Watch the highlights of England vs Pakistan 8th Match Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket 1985 - Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket one-day international tournament of the 8th ODI match played between Pakistan and England at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne in 02nd March 1985.
Opener Mudassar Nazar's classy 77 before Pace bowling attack from Imran Khan, Azeem Hafeez and Tahir Naqqash helped to Pakistan comprehensive 67-run victory over England, despite a Allan Lamb's fighting 81 and secure a their place in Semi-final in eighth match of a Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket match.
Pakistan scored decent total of 213-8 in 50 overs with top scorer by Mudassar Nazar struck 77 off 102-balls including seven boundaries.
Imran Khan cracked a 35 off 58-balls included 3-fours, Rameez Raza and Tahir Naqqash both scored 21-runs.
England best bowler by Richard Ellison picked up 3-wickets, Neil Foster took 2-wickets, Vic Marks, Phil Edmonds and Norman Cowans each took one-wickets.
England scored 146 for all-out in 24.2 overs with top scorer by Allan Lamb hammered a 81 off 69-balls and David Gower struck 27 off 33-balls including 3-fours and Mike Gatting 11.
Pakistan best bowler by Tahir Naqqash picked up 3-wickets for 24-runs in 4.2-overs, Azeem Hafeez and Imran Khan both took 2-wickets.
Allan Lamb named Player of the match for his fighting innings of 81-runs knocked off facing 69-balls including 12-fours and a six with strike rate of 117.39.
England best bowler by Richard Ellison picked up 3-wickets, Neil Foster took 2-wickets, Vic Marks, Phil Edmonds and Norman Cowans each took one-wickets.
England scored 146 for all-out in 24.2 overs with top scorer by Allan Lamb hammered a 81 off 69-balls and David Gower struck 27 off 33-balls including 3-fours and Mike Gatting 11.
Pakistan best bowler by Tahir Naqqash picked up 3-wickets for 24-runs in 4.2-overs, Azeem Hafeez and Imran Khan both took 2-wickets.
Allan Lamb named Player of the match for his fighting innings of 81-runs knocked off facing 69-balls including 12-fours and a six with strike rate of 117.39.
This match reported by Robert James (Third Party Reference from The Sunday Telegraph / The Daily Telegraph)
FOR 94 minutes of brilliant improvisation under the Melbourne lights Allan Lamb gave England hope that they might after all survive Tuesday's World Championship debacle in Sydney against India.
With England needing 214 in 32-4 overs to pip Pakistan for a possible place in the semi-finals, Lamb carried them with little help to a position from which another half-an-hour of him might just have done the trick.
Hauling Imran hugely into the gaping Melbourne outfield and darting outside leg stump to punch his less rapid team-mates through the covers, Lamb, by the 22nd over, had reduced the target to 81 at only a fraction more than the original asking rate of 6.55 an over.
However, in an eventful over by Azeem that was where the story ended. Off the first ball Richard Ellison was missed at extra cover, a simple catch to Javed shoulder high running through for a single. Off the third Lamb, cramped for room, changed what he was planning as an offside thrash into a swivelling off-balance hook, got a top edge and was marvellously caught by 18-year-old Wasim Akram sprinting off the fine leg boundary.
It was an epic catch taken at full tilt, knee-high in a run of 30 yards, to end what nearly was an epic innings. Of 69 halls Lamb hit 12 fours and a pulled six, off Imran, to score 81-his highest in serious cricket on the four-month tour.
England were 138-5 and had only desperation left. In three overs the last five wickets fell for eight more runs and Pakistan had won by 67. They have four points but cannot count on a place in the mid-week semi-finals. Win or lose tomorrow's match with Australia, India need only score 221 or more qualify, while to join them Australia have to win with a scoring rate of 4.45 or better.
England could not be faulted for their batting tactics it was win or bust. The fault lay in the failure to take stock in the later stages of Tuesday's match in Sydney. Up to half-a-dozen extra overs might have been available against Pakistan had someone been alert enough to spot the significance of batting through all 50 overs against India to give the scoring rate an upward nudge. Because England were bowled out the calculation there was made on 50 overs rather than the 41-4 the innings lasted.
In both games England's bowlers deserved to finish on the winning side. Like India in the Sydney match, Pakistan, winning an important toss, were looking at a score in the 250 range, and with Mudassar going well they reached 87-1 off 20 overs.
But as soon as the spinners found the ball would turn they took control. Vic Marks, hit for nine in a poor first over, flighted the next nine to finish up with 1-25, and Phil Edmonds was so much on top of Imran he had David Gower in at silly point.
Javed, who has more strokes than many two batsmen put together, was pegged to 11 off 31 deliveries. In that second bout of 20 overs Pakistan lost four wickets for 58 runs.
But to score at almost seven runs an over England needed more than one man firing. In like lions after their successful tour of India, they owe a debt to a small South African.
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