It might only be glorified practice but beating an Asian team in typically Asian conditions is to be lauded, especially when an English spinner takes three for 15 as Briggs did with his left-arm orthodox at Colombo's P Sara Oval ground on Tuesday.
His bride-to-be might not have been happy with it but Danny Briggs's decision to delay his wedding to play at the World Twenty20 looks like being the right one after his decisive spin against Pakistan helped England win their second warm-up match.
It might only be glorified practice but beating an Asian team in typically Asian conditions is to be lauded, especially when an English spinner takes three for 15 as Briggs did with his left-arm orthodox at Colombo's P Sara Oval ground on Tuesday.
Needing 112 to win, after England's batsmen had struggled against Saeed Ajmal's tricky tweakers, Briggs took key wickets after opening the bowling, which puts him at the forefront of England's challenge at least for the first two matches in Colombo where the pitches tend to grip more.
"I changed the wedding because of the World T20 which was obviously the priority," said Briggs. "We were due to get married on September 30 but had to change it once I realised I'd be out here. We've reorganised it so it'll be good just to concentrate on this tournament now."
He was certainly central to England's win after Stuart Broad's team had been bowled out for 111, Ajmal continuing the torment he had inflicted on them in the United Arab Emirates with four for 14.
England's perennial weaknesses against spin has not gone away it seems and it looked a paltry total until Briggs dismissed Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir in his first three overs. Tall, and possessed of subtle changes of pace and flight, Briggs also got significant turn, and there is a case for England to play three spinners. But if he is to join Graeme Swann (rested yesterday) and Samit Patel, two of Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach and Steve Finn would probably have to miss out, not an easy decision given Dernbach also bowled well and Finn is the only one with enough pace to hurry the batsmen.
The result suggests England's batsmen made enough runs but Pakistan are a schizophrenic side, so they probably would have needed 130-140 to beat the decent teams here.
Luke Wright was the pick of the batsmen with 38 off 36 balls, although 28 dot balls from 78 balls of spin overall needs to be improved upon.
Aside from that and the tail-end collapse, which saw them lose their last five wickets in eight balls, it was a pleasing performance ahead of
Friday's opener with Afghanistan.
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