By Bagpuss
December 11 2005

The first one dayer and the chance for Ian Blackwell to stamp his mark. No opportunity with the bat as the openers make hay but he becomes the slow option in a run frenzy..Bagpuss reports on how well he acquits himself in the role.

PAKISTAN v ENGLAND 1ST ODI - LAHORE, 10 DECEMBER 2005

Different, ball, different clothes, some new faces in the team and Bagpuss has had a previously unheard of mid-tour adventure on a delicates cycle in the washing machine to try to remove all traces of bad karma. But will the results be any different?

Back to the Gaddafi Stadium for what is with an 11 am start more of a day-dusk fixture than a true day-nighter. The vast England support that remain here in Pakistan - about a dozen of us - have been boosted by an influx of another ten or so. With a few expat locals the England support probably numbers about 50 and though a group of 20 of us set up camp in a sunny corner of the Wasim Akram stand I dont think we will be able to outsing the locals. Walk behind the main scoreboard fifteen minutes before start of play to see a little man painting a new nameplate for the scoreboard - B L and just starting the A he has quite a few letters to go yet. However England have won the toss and will bat and with Blackwell due in at number 8 the sign should be finished and dry before it is needed. Fingers crossed.

Trescothick moves on without a care to his third opening partner of the tour so far. Matt Prior is his latest but only time will tell if this will be just a one day-night stand or a more lasting relationship. It proves to be Prior who is making most of the running as they enjoy a bit of a jolly against opening bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Naveed - the latter leaking a few runs, the former more than a few extras and the run rate is a healthy five an over. There are a few yes-wait-no moments in the running between the wickets but fortunately no sorries. Then in the 8th over Naveed pops in one of those slower balls and Trescothick lobs it up to mid on where it is easily caught by Kaneria. 43-1. Strauss joins Prior, out to prove that all thoughts of whether Pampers really are better than Huggies have been put to the back of his mind.

50 up in the 10th and Sami replaces Akhtar in the 11th. This is the first time Pakistan have played with the new one day POWERPLAY rules (how I hate that term, sounds so damn American . . . ) and rather unimaginitively Inzamam opts to keep the fielding restrictions a further 5 overs. And another 5 overs after that. Do international captains adopt this as a well thought out tactic, or is it the fear that in the heat of the moment they will forget all about it, until the last five overs of the innings when the umpire will remind them to bring all the fielders in from the boundary so that nice Mr Flintoff/Symonds/Sehwag/Afridi (delete as necessary) can have a bit of fun?

Razzaq comes on for Naveed in the 16th after drinks. Strauss and Prior reach their 50 partnership then next over Prior seems to fail to pick up a full toss from Sami, overbalances, misses and is out lbw. 45 off 55 balls England now 94-2. Pietersen joins Strauss. 100 in the 20th over. Inzamam waits till the 23rd over before giving the spinners a go - Kaneria comes on for Sami. Strauss reaches 50 (55 balls 4x4). Pietersen takes a bit of a shine to Kaneria and hits him for 6 over midwicket to bring up the 150 in the 27th over, following up with another boundary over square leg. Somewhere in the middle of this they pass the 50 partnership at almost a run a ball. Malik comes on at the other end next over - fresh back from a city break to Perth (I think) to correct his dubious bowling action. All between the last test and this first ODI! The latest in tourist opportunities - five nights five star accommodation, all inclusive, complete remodelling of any chucker tendencies. And the video is yours to keep. Excuse me for being sceptical ... But Pietersen is maybe lucky to survive an lbw shout off his first ball from Malik.

Kaneria is taken out of harms way being replaced by Akhtar in the 29th but Inzamam's trump card can't win him a wicket. Pietersen reaches 50 next over (35 balls, 6x4/2x6) but just as we start to think he could do some serious damage he gets stumped next over off a wide. 56 off just 39 balls I think Pakistan may have been a little relieved to see the back of him! But Flintoff hopefully will prove a more than adequate replacement. Kaneria comes out of hiding and replaces Akhtar in the 31st. Flintoff settles in with Strauss and the runs continue to flow - not so man boundaries now but the rate is being kept between 5 and 6 an over. My initial thought that we would need 280 has already been upped to 300 and now think should be aiming over this. 200 in the 34th, the 50 partnership in the 39th then off the last ball of this over Strauss pulls and is caught at deep midwicket. 94 off 98 balls he should go home for the weekend more often! England 237-4

250 up off the last ball of the 41st over. Six an over but maybe could have pushed the field a bit more off the last few overs by the spinners - try to turn some of those singles into twos, put them under pressure. May not be so easy to accelerate the scoring once Akhtar comes back for his final overs.Akhtar replaces Kaneria in the 43rd, Naveed for Malik in the 46th. Flintoff reaches his 50 in the 47th (55, 2/2) and the magic run a ball 300 is passed next over. Need to go for broke off these last few balls and at last Flintoff seems keen to do so. Can almost forgive him for leaving the last ball of the innings from Sami - probably thought it should be a wide but instead a dot ball. But with the total on 327 it shouldn't make any odds. I hope. Pakistan need 328 to win at 6.56 runs per over. If we can't defend that total well . . . .

