An excellent all-round show from Lewis Gregory combined with a fine bowling performance helped England to take an unassailable 2-0 series lead against Pakistan. In an innings that constantly fluctuated, England put up 247 batting first, but Pakistan’s top-order crumbled once again and ended up losing by 52 runs.
England once again produced a fantastic bowling performance and thrashed Pakistan to seal the series 2-0 with one game to go. Despite being without their first-choice players, England have looked powerful and have put out clinical performances. Pakistan’s struggles have continued, and their batting continued to disappoint, which cost them both the games.
Rain delayed the start of this second game, and the match was reduced to 47-overs-a-side. Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first. Both teams remained unchanged.
Pakistan had an excellent start with the ball. The two half-centurions from the first ODI Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley were dismissed for ducks as Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi struck early. However, that didn’t deter England as Phil Salt and James Vince blazed away to their respective half-centuries inside the first 15 overs. Salt reached his landmark in 41 balls while Vince took just 36 deliveries. The duo shared a 97-run stand, and it came in a mere 13.2 overs.
But both the batters were dismissed in the space of three overs, and that triggered a mini-collapse. England went from 118/2 to 160/7 as the middle-order couldn’t really build on the platform. Hasan Ali ran through the England middle-order. With 20 overs to go, it seemed like England would be bowled out to an under-par score.
However, Gregory’s 40 and Brydon Carse’s 31 propelled the hosts to 247. Gregory and Carse shared 69 runs for the eighth wicket before England were bowled out with 10 balls to spare. Hasan Ali finished with a fifer.
In reply, Pakistan’s top-order once again fell apart. Gregory struck off his first ball as he had Imam-ul-Haq nicking one to the keeper. Babar Azam walked in and scored a flurry of boundaries. He raced away to 19 before Saqib Mahmood got him out for the second time in a row as the Lancashire pacer got one to nip back and pin the Pakistan skipper LBW. Mahmood got another one in the powerplay as he dismissed Mohammad Rizwan.
Fakhar Zaman scratched around for 45 balls before he was got out for just 10. The middle-order got good starts but none of them could kick on and bat through, getting that big score. Saud Shakeel, playing his second ODI did score a fifty, but he didn’t have any support from the other end. Hasan Ali did threaten to take the game away from England as he scored a 17-ball 31 (two fours and three sixes), but once he was out, the writing was on the wall.
The entire England bowling line-up shared the spoils. Gregory returned with three wickets, Mahmood, Craig Overton and Matt Parkinson took two wickets each while Carse picked up one.
Brief scores
England 247 (Salt 60, Vince 56; Ali 5/51, Rauf 2/54) beat Pakistan 195 (Shakeel 56, Shadab 21; Gregory 3/44, Mahmood 2/21) by 52 runs.
