England v Pakistan, 1st Twenty20, Dubai.

England 130 for 3 (Morgan 67*, Pietersen 43*) beat Pakistan 129 for 8 (Malik 33) by seven wickets

England began their journey towards the Twenty20 World Cup in rather inauspicious circumstances at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both teams came into the game following rather uninspiring build-ups, England who suffered a last ball defeat to the Lions courtesy of the ever-improving Craig Kieswetter, and Pakistan with only six players remaining from their triumphant Twenty20 World Cup campaign, hampered by the suspension of Shahid Afridi.

On a flat looking track Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Unfortunately for Malik's men the pitch offered much more than initial omens suggested and Pakistan's top four faulted. After some tight, probing work from Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan, Imran Nazir finally hauled out to Joe Denly at deep square-leg after a trio of short pitched deliveries from a freshly shaven Stuart Broad. Some sharp work from the more rugged Kevin Pietersen had Imran Farhat ran out shortly after as Pakistan continued to struggle to score.

Luke Wright piled on the misery as the decidedly edgy Khalid Latif edged behind to Matt Prior for only 4. Following a disastrous series in Australia with the gloves Kamran Akmal was forced to watch his brother Umar from the sidelines. And after a brief flurry of boundaries it took a wonderful catch from Broad to dislodge him, Graeme Swann's fine form transferring effortlessly into the shorter format.

Despite their slowest ever start to a Twenty20 International Shoaib Malik and Fawad Alam put on 47 for the fifth wicket. Malik led from the front and began to rebuild, using his feet to Swann and smacking Wright for two consecutive fours. Swann returned for his second over only to produce another timely breakthrough, Malik departing for 33. Old hand replaced old hand as Abdul Razzaq maintained Pakistan's momentum, bludgeoning a Broad long hop for six. The Nottinghamshire paceman however soon found his length, Fawad undone by a well directed short ball managing to find the edge of the youngster's flailing willow.

England however regained full control as Pakistan struggled to set a competitive total. Sarfraz Ahmed's gorgeous slog-sweep was a rare moment of class amongst some decidedly average batting. Bresnan and Broad combining twice to prevent any real flourish in the final overs. Pakistan finally crept to 129 for 8, their batsmen never really able to stamp their authority on the game.

England's bowlers put in a great all-round performance to restrict Pakistan.

Image courtesy of cricinfo.com

Despite a below-par total, early breakthroughs by Abdul Razzaq and Yasir Arafat saw England slump to 18 for 3 in 4.2 overs, and for a brief moment the game was on again - but the moment was indeed very brief. Enter Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan. Off the back of a disappointing series in South Africa, KP was looking to let his hair down, whilst Morgan, whose all round performances have shown signs of brilliance over the past year, was out to cement his place in the conveyor-belt that is the England one day side.

A nine-ball over from Malik helped Pietersen to settle into his stride, and from there on in it was very comfortable for England. Umar Gul, dubbed the most economical bowler in international "T20" failed to live up to his reputation and struggled to find a workable length - even his viscous yorkers deceiving him at the vital moments. England soon strolled home thanks to wonderful trio of boundaries from Morgan, finishing the chase with a crunching six ten rows back.

It was a night for Pakistan to forget - their bowlers failed to take advantage of a pitch that offered some variable bounce, and their batsmen lacked the composure and maturity to set up a decent score. England on the other hand will take a lot from this victory - in particular the return to form of Pietersen, who will undoubtedly will be pivotal to England's success in the Caribbean this Spring.