Debut teen fires up CW XI to impressive win
Cricket Web XI vs Pakistan - 1st ODI
Rawalpindi
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
A lively spell of accurate fast bowling from Kev Goughy ignited a brilliant comeback by the Cricket Web XI, as they defended a disappointing score of 206 all out with great ease. On debut, Goughy bowled with pace and purpose and removed both Pakistani openers after they were off to a solid start of 34-0.
Halsey took over in the middle overs, and the Pakistan batsmen found scoring a genuine chore before perishing to shots of frustration. The pitch, tipped to be a belter, proved slow and timing proved exceedingly difficult for both teams. And it was that factor that made Goughy's showing even more impressive. The teenager returned to bowl a startling maiden over at Rana Naved late in the innings, complete with two snorters ripping past the batsman's head. For a while it seemed that Kamran Akmal would place Pakistan with a shot, but he was out to a catch in the deep attempting to go hard a bit too soon.
The captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq then fell an over later in the same fashion, but to a more skillful catch by Neil Pickup. Earlier it was the touring captain who felt he let his team down. Brendon Goff was beaten by a sharp legcutter from Rana Naved and bowled offstump for a duck. At that stage his team stood at 39-2, with Markus having gone earlier to an offcutter. Andrew Cloete (39) and Chris Butler (30) steadied the innings somewhat, but wickets fell too regularly to mount a significant challenge in the late overs.
Alex Crampton and Liam Camps added 60 for the 6th wicket, with Crampton by far the more impressive partner. The wicketkeeper-batsman, under pressure from the discarded Ash Chaulk to produce with the bat, played a fine innings of 44 at a run-a-ball, helping the CW XI close to the 200-run mark, which Dave Watt then got past. It seemed an inadequate showing, but as the pitch got progressively more sluggish, the CW XI stuck to a disciplined line and length, and fired away due the inspiration provided by a teenage debutant.
Cricket Web XI 206 all out (49.1 overs)
A Crampton 44, AP Cloete 39, CR Butler 30
Naved-ul-Hasan 3-27, Mohammad Asif 2-41
Pakistan 160 all out (48.2 overs)
Shoaib Malik 32, Kamran Akmal 29, Imran Farhat 26
TC Halsey 4-40, KJ Goughy 2-18
Cricket Web XI won by 46 runs.
Man of the Match: TC Halsey