England have an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series and were chasing a whitewash.
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Pakistan haven’t been atrocious, and you wouldn’t think they will go worse than the last match, particularly with the ball, but it isn’t going to improve to the point where they will pick up a win.
Hasan Ali fell to Jordan in the penultimate over but Umar Gul hit the second-last ball of the innings for six as Pakistan closed just short of 250.
Captain Azhar Ali, who made 80 from 104 deliveries, was the only specialist batsman to make a significant contribution. “Jonny was outstanding but he’s finding it hard to get into a winning side, which is a good problem for us”.
They answered the call with a century stand in this fourth Royal London Series match, after England stumbled to 72 for four in pursuit of 247 for eight under lights.
“We do have to pinch ourselves”, all-rounder Chris Woakes said. “Irfan bowled well on his comeback but unfortunately his calf was cramping up. and we couldn’t break partnerships in that middle period”.
Pakistan started off the innings with a brisk 16 off 22 by Sharjeel Khan but the opener lost his cool soon enough and Pakistan found themselves 24 for 1 at the end of the 4th over.
Chris Woakes has become the fourth player to admit he is not yet able to commit to the tour – although he stressed Dickason’s reassurances do carry weight with the team, and confirmed discussions are ongoing even through the current series with European Central Bank director Andrew Strauss and others. Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, and other bowlers kept on taking wickets regularly.
Opening batsman Alex Hales hit England’s highest individual ODI score with 171 and Jos Buttler (90 not out) notched England’s fastest ODI half century off only 22 balls.
Root is seeking to become the first player since Pakistan legend Javed Miandad to score six successive ODI half-centuries today.
It has been after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 when England has brought change in its way of playing.
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Although Hales began this series slowly, with scores of 7 and 14, his one-day form has been impressive for much of the year. It was a ideal day of cricket for England, who did no wrong and a day Pakistan would pay to forget.
