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Dubai - England successfully chased Pakistan's modest total of 129-8 to win the first of two Twenty20 Internationals between the teams by seven wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium Friday.
England appeared to be in trouble when they lost three wickets in quick succession, but Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan came together for the highest England fourth-wicket partnership in a Twenty20 match, allowing Paul Collingwoods men to reach the target with nine balls to spare.
Morgan was unbeaten on 67, while Pietersen contributed 43 as England scored 130-3.
Earlier, Pakistan extended its poor run with the bat.
A reckless display by the Pakistan batsmen squandered the toss advantage after stand-in captain Shoaib Malik opted to bat. Malik is captain in place of Shahid Afridi who is serving a two-match ban for ball tampering.
Pakistan wickets fell at regular intervals, starting with opener Imran Nazir who pulled a Stuart Broad delivery to Joe Denly at midwicket, to start the slide. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals thereafter. Malik played a steady hand in the middle overs but he too got out to a tame shot in the 15th over to derail any hopes of recovery.
Graeme Swann was the pick of England's bowlers, taking 2-18.
Scoreboard:
Imran Nazir c Denly b Broad 2
Imran Farhat run out 14
Khalid Latif c Prior b Wright 4
Umar Akmal c Broad b Swann 13
Shoaib Malik c Collingwood b Swann 33
Fawad Alam c Prior b Broad 23
Abdul Razzaq c Broad b Bresnan 22
Sarfraz Ahmed c Broad b Bresnan 5
Yasir Arafat not out 9
Umar Gul not out 1
Extras: (1w, 1nb, 1lb) 3
TOTAL: (for 8 wickets) 129
Overs: 20.
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-20, 3-26, 4-39, 5-86, 6-106, 7-115, 8-119.
Did Not Bat: Saeed Ajmal.
Bowling: Ryan Sidebottom 4-0-21-0, Tim Bresnan 4-0-30-2, Chris Broad 4-0-23-2, Luke Wright 4-0-27-1, Graeme Swann 3-0-18-2, Paul Collingwood 1-0-9-0. ^England=
Jonathan Trott b Razzaq 4
Joe Denly c Farhat b Arafat 1
Kevin Pietersen not out 43
Paul Collingwood run out 0
Eoin Morgan not out 67
Extras: (9w, 5lb, 1nb) 15
TOTAL: (for 3 wickets) 130
Overs: 18.3.
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-10, 3-18.
Did not bat: Luke Wright, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom
Bowling: Abdul Razzaq 4-0-24-1, Yasir Arafat 4-0-18-1 (3w), Shoaib Malik 3-0-28-1 (3w), Saeed Ajmal 4-0-18-0 (1w), Umar Gul 3.3-0-36-0 (2w).
Result: England won by 7 wickets, leads series by 1-0.
Man of the match: Eoin Morgan.
