Pakistan, England warm up in style for World Cup

Woakes, Irfan gear up with five-wicket hauls; SA beat Lanka

Sydney: Seamers Chris Woakes and Mohammad Irfan geared up for the World Cup with five-wicket hauls to help England and Pakistan register wins in the warm-up games in Sydney on Monday.

Pakistan’s Sohaib Maqsood plays a shot as Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim looks on. — AFP 

England beat the West Indies by nine wickets while Pakistan downed Bangladesh by three wickets. Woakes took 5-19 in 7.3 overs of skilled swing bowling to dismiss the West Indies for a paltry 122 in 29.3 overs. England chased down the target for the loss of just one wicket in 22.5 overs.

Woakes dismissed dashing opener Chris Gayle off the third ball of the first over for a duck and off the very next ball had Darren Bravo, who also failed to score. He then dismissed Dwayne Smith (21) in his fourth over to leave the West Indies reeling on 35-3.

Lendl Simmons top-scored with 45 with four boundaries and a six before Woakes returned for his second spell to dismiss Simmons and Andre Russell to cap an impressive day. Fellow fast bowler Steven Finn took 2-34. Opener Moeen Ali hit 46 off 43 balls with nine boundaries and put on 70 for the opening wicket with Ian Bell, who made 35 not out.

James Taylor made 25 not out and helped add 55 in an unbroken second-wicket stand. The victory will give England much-needed confidence before their opening World Cup game against Australia in Melbourne on Saturday.

Pakistan pulled Bangladesh back from an impressive 190-3 in the 40th over, taking the last seven wickets for 56 to dismiss them for 246 in the final over. Bangladesh were lifted by Mohammad Mahmudullah (83) and Tamim Iqbal (81), with the pair adding 168 for the third wicket. But lanky paceman Irfan brought Pakistan back into the game with 5-52, his last three wickets coming in the slog overs. Pakistan owed their victory to Sohaib Maqsood, who made a brilliant 93 not out to help his team overhaul the target in 48.1 overs. Maqsood hit nine boundaries and two sixes during his 90-ball knock. He added 51 for the fourth wicket with Haris Sohail (39) and 63 for the fifth with Umar Akmal, who also made 39. Pakistan play England in their second warm-up game on Wednesday before taking on title-holders India in their first World Cup game in Adelaide on Sunday. Bangladesh open their campaign with a match against minnows Afghanistan in Canberra on February 18.

South Africa beat Sri Lanka by five wickets with just three balls to spare in a thrilling rain-interrupted World Cup warm-up.

Sri Lanka smashed 279 for seven in their innings, which was reduced to 44.4 overs after rain stopped play at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan laid the foundations for a big Sri Lankan total when he belted exactly 100 off just 83 deliveries, which included 15 boundaries and two sixes.

He was well supported by the Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews, who made a quickfire 58 off 49 balls, and Dimuth Karunaratne, who chipped in with 46 off 61 deliveries. When the rain stopped and the South Africans started their reply, they were initially set 230 to win off 30 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Quinton de Kock (66) and Hashim Amla (46) put on 115 for the opening wicket in 15 overs before the rain returned, forcing another delay. South Africa’s target was reduced to 188 off 25 overs, leaving them needing 72 of 10 overs with 10 wickets in hand.

Meanwhile, rain forced the abandonment of the warm-up match between New Zealand and Zimbabwe.  The match was called off after just 30 overs were completed at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, at Lincoln University.