Date-stamped : 30 Aug96 - 06:38 Blade-runner Anwar seeks out the spaces By Mark Nicholas ANWAR the Bat. Eight one-day international hundreds, 11 one-day international fifties for Saeed Anwar and all of them with wrist, dash and style. There is something mesmeric about stroke-playing left-handers, something bewitching to right-arm bowlers who ap- pear to feed those favourite strokes - the cut behind point, the square and extra-cover drives, the flick over square-leg. Gower, Lara, Anwar, enchanters all, and when the force is with them bowling is a rum business. Anwar played another cracking innings yesterday, a master of his blade as he altered the angle of its face seeking out spaces that England`s planning threatened to deny him. England directed the new ball outside off stump and on an ideal length which the openers, Anwar and Aamir Sohail, found hard to drive on a slug- gish and cracked pitch. They placed six men in the off-side field, two on the third man and cover boundaries, and left just three on the leg side to save a single. The plot worked well against Sohail, who had scored only five when the fifty came up in the 17th over. Anwar had 44, but not by powering the ball through his favourite off side, more with clev- er deflections and desperate-to-dominate leg-side thumps. Only because his form is so good could he heave Dean Headley from out- side the off stump higher than midwicket. This is the problem for the bowler with the restriction which al- lows only two fielders outside the 30-yard ring for the first 15 overs. They cannot afford to concede runs on both sides of the wicket, which is why England settled for off side in defence against strong off-side batsmen, and the total of 22 for the first 10 overs endorsed their thinking. In contrast, England passed fifty in the 10th over and did so with abandon not fortune. Alex Stewart was brilliant in his placement and no less so in the courage of his convictions as he took the fight to the two Ws. One stroke, the flick off his hip over square-leg off Waqar Younis, drew breath from the specta- tors, and then, as the spectators gathered themselves, Stewart`s refreshing partner Nick Knight ran down the pitch at Wasim Akram and smote audaciously to the sight- screen. Entertaining, unself- ish stuff which, allied to enthusiastic - nay, cheeky - running between the wickets, rocked Pakistan. But that difference in the early run rate was not so much the difference in batting approach - all four of yesterday`s openers love to take charge - more the reflection of different stra- tegies. Pakistan could only score comfortably on one side of the wicket; England were almost invited to score on both. By nature, Wasim and Waqar attack with the new ball; by order with the abun- dance of domestic one-day cricket, England defend. Stewart`s shot over square-leg was preceded by a back-foot drive through cover and followed by a punch wide of midwicket. If the batsman got it right, the regulation which allows only two out- side the ring meant there was no defending. England got it right OK and it set them up to win the game. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)