Share

England beat Pakistan in rain-hit first one-dayer

After 42 overs the rain arrived for the first time and after a short break, Malik chipped to Rashid at mid-off to give Plunkett his only wicket.

Advertisement

Hales’ Notts team-mate Jake Ball was a late addition to the squad and he may miss out on a place in the team.

But Roys innings ended when a lofted drive off spinner Mohammad Nawaz was brilliantly caught just inside the boundary by Babar, running round from long-off.

Alex Hales had been first to go, prodding medium pacer Umar Gul to the diving Mohammad Hafeez at slip in the fifth over for seven.

Perhaps he was too comfortable when he called Root through for a single that was never available.

The default setting for Pakistan’s limited-overs captain seems to be “under pressure” but Azhar had accepted the situation with a laugh and a shrug on the eve of the match.

Surrey opener Roy s quickfire 65 fired England towards an initial victory target of 261 after Pakistan had made 260 for six, captain Azhar Ali top-scoring with 82.

England captain Eoin Morgan was excited about the challenge of taking on Pakistan in five Royal London One Day Internationals, starting today.

From there the pacy Wood, impressing in his first worldwide since October because of ankle surgery, the increasingly dependable Chris Woakes and Plunkett, who improved after a poor start, restricted Pakistan to only 40 runs in the last seven overs.

Mark Wood (1-57) – making his first global appearance since October 2015 – immediately found his rhythm and troubled Sharjeel Khan (16) early on, and in the sixth over he got his man as Jos Buttler took down the leg side. Despite clearly edging the ball behind for 16, Sharjeel asked for the review – a odd and unwise decision that would cost his team.

Azhar, however, was twice dropped on 9. Hales claimed he had failed to pick up the trajectory of the ball from his position at backward point, but he should still have caught it. He knew the English batsmen did not gift away their wickets and arriving in England a month ahead also helped him a lot to get acclimatised and understand the Duke ball better. Defending with bat close to his front pad, replays revealed a clear inside edge but, with Sharjeel having wasted Pakistan’s one review, Azam had to make his way off lbw to Rashid for 40.

Pakistan opted against recalling leg-spinner Yasir Shah.

Advertisement

Moeen Ali held firm when Azhar skied one off Rashid however, with Pakistan’s skipper and innings linchpin removed with his side 178 for four. They needed Sarfraz to contribute and he maintained the form he showed in the Test series with a breezy innings.

Pakistan beats England at Oval, level series 2-2