Cricket
Andrew McGlashan at Old Trafford 8y

Wahab fires back from Trent Bridge ignominy

PAK tour of ENG 2016, Cricket

Wahab Riaz's tour of England was in danger of ending on a forgettable note. When England racked up their world record 444 at Trent Bridge he finished with 0 for 110, the second-worst figures in ODI history, and was banished to the sidelines for the final two games of the series.

But, brought back for the T20 at Old Trafford, he responded with a career-best performance of 3 for 18, including the key wicket of Jos Buttler, and did not concede a boundary in his four overs. Used exclusively in the second half of the innings - a piece of early planning from new captain Sarfraz Ahmed - England could not handle his extreme pace or drastic slower balls.

"I had a plan within myself that if I have to bowl fast it has to be very fast and if I have to bowl slow it has to be very slow and you have to have a lot of varieties in this T20 game," Wahab said. "When you are in rhythm, things go your way."

When he was being hammered around Nottingham by Alex Hales, Buttler and Eoin Morgan, Wahab did not help his cause by overstepping. The TV umpire, using the trial system of calling no-balls, was at his busiest when he had the ball. Most costly was the reprieve of Hales on 72 as he went on to score his England-record 171.

Wahab said missing the last two ODIs had given him time to work on the problem and thanked the effort of bowling coach Azhar Mahmood.

"I wasn't in the habit of bowling no-balls before this tour, I don't know what happened to me. The credit goes to the bowling coach, he really helped me, he was very strict with me about the no-balls. Because I was resting the last two games, he really worked hard with me and the credit goes to him."

Eoin Morgan acknowledged Pakistan's attack had enjoyed a good day, but believed conditions had changed significantly when his bowlers tried to defend 136: by the end of the Powerplay, Pakistan were 73 for 0. He said the evening dew made strokeplay easier and, with hindsight, he would have bowled first.

"Pakistan bowled well, and adapted to the circumstances - but given the pitch we bowled on, we probably would have needed 180-185. The ball seemed to slide on quite nicely.

"I'm not one for excuses, but certainly the shots the Pakistan batsmen played out there are shots you can only play on a very, very good wicket.

"We are not a timid batting team - we play quite aggressively. But none of us seemed to catch fire or get going."

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