Pakistan do it for retired Younis

Abu Dhabi - Hafeez blasts ton and Azam hits half century as hosts cruise past England

It was not quite the happy ending that Younis Khan had envisaged. The veteran must have dreamt of ending it like the last-action hero by anchoring Pakistan's chase. Instead, he signed off with a modest nine.
Younis couldn't get his side over the line in his final game, but his teammates made sure the senior statesman did end on a high in the first One Day International at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Wednesday night.
Pakistan overcame a mini-collapse of their own to best England and go one up in the four-match One-Day International series.
Mohammed Hafeez coshed his 11th hundred and his first against England, and rookie, the exciting young talent Babar Azam, notched his maiden half-century in only his fourth game as Pakistan got over the line by six wickets and with 38 balls to spare.
The second of the Abu Dhabi double-header is on Friday.
Earlier, England didn't quite make full use of their baseball lessons and spluttered to 216 all out. They were first undone by the pace of the towering Mohammed Irfan and Anwar Ali after which spin took over with Shoaib Malik and Yasir Shah.
Wednesday was Remembrance Day and England were left to battle hard to get out of the quagmire they found themselves in.
They were off to a nightmarish start with Irfan and Anwar leaving them tottering at 14 for three, which raised the prospect of whether they will go the full distance.
But captain Eoin Morgan, returning to competitive cricket for the first time after suffering a blow on the head from a Mitchell Starc bouncer at Old Trafford in the final fixture of the English summer, and James Taylor arrested their innings which was spiralling out of control and effected damage limitation.
Morgan scripted his 29th half-century and his ninth this year to have most the 50 plus scores by England captains in a year. And Taylor rode to a composed half-century, his first in ODIs.
Chris Woakes played a handy knock down the order to give England something to make a fist of.
Pakistan were well served by an energetic performance on the field, especially from the 21-year-old Babar Azam, who snapped up a blinder at short mid-wicket to send off Moeen Ali on his way and give Yasir Shah his only wicket of the game.
England opener Jason Roy kitted up and strode out along with Alex Hales after Morgan broke Pakistan's hegemony with the toss on this tour by calling right. But the 25-year-old Roy, who plays county cricket for Surrey, had to remove his gear after being castled for nought by a beauty from Irfan, off the second ball of match.
Joe Root walked in but his fruitless stay lasted just more than an over, seven balls to be precise, after he was adjudged leg before, also for nought, from an Anwar Ali delivery.
Root asked for a review and third umpire Chris Gaffaney checked all possible evidence before confirming his colleague was right. After Hales had watched Roy and Root go back to the confines of the dressing room, he too joined them by edging Anwar Ali to Younis Khan at slip. Younis juggled with the offering before holding onto it.
That left England staring at a hole with the match not even five overs old but James Taylor joined his captain Morgan and calmed some frayed nerves in the England dressing room.
Morgan, high back lift and all, as well as Taylor, replied with half centuries and the pair also knitted together 133 for the fourth wicket.
Morgan got to his landmark by slamming Bilal Asif for a boundary, while Taylor did one better than his captain by going for a big one against Shoaib Malik.
As the twilight set in, Azhar Ali lost a miscued skier from Taylor under the Zayed Stadium lights and fell in a heap, with Malik being the aggrieved bowler.
But Malik's disappointment turned into joy as he snapped up the man that they wanted - Morgan - after which Jos Buttler was run out.
Azhar then made amends for his earlier drop by gobbling up Taylor, with a diving effort.
Woakes and David Willey then stitched 33 for the ninth after which Pakistan wrapped it up with two balls remaining.
james@khaleejtimes.com