Before play was finally called off at 9.55pm, theirs had been a cruise towards an underwhelming target of 261 – later adjusted to 252 from 48 overs – that was as calm as any to leave the docks down the road, with Jason Roy’s belligerent 65 from 56 balls, a neat 61 from Joe Root and an unbeaten 33 from the captain Eoin Morgan seeing the home side end up 194 for three from 34.3 overs, well ahead of the D/L par score of 150.
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“They are a little bit more hit and miss in one-day cricket at the moment”.
“Playing the way we played the other night.we’re behind the times”, Arthur said.
The Pakistan opener let hubris dictate his decision to demand a review, only to be rightly denied a reprieve.
“I think the break can refresh you, certainly with the outlook on the cricket we play it nearly presses the refresh button, which is nice”, he added. “The style and brand of cricket they are playing is just phenomenal”. “We’ve had a real good chat about it and got some ideas about how we can put it right”.
“But the boys really believe in the Test matches, so here also we believe we can do it”. “If we do that and bring our plans in, definitely we can challenge England”.
These days there’s a clear difference between England’s one-day squad and the Test team as the selectors hone in on specific skills. In the meantime, the 15 players we’ve got here we’ve got to back 100% and given them the opportunity to stake their claim to be part of the Pakistan ODI squad going forward.
The outlook seems particularly bleak for Mohammad Hafeez, the long-serving batsman whose stock has plummeted on this tour. During the series, 26- years’ old pacer will be under medical team monitoring.
In the next two overs, Azhar Ali (82) was dropped twice, once by Alex Hales and then by Jos Buttler.
“It was a workmanlike performance”, he said.
Morgan and Ben Stokes (15 not out) kept the required-run-rate in check as they added 35 runs before rain halted their progress for nearly 35 minutes. Rose Bowl, which hosted its first major match in 2001, is actually the second ground in Southampton to stage global games.
“I just enjoy my cricket, go out and bat and if I get a call, I get a call”, said Roy. “When you are sat on the sofa you realise how lucky you are and how much you want to be a part of it”.
From there the pacy Wood, impressing in his first global 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.
Hassan Ali, who made his worldwide debut against Ireland, is likely to make way for Wahab while Yasir could replace either Mohammad Nawaz or Imad Wasim.
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Third Umpire: S Fry (Aus).
