Pakistan vs England Umar Gul career best 6 for 24 Vs England at Oval

Umar Gul is Named man of the Match. He says his form as has been improving slowly since his injury and thanks his coaches for all their support.

Great result for the series that - keeping it alive and Andrew Miller will have his bulletin in here. That's all from us, thanks for many of the emails and I hope you'll join us on Monday for the next game.

Pakistan win by 23 runs. Brilliant scenes at The Oval, Pakistan really needed that victory and England's collapse - 5 for 17 - has sealed it. Stay with us for the presentations - the wonderful bowling from Umar Gul will surely have earned him the Man of the Match award.
Umar Gul produced a sensational career-best spell of 6 for 42 in ten full-length and late-swinging overs, as Pakistan's cricketers overcame their recent troubles to secure an emotionally charged victory under the floodlights at The Oval. In front of a packed house who lived every moment of another tense finale, Gul built on the new-ball efforts of Shoaib Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq to defend a below-par total of 241, and keep the series alive at 2-1 down with two matches to come at Lord's and the Rose Bowl later this week.

During the mid-innings interval, Pakistan's total had appeared insubstantial, after a piecemeal performance in which Fawad Alam top-scored with a diligent 64, but no single partnership had been able to take a grip of the contest. England's response with the bat, however, lacked the authority they had displayed in the first two contests, and with Gul in the sort of form that forged his reputation as a limited-overs master, they failed to close out a contest that, in terms of pure run-rate, had been within their grasp throughout.

Three of England's batsmen made their mark with significant performances - Andrew Strauss continued his fine form with a 54-ball 57, Eoin Morgan showed typical authority in the middle of the innings with 61 from 74, while Luke Wright overcame a massive stroke of good fortune on 26 to finish on 48 not out - but with the exception of the opener Steven Davies, who made 18, no-one else reached double-figures as Pakistan mounted a vigorous defence on a chilly and intense evening's work. The coup de grace was delivered by Razzaq, who bowled James Anderson for 3 to secure their second victory in consecutive visits to The Oval this summer, following their four-wicket win in the third Test last month.

It was a double-dip recession of an innings from England. Though Strauss batted with his now-habitual fluency to push the score along at more than five runs an over, by the time he was bowled off the inside-edge to become the first of Gul's six victims, the rest of the top-four had already fallen cheaply.

Davies was bowled through the gate by Razzaq before Jonathan Trott, needing five runs to pass 1000 in all internationals this summer, was exquisitely yorked by Shoaib for 2, whereupon Ravi Bopara - in another unconvincing foray - snicked a thin edge off Saeed Ajmal to fall for 7 from 15 balls. One over later, and Michael Yardy - whose third-ball reprieve by Kamran Akmal ultimately forced the keeper to leave the field with a broken finger - was trapped lbw by a bamboozling late swinger from Gul, to leave England teetering on 103 for 5.

Cue more magnificence from Morgan, as he and Luke Wright reinflated the innings with a run-a-ball partnership of 98 in 17.2 overs. In similar circumstances to those that he had faced against Australia at the Rose Bowl back in June, he picked the gaps with outrageous ambidextrous improvisation that he somehow made to look run-of-the-mill, while Wright - back in the side following an illness to Paul Collingwood - provided sensible support of the more conventional biff-and-block variety. Wright, however, should have fallen on 26, when Umar Akmal, the substitute keeper, whipped off the bails with his back foot clearly in the air. But umpire Doctrove - he of the 2006 Oval controversy - somehow decided that a replay wasn't necessary.
Umar Gul was outstanding as he took six wickets to lead a stunning Pakistan comeback
Pakistan 241 (Fawad 64, Anderson 3-26) beat England 218 (Morgan 61, Strauss 57, Wright 48*, Gul 6-42) by 23 runs

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• umar
• gul
• pakistan
• cricket
• career
• best
• oval
• beating
• england