Rain saves England
Pakistan left frustrated as rain halts play
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Wednesday, 30, Aug 2006 10:16
England were saved the embarrassment of another heavy limited-overs defeat as the first one-day international with Pakistan was abandoned because of rain.
The home side were rescued from an appalling total by Ian Bell's 88, his best knock in one-day cricket, but were still bowled out for just 202.
The tourists had reached 46-1 from seven overs, chasing 159 from 32 overs to win, before rain, which had already caused one lengthy disruption, ended the match permanently.
England would have been looking to put the Twenty20 defeat from Monday behind them after being put into bat by Pakistan.
However, the home side once again struggled early on in their innings, mainly thanks to some fantastic bowling from Pakistani seamer Mohammad Asif.
The quickie removed captain Andrew Strauss (2), Marcus Trescothick (16) and Kevin Pietersen (2) in an eight-over spell where he claimed 3-19.
Paul Collingwood hung around before falling to the first over of spin in the game, trapped lbw by Shahid Afridi for 14, but by this time England were already on the back foot at 99-4 after 25 overs.
It was left to Bell and Middlesex all-rounder Jamie Dalrymple to salvage England's innings but some tight Pakistani bowling strangled the run-rate and Bell was eventually run out in the 41st over.
England then lost another two wickets for the addition of one run, with Dalrymple departing for 27 and Chris Read recording a second-ball duck.
Some brief flashes from Darren Gough (18) helped England limp over the 200 mark but Pakistan were always going to fancy themselves until the weather intervened.
The tourists finally began their innings an hour-and-three-quarters late and they quickly set about chasing down England's total, helped by some wayward bowling from Duncan Fletcher's men.
One bright spot for England was Stuart Broad's first wicket in one-day cricket, a beautiful delivery which trapped Shoaib Malik lbw for five.
However, the rain in Cardiff slowly got heavier and the match was finally abandoned at 21:37 BST.