London: England’s second T20I Pakistan was halted for a brief period when a pitch invader ran onto the field of play with a Palestine flag on Saturday at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The incident took place during the second innings when Pakistan were batting. In a video that went viral on social media, the pitch invader ran straight onto the pitch before the stewards detained him and immediately took him out of the ground. Slogans of ‘Free Palestine’ were also heard in the background in the video.
Earlier, Jofra Archer made an impressive return to international cricket as England defeated Pakistan by 23 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series that will serve as a preparation for both teams in the lead up to the T20 World Cup 2024. The first match had been abandoned due to rain.
Batting first, England rode on a fine 84 from captain Jos Buttler and Will Jack’s 37 to post 183/7 in 20 overs. For Pakistan, Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets while Imad Wasim and Haris Rauf scalped two wickets each.
A spectator carrying a Palestine-flag invades the pitch during the 2nd T20I.#PAKvENG #PAKvsENG#PakistanCricket pic.twitter.com/DvGi4638CX
— Abdullah Neaz (@cric___guy) May 25, 2024
In reply, Pakistan lost openers Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub with just 14 runs on board. Babar Azam (32) and Fakhar Zaman (45) tried their best with a 53-run stand for the third wicket before a flurry of wickets ensured the visitors never came back in the game. Archer, who is playing after more than a year, finished with figures of 2/28 while Reece Topley took 3/41. Moeen Ali also took two wickets.
Buttler also backed Archer. “He was brilliant, you can see the emotions. Taking wickets again for England, it’s fantastic. You got to temper the expectations, it’s a long time, he’s not going to be the Jofra Archer of old straightaway. But, a really positive performance. It’s trying to absolutely want to get games into him but look after him as well. The whole bowling group was brilliant,” he added.