Keeper Kamran Akmal comes in to open with Salman Butt. Think this is a new opening combination for Pakistan but they have been playing so fast and loose with their batting order in the recent past I may have missed this before. Was it a plan before the series started? Or thought up during the interval to use Kamran as a pinch hitting option chasing such a big total? Would have thought Razzaq may have been a better choice for this.  Whatever the reasoning its a tactic that doesn't come off as Anderson bowls the keeper in his second over. 15-1 though they are not hanging about. Younis Khan joins Butt and its soon apparent that if there is any hitting worth pinching then they are up for it. Th 50 is reached in just the 8th over. Trescothick opts to continue the P O W E R P L A Y after the first ten overs, Flintoff has already replaced Harmison in the 9th and Collingwood is served up as the entree after Anderson in the 12th. He gets just one over before Plunkett becomes dessert in the 14th. Butt reaches 50 (47, 7/1) and the 100 is posted in the 15th over - the run rate is approaching 7 an over. Time to get some fielders back I think.

P O W E R P L A Y postponed for now then and in the 17th over Blackwell gets his chance to make an impression on the game. Goes for 6 off his first over but in comparison to the carnage that is going on out there this is a mini success. Younis also passes 50 (45. 5/1). After 19 overs Pakistan are 133-1, a total it took England a further 6 overs and some to reach. Ominously news is filtering through that New Zealand have chased down, I dont know, 350-odd to win. With four overs to spare. Against Australia.  No total is safe.

Time for the next P O W E R P L A Y. (Why do I always type this with an American accent, and a bit of reverberating echo? What do you mean, you cant hear it?). Harmison is the chosen victim replacing Plunkett and it works - a wicket with the first ball of the over as Butt is out for 67 caught by Flintoff. Blackwell is spared the P word and is replaced by Plunkett who switches ends. Harmison gets a second over this spell then we go to a confusing 'one bowler one over' period as Flintoff and Anderson get an over each only to be replaced post PP by Blackwell and Collingwood. Flintoff gets Younis caught by Collingwood. 160-3. Looks like the only way England will win this is to bowl out Pakistan.

All the bowling changes certainly confused the heck out of me, the scorers, the scoreboard wallahs and probably the batters too. But from over 25 England started to claw this match back into their grasp. Inzamam only managed 13 before being caught by the keeper off Collingwood. 179-4. Malik takes a break from watching his holiday videos to join Yousuf and together they begin to build a partnership. But Blackwell and Collingwood are keeping things tight and slowly the run rate is falling and the required rate creeps up. The 200 is reached off the last ball of the 32nd over. Flintoff comes on for Collingwood in the 34th. 35 overs-Pakistan are 217-4, England were 206-3. Flintoff gets only a couple of overs to try to beak this partnership before he is replaced by Plunkett in the 38th. Blackwell completes his 10 overs in the 39th with figures of 0-45. No wickets but no boundaries either. If England win this then Blackwell's bowling a big factor. Ten overs to go and the score is 240-4. With ten overs to go England were . . . 240-4. Yep. That close.

Harmison replaces Blackwell in the 41st and Yousuf reaches 50 off the last ball (54,4). Was that a dropped catch off Plunkett in the 42nd? The body language seems to suggest so. 8 overs to go 79 needed. Five men baclk on the boundary but the batters are putting pressure on the fielders looking fo 2 runs from each shot. I start to mutter an Orwellian-style mantra 'one run good, two runs bad'. 7 to go, 69 needed. Plunkett gets the wicket of Yousuf caught by Solanki who finally gets his name on to the scorecard. One run good, two runs bad now becomes four runs bad, six even worse as Razzaq goes for glory with the big shots. Can we have that nice Mr Yousuf back please. Plunkett to the rescue in the 45thas he gets Razzaq caught by Jones. Malik reaches 50 off 59 balls-with no boundaries, quite a feat in this run fest game. Then is out next ball another Plunkett/Jones combination. A third wicket falls in this over as Jones runs out Shoaib Akhtar.

The locals are leaving the ground in droves by now-except those who insist on standing in front of me asking for just one more photo. Siddown!  Cant help feeling a bit sorry for them as in similar circumstances I would be (and have been) heading for the pub. Manage to duck around the mobile phone cameras enough to see Flintoff get Sami caught by Trescothick and with his next ball bowl the incoming Kaneria. Even before the bails reach the ground the floodlights are switched to 1/3 power. In the madness I think Pakistan are only 9 wickets down and start a collection of rupees for the leccy meter . . .

So at last an England victory, by 42 runs which makes it sound far more comfortable than it actually was. Proof if it were needed of the value of 'runs on the board'. Strauss was man of the match but with the presentation way down at the other end of the ground we could not hear any of the interviews. And even though the ground was practically empty I doubt if the England camp could hear twelve or so happy England supporters singing down at the scoreboard end.

"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Oh wat fun it is to see
England win away"

But with the inevitable gun and stick-wielding policemen watching with some amusement, we sang anyway.