File image of Chris Woakes© AFP
Chris Woakes became England’s most successful bowler in World Cups as he surpassed former all-rounder Ian Botham after claiming a single wicket during England’s 93-run victory over Pakistan at the iconic Eden Gardens. Woakes’ 31st wicket was the final dismissal of the night as he bowled a slower off delivery, Haris Rauf slogged it with full strength trying to clear the boundary but his shot went straight to Ben Stokes at mid-on.
In England’s last game against the Netherlands, he levelled Botham’s record of 30 wickets for England which he picked during his decorated career.
With 29 wickets right-arm pacer Phil Defreitas holds the second spot while James Anderson who still continues to put up performance for England in the Test format has claimed 27 wickets for the Three Lions in the World Cup. Spinner Adil Rashid has 26 wickets to his name while pacer Mark Wood has 24 wickets.
Coming to the match, while chasing a target of 338, David Willey in his last international game made Pakistan batters toil hard as they had no answers to his quick swinging deliveries. He made the most of the opportunity as he dismissed Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Azam back to the pavilion for scores of 0 and 1 respectively.
Skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan stitched up a 51-run partnership driving Pakistan’s innings with hopes of ending it on a positive note.
Rizwan held on to his wicket on the other end along with Saud Shakeel. Another promising yet short liver partnership ended with Rizwan walking back to the pavilion. The 25-year-old Gus Atkinson provided the breakthrough to derail Pakistan’s innings by dismissing Babar for 38.
Adil Rashid’s spin bamboozled Shakeel (29) while Agha Salman’s promising knock of 51 was brought to an end by Willey. The rest of the batters crumbled except for Shaheen Sha Afridi and Haris Rauf who showed some fight towards the end.
Afridi’s cameo of 25 ended as Atkinson claimed his second wicket of the night, while Rauf’s fireworks took Pakistan’s score past 200 but his valiant 35-run knock came to an end with Chris Woakes picking up the final wicket.
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