Jason Roy and Joe Root starred as England ended their four-year wait for a one-day global victory at The Rose Bowl with a 44-run win over Pakistan in the opening match of the series.
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Rain on a hot and humid day in Southampton disrupted this match three times and meant England’s original target of 261 was reduced downwards to 252 in 48 overs before the weather proved terminal.
Despite a dose of dizziness, Roy was in imperious form but on 24 did need assistance from Sarfraz Ahmed, who called for a top-edged chance heading straight to Umar Gul at short fine leg only to shell the chance.
Roy swept left-arm spinner Imad Wasim for the first six of the match before completing a 43-ball fifty also featuring five fours.
Root, England’s star batsman in all three formats, was untroubled while hitting six fours in 72 balls.
But when Morgan dropped the ball into the offside and set off, Root failed to beat Azhar s direct hit.
That England, after losing the toss, had such a manageable goal owed much to a disciplined performance with the ball from their five full-time bowlers and a nicely burgled wicket from Root’s part-time off-spin, with the tone set early on by the returning Mark Wood in what was his first worldwide cap since October past year.
“A little bit like we saw in the UAE, they have their good days and suddenly the wheels come off from nowhere”.
England: Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan (capt), Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
“That was my first ODI with Pakistan and everything I’ve heard was on view really”.
Pakistan finished the ten-over Powerplay on 45 for 1, though Azhar was a touch fortunate to still be at the crease after twice being dropped on 9.
But Babar, who faced just 42 balls, was unlucky when given out lbw to leg-spinner Rashid by Australian umpire Simon Fry, even though replays clearly showed an inside edge.
Azhar pressed on to a relatively sedate 84-ball fifty, including four fours.
After the resumption both Shoaib Malik and Ahmed were caught driving to mid-off as they tried to force the pace. England won the opening ODI by 44 runs (Duckworth-Lewis method) as Roy scored a 56-ball 65, with a strike rate of 116.07. Total (for 3 wkts, in 34.3 overs) 194.
England will have to overcome two obstacles at Lord’s on Saturday if they are to take a 2-0 lead over Pakistan in their five-match one-day series.
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The result means England go 10-8 up on points in the Super Series with four ODIs and one Twenty20 worldwide remaining, the next of which takes place at Lord’s on Saturday.
