World Cup head-to-head: England and Pakistan are tied 4-4

Bengaluru, May 11: Hosts England will be playing former champions Pakistan in their second game in the upcoming ICC World Cup.

It will also be the second for Pakistan who will open their campaign against two-time champions West Indies on May 31.

England and Pakistan have been old foes in cricket and have met each other 83 times. England have 49-31 lead over the Pakistanis while three games have not seen a result. In their last five games, both teams have won two games each while one has been of no result (as of May 11 when both teams were in the middle of a ODI series).

At the World Cup, the two sides have met nine teams so far with both winning four games while one match ending without a result.

Here we take a brief look at the scores of England vs Pakistan games in the World Cup since 1979 when they first met:

England beat Pakistan by 14 runs; group match; Leeds; June 16, 1979:

Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal won the toss and asked England to bat and his bowlers did a good job in restricting the home side to 165 for 9 in 60 overs. Sikander Bakht and Majid Khan took three wickets each while Asif took two as the English batsmen failed to break free. Graham Gooch was the highest scorer with 33 off 90 balls.

However, Mike Hendrick (4 for 15) and Ian Botham (2 for 38) ran through the Pakistan top order to make the target look distant. Iqbal scored 51 but consumed 104 balls and his team was all out for 151 runs to lose by 14 runs. Hendrick was the man of the match.

England beat Pakistan by 8 wickets; group match; Lord’s; June 13, 1983:

Imran Khan won the toss and elected to bat but Pakistan could not capitalise on Zaheer Abbas’s 83 not out off 104 balls and could manage 193 for 8 from 60 overs. Mudassar Nazar was the next highest scorer with 26.

For England, skipper Bob Willis and Botham took two wickets each. The target proved to a be a cakewalk for England, thanks to 78 not out by Graeme Fowler and a couple of 48 from David Gower and Allan Lamb (not out) as the hosts romped home with 8 wickets in hand with almost 10 overs to spare. Abbas was picked as the man of the match.

England beat Pakistan by 7 wickets; group match; Old Trafford; June 18, 1983:

Imran won the toss and yet again elected to bat and Pakistan did better this time to post 232 for 8 in 60 overs. Javed Miandad top scored with 67 while Ijaz Faqih slammed 42 not out to help Pakistan push the score beyond 230. Graham Dilley and Vic Marks claimed two scalps apiece.

England came up with a powerful reply as their openers Fowler (69) and Chris Tavare (58) put up 115 runs for the first wicket. After the duo’s dismissals, Gower (31) and Lamb (38 not out) ensured that England remained on the track and they won by 7 wickets. Mudassar Nazar was the best Pakistani bowler with a couple of wickets. Fowler was adjudged the player of the match.

Pakistan beat England by 18 runs; group match; Rawalpindi; October 12-13, 1987:

England skipper Mike Gatting won the toss and asked Imran’s Pakistan to bat. Pacers Phil DeFreitas (3 for 42) and Gladstone Small (2 for 47) did not allow Pakistan to run away with the scoring and from 112-2, the home side eventually ended up with 239 for 7 in 50 overs. Saleem Malik top scored with 65 and Ijaz Ahmed chipped in with 59.

England had a good start and were 186 for 3 after their top order clicked but after Gatting departed for 43, his side lost the plot. Thanks to a heap of run-outs towards the end, England lost their last five wickets for just 16 runs to get all out for 221 in the 49th over. Spinner Abdul Qadir took 4 for 31 and ended up as the man of the match.

Pakistan beat England by 7 wickets; group match; Karachi; October 20, 1987:

Pakistan won their second game in the tournament against England as well and this time it was in Karachi. Imran Khan won the toss and elected to field. In this game too, Bill Athey’s 86 and Gatting’s 60 had put England at a commanding position but back to back dismissals of the two saw England failing to capitalise and from 187 for 2, the Three Lions slumped to 230 for 9 before the last pair of Neil Foster and Eddie Hemmings added unbeaten 14 runs to take their score to 244.

Imran was the best Pakistani bowler with 4 for 37 while Qadir took 3 for 31. Pakistan came up with a powerful reply as opener Rameez Raja slammed a century (113) while Malik hit 88 to ensure their side’s victory. Their 167-run partnership for the second wicket helped Pakistan win by 7 wickets with a over to spare. Imran was adjudged the man of the match.

No result: league match; Adelaide; March 1, 1992:

Graham Gooch won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first. Javed Miandad stood in this game as the stand-in captain and his side failed to withstand the English pace quartet of Dereck Pringle, DeFreitas, Small and Botham and folded for a paltry 74 in 40.2 overs.

Malik and tail-ender Mushtaq Ahmed scored 17 runs each as the team’s highest. England were 24 for 1 in 8 overs with Gooch getting out off Wasim Akram’s bowling. But Pakistan had an escape as the skies opened up and England being forced to share a point with the Asians that proved crucial at the end.

Pakistan beat England by 22 runs; World Cup final; Melbourne; March 25, 1992:

Pakistan’s biggest moment in cricket came against England at the iconic MCG on March 25, 1992, when Imran Khan’s side beat Gooch’s England by 22 runs. Imran won the toss and elected to bat and pushed up him up the order to No.3 to score 72 runs off 110 balls. Miandad scored 58, Inzamam-ul-Haq 42 and Akram hit a 18-ball 33 down the order to take Pakistan’s score to 249 for 6 in 50 overs. England had a poor beginning to their chase but just when Neil Fairbrother (62) and Lamb (31) were resurrecting their innings with a 72-run partnership, a double strike by Akram sealed the game for Pakistan as England were all out for 227 in the final over to lose by 22 runs. Akram and Mushtaq took 3 wickets each and the left-arm seamer was picked as the man of the match.

Pakistan beat England by 7 wickets; group match; Karachi; March 3, 1996:

Michael Atherton won the toss and decided to bat and gave England one of their best starts with partner Robin Smith by putting up 147 runs for the first wicket. Graham Thorpe also scored 52 not out but at the end, the visitors could manage only 249 for 9, thanks to a late-innings collapse. Mushtaq took 3 for 53 while Aamer Sohail took 2 for 48.

Pakistan’s batting also fired as their openers Sohail (42) and Saeed Anwar (71) put up a solid opening partnership. Ijaz Ahmed (70) and Inzamam (53 not out) were the other half-centurions who took Pakistan past the English total with seven wickets and over two overs to spare. Dominic Cork picked two Pakistani wickets. Sohail was the man of the match for his all-round show.

England beat Pakistan by 112 runs; group match; Cape Town; February 22, 2003:

In the latest encounter between the two sides in the WC, it was England who decimated the opponents. Nasser Hussain won the toss and elected to bat and a team effort saw the Three Lions posting a total of 246 for 8 in 50 overs. Michael Vaughan scored 52 while Fairbrother hit 66 not out.

Three Pakistani bowlers, including captain Waqar Younis, took two wickets each. Pakistan had successfully chased a similar target against Pakistan in the WC in the past but in this game, the English pacers destroyed their batting.

James Anderson’s 4 for 29 and Craig White’s 3 for 33 reduced Pakistan to 80 for 9 before No.11 Shoaib Akhtar hit his career-best score of 43 in 16 balls took them to 134. Pakistan lost the game by 112 runs with Anderson bagging the man of the match award.