Stuart's 20/20 World Cup Series: 16 - Group Match Report 10

Game One Canada 106/7 v 107/3 Pakistan - Pakistan WIN

No one expected Pakistan's game against Canada to be one they had to win to have any hope of making the Super Eight stage of the tournament, but defeats by USA and India made it so.

With Canada's opener Aaron Johnson scoring 54 from 44 there may be a reasonable expectation of scoreboard pressure being applied by the team batting first. unfortunately wickets kept falling at the other end and, by the time Johnson holed out the score was 73 for 6. The other batters had contributed 19 runs.

Scoring didn't get any easier. Although only one more wicket fell, 106 was unlikely to be enough, even for a side which had failed against a low total just days before.

Pakistan batted with care, Mohammad Rizwan scored a steady 53 from 53 and, as an opener, was there at the end, easing past Canada's total in the 18th over.

That Pakistan took a risk averse route to achieving the runs requires is shown by them scoring only five boundaries, compared to Canada's twelve.

They may not be able to display such caution in their final game against Ireland, although by the time the teams meet in Florida they could both already know they are out of the competition.

In my time zone tomorrow there are three matches. Sri Lanka will hope to do a Pakistan and ease past lowly ranked opponents, Nepal. Australia will expect to hugely increase their run rate against Namibia. The match of the day is USA v India, with both teams on two wins this match guarantees the winner goes to the Super Eights. The match is the final one to be played at the Nassau County ICS and India will feel they have a good handle on how the ground plays while USA have been down in Texas for their first two games.

Check back tomorrow for reviews & updated boundary totals.

text by stuartcturnbull. graphic by Mir Rammez Raja & edited by stuartcturnbull via postermywall