England’s rising star Will Smeed has grabbed the headlines by playing a fantastic innings for Quetta Gladiators on his Pakistan Super League debut last night. The youngster opened the innings for the Gladiators against Peshawar Zalmi and scored 97 runs off 62 deliveries, smashing 11 fours and four sixes.
Gladiators posted a 190-run total on the board, riding on the half-century from Smeed. However, they ultimately lost the match by five wickets. A fine half-century from Hussain Talat made sure that the Peshawar Zalmi team got off to a winning start in the 2022 PSL season.
Nevertheless, Will Smeed managed to break the all-time record of former England cricket team captain Kevin Pietersen during his innings. He set a new record for the highest individual score by an England cricketer in the history of the Pakistan Super League. Previously, Pietersen scored 88 runs off 42 deliveries against Lahore Qalandars. Incidentally, his knock also came for the Quetta Gladiators team.
This is now the highest score by an Englishman in #PSL history, with Will Smeed surpassing Kevin Pietersen’s 88* (42) for Quetta Gladiators against LQ in #PSL2. #HBLPSL7 #QGvPZ
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) January 28, 2022
I think I struggled against the spinners, so have to improve: Will Smeed
Will missed out on his maiden PSL century by just three runs. He played so well, but after winning the Man of the Match award, Smeed admitted at the post-match presentation that he needs to improve against the spinners.
“It was great to be out there and great to get the opportunity to get games. It felt nice with the new ball coming on but I think I struggled against the spinners, so have to improve. I hope to keep getting better on these pitches,” Smeed was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.
It will be interesting to see how Smeed performs in the upcoming matches.
