England blasted away by Pakistan

Pakistan have beaten England in the final of the Hong Kong Sixes by 35 runs.

Rory Hamilton- Brown won the toss and once again elected to field first. The Pakistan team had a host of international stars including Abdul Razzaq, Umar Akmal and Sohail Tanvir. Akmal opened the batting with Sharjeel Khan but Darren Stevens got England off to a good start when when he had Khan caught behind for 6. However, Razzaq joined Akmal and blasted the ball around the ground from ball one, taking 31 off of Stevens' over. Akmal got in on the act in the next over, until Tom Smith had him caught by Rikki Clarke for 16. Pakistan  53-2 after 2 overs.

Razzaq continued to hit the ball to all parts and was joined by Sohail Tanvir who was equally aggressive. Razzaq retired, but Tanvir was still there, and he hit a fantastic array of shots off of the skipper's over. Hammad Azam was caught behind for 4 and Yasir Shah was run out without facing a ball, which brought Razzaq back to the crease. He and Tanvir continued on their way, smashing seemingly every ball to the boundary, taking 40 off of Rikki Clarke's over. They both passed fifty and were on their way to posting a formidable total for their team. Tanvir was run out in the last over, leaving Razzaq in the middle on his own, who hit Peter Trego for 23 and finished on 63 off of just 17 balls. Pakistan had scored 154-5, the highest total of this year's tournament.

Once again Darren Stevens opened up with Chris Read and the pair got England off to a solid start, taking 20 off the opening over from Razzaq. Umar Akmal, not known for his bowling, then bowled a vital over, taking 3 England wickets despite going for 26. He first had Read caught and bowled for 11, and followed that up by having Stevens caught and bowled for 19. Off his last ball, he had Rikki Clarke caught by Azam for 16, leaving England a near impossible target of 109 more of 18 balls, with just 3 wickets left.

Shah then made it worse for England when he bowled Rory Hamilton- Brown for 12, and conceded 26 in his over, a good over in the circumstances. Tom Smith and Peter Trego tried as hard as they could, hitting some excellent shots all around the small Hong Kong ground, and took 29 off of Tanvir's over. However, that wasn't enough and they both fell in the last over. Tom Smith was bowled by Azam for 29, which was followed by Trego caught by Tanvir for 32. England 119 all out, a valiant effort from the team, but just not good enough against an explosive Pakistan line up.

Chris Adams will be happy with the way his team played in the tournament, but will be disappointed to have come so far and not come away with the winners trophy.