AFP | Kolkata
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
England eliminated Pakistan from the World Cup with a comfortable 93-run victory as Ben Stokes and David Willey ended the team’s dismal title defense in the Kolkata highlands yesterday.
Stokes, who returned from ODI retirement for the World Cup, scored 84 and Joe Root hit a 60 to lift England to an astonishing 337-9 in 50 overs before Pakistan clawed their way back for 244 in 43.3 overs.
Willie, who had already announced that he would retire from international cricket after the World Cup, removed Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafiq (0 matches) and Fakhar Zaman (1 match) and dismissed Agha Salman for 51, taking his tally to 3 wins and 56 losses. It ended with.
With Salman’s wicket, Willie also completed 100 wickets in his 73rd ODI.
Fellow fast bowler Gus Atkinson (2-45) took Babar Azam for 38 and was caught on an errant pull at short midwicket, ending the under-par tournament for the Pakistan skipper with 320 runs and four fifties. However, there was no century.
Spinners Moeen Ali (2-60) and Adil Rashid (2-55) took charge of the middle order, but Salman was the only one with a fighting knock of 45 balls studded with six boundaries and six boundaries. I resisted bowling.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who finished last, scored 27 points and Haris Rauf scored 35 points to take Pakistan to the 200-point mark.
Ali removed Mohammad Rizwan for 36 off 51 balls and Iftikhar Ahmed for three, while Rashid forced Saud Shakeel to hit 29 with his legs tangled before Googling Shadab Khan for four.
Pakistan started the day needing to beat England by 287 runs to qualify for the semi-finals on net run rate, but that escape route was quickly closed when Jos Buttler won the toss and elected to bat first. .
With this result, New Zealand will become the fourth team to reach the semi-finals and will face undefeated India in Mumbai on November 15.
The next day, Australia and South Africa will face off in the other semi-final in Kolkata. Stokes was hit by Shaheen for 10 on his own bowling, but rode his luck with a 76-ball innings.
selfish bowling
Root added a 72-ball 60 after England won the toss and batted.
Stokes and Root made the most of Eden Gardens’ slow pitch and somewhat wayward bowling, putting up a solid opening stand of 82 between Jonny Bairstow (59) and Dawid Malan (31).
Bairstow hit seven boundaries and six in his 61-ball knock. It was his second 50th pitch despite a lackluster performance in this tournament.
Malan took the lead and missed spinner Iftikhar Ahmed’s reverse sweep, while Bairstow was caught at cover by Rauf, Pakistan’s best bowler, for 3-64.
Stokes, who came out of ODI retirement for the World Cup, continued to bat like he did in the century, hitting 11 boundary cracks and two sixes against the Netherlands in Pune three days ago. .
He added 132 for the third wicket with Root before being finally yoked by Shaheen in the 41st over.
Root hit three half-centuries and four boundaries in the World Cup, but lost the lead against Shaheen, who finished with 2-72.
Harry Brook made 30 with two sixes and as many fours, Buttler hit 27 with a six and three boundaries, and the pair quickly added 45, with England 97 runs off the final 10 overs. was recorded.
Pakistan finished fifth in the 10-nation table, with England dropping a further two places but still qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy.