Posted on: Posted on – 05:50 PM, Sun – 11/13/22
England’s Ben Stokes celebrates their victory between England and Pakistan in the 2022 ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup Cricket Final at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). (Photo: AFP)
Melbourne: All-rounder Ben Stokes showed calm and composure in his typical gritty style as England went on a 52-match unbeaten run to a five-wicket win over Pakistan in Sunday’s final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Won the Men’s T20 World Cup Championship.
Six years after Stokes was heartbroken in the 2016 Kolkata final when Carlos Brathwaite hit him four times in a row in the final, Stokes finally stepped up in a big game , found redemption by securing England’s second T20 World Cup trophy.
The victory also made England the first team in men’s international cricket history to win two World Cup trophies at the same time, after Stokes played a key role in the 2019 ODI World Cup final at home to ‘Sweet Carlo’. Lynn’s Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Chasing 138, England lost the opening game to Alex Hayles as Shaheen Shah Afridi got a man who reshaped and took out the middle stump. He and Naseem Shah tried to find some swings, but Jos Buttler hit three boundaries on a fuller ball to keep England’s scoreboard ticking.
Phil Salt survived and bounced Haris Rauf four times but struggled to time the ball well. Two balls later, Rauf had the last laugh as Salt was pulled tight and gave the middle wicket an easy catch.
Nassim then beat Butler five times in the fifth inning, though he conceded five balls and was tackled by a right-hander for a six-over-par advantage. But in the sixth inning, Raouf found just a little distance, and Butler’s perimeter was blocked by the goalie.
Stokes and Harry Brook completed the rebuild for England, providing a 39-point stand for the fourth wicket. The pair relied on strikes to rotate while hitting the boundary – Brook flicked in Raouf midway, while Stokes swept the lower edge on Shadab’s reverse and pushed Mohammad Wasim Jr. through extra cover.
But Brook struggled badly with time and scored a long drive from Shadab in the 13th. On the next play, Stokes escaped a run when he missed Beard’s stumps with a direct hit through the middle.
With Shaheen off the field with just one bowling due to a knee problem, Stokes used the opportunity to hit a four-pointer and pitch from long range to allow part-time player Iftikhar Ahmed to hit a six ball.
Moeen Ali continued the rhythm by knocking out Wasim Jr. on the first two balls in Game 17 — a slam on a screen followed by a pull in the gap at the square leg. Ali then ended the game by sweeping a top edge hard over the goalkeeper’s head.
Stokes hit his 50 on 47 balls, and he finished a well-rounded pitch in the 19th inning despite Ali being batted cleanly in the 19th by a brilliant Yorkie from Wasim Jr. Controlled pitching. He fittingly ended the chase with a single to win the England final by one point.
Brief grades: Pakistan 137/8 in 20 rounds (Shan Masood 38, Babar Azam 32; Sam Curran 3/12, Adil Rashid 2/22) lost to England 138/5 in 19 rounds (Ben Stokes 52 not out, Jos Buttler 26 ; Haris Rauf). 2/23, Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/13) by five wickets
