Plays of the Day from the first ODI between England and Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl
Alan Gardner at the Ageas Bowl24-Aug-2016The comeback
It has been a while since Mark Wood took that distinctive sprint-relay starting position at the top of his mark in international cricket. Fit again to play for England after a 10-month absence, his first delivery was clocked at 90.5mph and thudded into Sharjeel Khan’s pads as he hung back on the crease; the next drew him forwards and zipped past the outside edge. Sharjeel would not be cowed, rifling a pull for four and picking up another boundary inside-edged past his stumps; but Wood’s gears were now oiled, his speed pushing 93mph, and he struck in his third over, a feathered edge on another attempted pull. Wood had his first England wicket since Mohammad Hafeez nicked to slip in the Dubai Test last October.The spinner
There had been some talk of England playing Liam Dawson, the local boy, as their third spinner at the Ageas Bowl but in the end they settled for three quicks alongside Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. But it was neither of the established slow bowlers that Eoin Morgan turned to after the Powerplay, with Joe Root thrown the ball instead. Root had bowled only three overs in his previous 13 ODIs but settled into a four-over spell that included the wicket of Hafeez, carelessly sweeping to deep backward square – Root’s first since the World Cup game against Scotland in Christchurch last year.The failed review I
The hot technology topic in this series is the decision by the ICC to trial front-foot no-balls being called by the third umpire – but the wait goes on for that slice of history. Instead, the early stages of Pakistan’s innings were marked by gambles with the DRS. Sharjeel seemed to think he had not hit the ball but Snickometer detected a faint edge; that burned review then came back to singe Babar Azam, when a clear inside edge was not detected by Simon Fry, who gave him out lbw off Rashid. With no reviews left, Azam had to lump it.The failed review II
England also lost their one recourse to the DRS when reviewing a not-out lbw decision against Hafeez in the 10th over. Liam Plunkett’s delivery was judged to be only clipping leg stump, although it might have been overturned under the forthcoming change to the guidelines for umpire’s call and lbws, which will increase the area in which half the ball must be deemed to be hitting the stumps from October 1.The dismissal
Mohammad Amir quickly marked out Alex Hales as something of a red-ball rabbit during the Test series, removing him in four innings out of eight and constantly making demands on the opener’s judgement outside off stump. An early slash for four through the covers against the less frolicsome white ball suggested Hales was more at home back in this format – he has three ODI hundreds in the last year – but the very next ball, Amir found the outside edge of Hales’ bat, only for it to fall short of second slip. Three overs later, Hales steered Umar Gul to slip as if offering catching practice and the search for some form continued.The salvo
Gul made his ODI comeback after more than a year out of the side in Dublin last week, picking up 3 for 23 in a gentle workout, and it was quickly apparent that Jason Roy was keen to make his acquaintance. Gul’s second ball was only slightly leg-side but that was enough for Roy to whip it wristily away in front of square; the fourth was again too straight and again squired though midwicket; the fifth even more respectable but creamed off the back foot with fast hands and a straight bat through cover point, only a couple of yards to the left of the fielder but giving him no chance. Welcome to West End.The drop
Roy suffered a dizzy spell a few overs into the chase but, after being attended to by the physio, he decided to carry on. Shortly after, he top-edged a hurried pull high towards square leg off Amir and looked set to be given a break to collect his thoughts. However, despite Gul being perfectly placed to take the catch, Sarfraz Ahmed raced enthusiastically to his left, cap flying off his head as he gazed skywards and made clear it was all his. But the ball swirled a little, Sarfraz only got fingertips to a diving effort and Amir had suffered to latest drop of a luckless summer, in which at least seven chances had gone down off his bowling. The dizziness was catching.The captain’s call
England were costing along at 158 for 2 in the 28th over, with Root adding a measured half-century to follow Roy’s pyrotechnics, when Eoin Morgan decided to liven things up. A dab into the covers off Amir was met with an immediate call of a single, only for Azhar to race in, collect the ball on the bounce and throw down the stumps with Root well short of his ground. The captain’s call had met with a captain’s response.
