively winning last week’s Sharjah Cup tournament.

The opening batsman, Gooch, won the man-of-the-match award, but for his efforts as a bowler. In 10 overs with his gentle offcutters he conceded only 19 runs and took three wickets which wrecked the Pakistan middle order.

Among his victims was their leading batsman Javed Miandad, bowled for 14 by a superb ball which cut back from the off to take his leg

stump. He then added the wickets of Salim Yousuf and . Wasim Akram in one over to halt Pakistan’s hopes of increasing the run rate. Only Salim Malik, the top scorer with 42, batted with any confidence before he played a terrible stroke and was bowled by the paceman, Gladstone Small.

England suffered two early setbacks when the openers, Wayne Larkins and Gooch, fell to Wasim Akram with only 21 on the board, but a bright 42 from Allan Lamb and 31 from Alec Stewart ensured their side’s third successive victory in the tournament. PAKISTAN Shoaib Mohammad c Cook b Capel 3 Shahid Saeed b Capel ... 5 Ejaz Ahmed b Cook .... 15 Javed Miandad b Gooch. . 14 Salim Malik b Small .... 42 Imran Khan st Russell b Hemmings 19 Salim Yousuf c Lamb b Gooch 6 Abdul Qadir c Russell b Cook 13 Wasim Akram lbw Gooch. 0 Mushtaq Ahmad not out. . 9 Waqar Younus not out. . . 4 Extras (b 5 lbB, nb3, w2) . 18 Total (for 9 wkts) 148 Fall of wickets: 8, 15, 37, 53, 107, 111, 128, 128, 132. Bowling: Fraser 10, 3, 15, 0; Capel 8,2, 16, 2; Small 8,2, 29, 1; Gooch 10, 4, 19, 3; Cook 10, 0, 43, 2; Hemmings 4,0, 13, 1.

ENGLAND G. Gooch b Akram 7 W. Larkins c Miandad b Akram 0 R. Smith c Miandad b Mushtaq 19 A. Lamb b Malik 42 A. Stewart c Miandad b Qadir 31 D. Capel run out 23 J. Russell not out 7 G. Small not out 0 Extras (bB, lb 4, w8) .... 20 Total (for 6 wkts) 149 Fall: 1, 21, 68, 92, 139, 148. Did not bat: N. Cook, A. Fraser, E. Hemmings. Bowling: Akram 10, 1, 32, 2; Waqar 10, 1, 30, 0; Qadir 9.2, 2, 29, 1; Ahmad 6,2, 25, 1; Malik 2, 0,9, 1; Imran 6,1, 12, 0. England won by four wickets. Man of the match: Graham Gooch. • Sri Lanka, who three days ago beat the West Indies in a one-day match for the first time, gave India a fright on Sunday before the host country snatched a six-run victory in the six-nation Nehru Cup cricket tournament in Ahmedabad. After India had posted 227 for eight in their 50 overs, Asanka Gurusinghe led a superb challenge by the youngest of the test-playing nations with a fighting 83. Fine bowling by Kapil Dev, looking faster than he has for some time, brought him two wickets in the final overs and ended the Sri Lankan victory bid. They were all out for 221 with two deliveries left. India’s innings was anchored by Navjot Sidhu, who Sri Lanka was un-

able to contain on a ' pitch which gave the bowlers little assistance. Coming to the crease after the opener, Raman Larnba, had been dismissed for 11, Sidhu batted with increasing confidence with a fine array of strokes to make 80 before he was run out in the final chase for runs. Sidhu won the man-of-the-match award, but he shared the spotlight with Gurusinghe, who hit six fours as Sri Lanka made a determined bid for victory. Three wickets by Manoj Prabhakar at the cost of 34 runs and Kapil Dev’s three for 26 narrowly thwarted their challenge. The paceman, Ravi Ratnayake, was the most successful of Sri Lanka’s attack, finishing with three for 35 from his 10 overs, but it was an appeal by the skipper, Arjuna Ranatunga, when bowling to Mohinder Amarnath which drew most attention. Amarnath, for reasons known only to himself, kicked the ball away after playing it and was given out for obstructing the field by the Pakistani umpire, Khizer Hyatt. INDIA K. Srikkanth c Ranatunga b Wijegunawardena ... 16 R. Larnba c Ranatunga b Ratnayake 11 N. Sidhu run out 80 M. Amarnath out for obstructing the field ... 28 M. Azharuddin b Ratnayake 26

Kapil Dev run out 6 R. Shastri c Tillakaratne b Labrooy. . . ..‘. . . . 22 A. Sharma c Gurusinghe b Ratnayake 6 K. More not out. , . ... . 7 M. Prabhakar not out ... 11 Extras (b 4 lbs, ws)'. i. . 14 Total (for 8 wkts). ..... 227 Fall: 24, 34, 95, 168/176, 199, 208, 209. Did not bat: A. Ayub, Bowling: Ratnayake 10, 1, 35, 3; Labrooy 10, 1, 35, 1; Wijegunawardena 10, 0, 60, 1; Ranatunga 10, 0, 49, 0; Asoka De Silva 10, 0, 39, 0. SRI LANKA R. Mahanama c Sidhu b Prabhakar 12 B. Kuruppu lbw b Kapil Dev ■. 9 A. Gurusinghe b Prabhakar 83 Arvinda De Silva c and b Ayub 20 A. Ranatunga c Kapil Dev b Shastri 7 A. Samarasekera c and b Shastri 22 H. Tillakaratne run out . . 11 G. Labrooy b Prabhakar . 25 R. Ratnayake c Larnba b Kapil Dev ... i ... . 20 Asoka De Silva not out . . 1 K. Wijegunawardena b Kapil Dev 0 Extras (lb 7 w4)II Total (49.4 overs). ..... 221 Fall: 22, 24, 72, 87, 137, 161, 186, 220, 220. Bowling: Kapil Dev 8.4, 2, 26, 3; Prabhakar 9,2, 34, 3; Amarnath 4,0, 20, 0; A. Sharma 4,0, 30, 0; Shastri 10, 0, 47, 2; Ayub 10, 2, 31, 1; Srikkanth 4,0, 26, 0. India won by six runs. Man of the match: Navjot Sidhu. ' ■