WC 2019: Pakistan beat England by 14 runs in thrilling encounter, Hafeez shines with bat

It took an all-round effort by the Pakistan team to beat their much fancied opponents England, who came into the match on the back of trouncing South Africa by 104 runs.

After getting trounced by West Indies in their opening World Cup encounter, Pakistan made a resounding comeback to beat England by 14 runs at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Monday. It took an all-round effort by the Pakistan team to beat their much fancied opponents England, who came into the match on the back of trouncing South Africa by 104 runs. Put into bat first by England captain Eoin Morgan, Pakistan set up a herculean 349-target for England on the back of a splendid batting effort. While Mohammad Hafeez led the run scoring wih a fluent 84, there were meaningful contribution from skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman. Pakistan were provided with a breezy start by their openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam Ul Haq. Moeen Ali was the most successful English bowler picking up 2 wickets. Seamer Mark Wood was also quite impressive ending up with Chasing a mammoth 349-run target, England did not  start too well as Shadab Khan struck early by trapping Jason Roy leg before wickets. Bairstow and skipper Morgan led the repair work in the innings by stitching together a resilient second wicket partnership. Pakistan got back into the game after scalping skipper Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes in quick succession. However, Root kept England in the game by a staging a late recovery with Jos Buttler. Root kept piling on the runs for England and eventually got to the three figure mark. Buttler, then showcased his power hitting by striking some crispy blows to take the host is striking distance of the target. Against the run of play, Mohammad Amir dismissed Buttler to turn things back in Pakistan's favour. Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali swung their bat around to delay the inevitable but experienced pacer Wahab Riaz came back strongly to seal the game in Pakistan's favour.