England and Pakistan had the honor of kicking off the Super 8s round of the 2010 World Twenty20. Somewhat disappointingly, none of the minnow teams made it this far, although Afghanistan took home many positives and Ireland threatened an upset in their rain-hit match against England. The upside is that with only the big guns left from now, we should be guaranteed some serious matches. Unfortunately, Pakistan vs. England, while deadly serious and having all the hallmarks that make Twenty20 interesting, didn't leave us on the edge of our seats, biting our fingernails down to the quick. England cantered home by seven wickets, a victory architected by Kevin Pietersen and Pakistan themselves.
Put in to bat first, Pakistan got off to a dream start, with Kamral Akmal majestically hooking the first ball from Ryan Sidebottom for six. He and opener Salman Butt continued to score at 7 an over until the fifth over, when Stuart Broad had him caught behind for 15. As Pakistan were pushing the run rate closer to 8 per over, two wickets fell in the eleventh over, bowled by Michael Yardy. Skipper Shahid Afridi was one of them, insanely run out off the first ball he faced. 76/2 became 78/4. Going into the antepenultimate over, Pakistan were only 123/7, but a combination of loose bowling and lucky hitting allowed them to finish with 147/9. England would have rued gifting so many runs in the death, and Pakistan had only Salman Butt and Umar Akmal get scores in the 30s. At the innings break, it was (dis)honors even for both teams.
Much like Pakistan, England started their innings positively, as Michael Lumb flicked Abdul Razzaq's first ball to the square leg boundary. Things got worse for Pakistan when Sajeed Ajmal dropped Craig Kieswetter off the last ball of the over. Ajmal later dropped a dolly of a catch off Lumb in the fifth over, but redeemed himself when he was called on to bowl immediately afterwards, having Lumb stumped for 25. Kieswetter looked in very good touch, but departed for only 25. Ajmal's curse passed to Abdul Razzaq, who dropped a missile from Pietersen off his own bowling. To add insult to injury, Pietersen dispatched him for 4 from the next ball. With the required run rate under control, England could afford to rotate the strike and grab the odd boundary with no pressure. Pietersen brought his fifty up off 37 balls, and even though Afridi accounted for his captain counterpart Paul Collingwood (16), the writing was on the wall for Pakistan.
Pakistan might take some solace from the fact that they were easily rolled over in the last Twenty20 World Cup by England, only to famously win the tournament at Lord's. It's one of just two positives they can take from this game - their batting was weak and efficient, their fielding was horrendous, and only the bowling of Mohammed Amer and Sajeed Ajmal was impressive. Pakistan move to a must-win encounter against New Zealand (something they are no strangers to). England can't afford to rest on their laurels too long, because their next game is against South Africa. Kevin Pietersen is in good form, and he always brings his best game against his old countrymen. Lumb and Kieswetter both get good starts for England, but they're due for a big innings. The bowling will be a concern - Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan were both very wayward with their line and length. South Africa may have a reputation for choking, but they're never a team you want to take lightly.