Then Wasim produced a wonderful counter-attack, striking seven fours and a six in his half-century.
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2 Number of the full member teams who have not conceded 400 runs in ODIs.
Nottinghamshire right-hander Hales passed Robin Smith’s 167 not out – set during England’s defeat to Australia at Edgbaston in 1993 – with 171 in 121 balls, a score which included 22 fours and four sixes, in the 37th over of England’s innings. He hit 22 fours and 4 sixes. England had scored 444 runs while Pakistan could only score 275 runs in response.
Jos Butler did not face enough balls to score and ODI century but he did have to break Paul Collingwood’s record of fastest 50 by an English cricketer, in just 50 balls.
The opener’s landmark knock on his home ground helped England pile up the highest total by any team in ODI history, their 444-3 surpassing Sri Lanka’s 443-9 against Holland in 2006.
England have already wrapped up their one day global series against Pakistan, but the idea of a clean sweep is still alive at Headingley.
Azhar Ali led from the front with a defiant 104-ball 80 even as the rest of the top-order struggled.
26 Balls needed by Sharjeel Khan to score 50, the fastest by a Pakistan opening batsman other than Shahid Afridi. He scored 93.10 of his runs in boundaries. Morgan came to the party as well during this runfest with 57 from 27 balls.
From England, the spin twin, Adil Rasheed and Moeen Alee were tremendous with the ball.
Among the bowlers, Wahab Riaz was the main victim bleeding 110 runs in his 10-over spell. In the list of five most expensive figures for Pakistan he features three times.
The same bowler trapped him LBW with the next delivery to end a second-wicket stand of 248 with Root, who fell soon after for 85, but the pain was far from over for the Pakistan bowlers.
Man of the match Hales revealed afterwards that he didn’t know he’d broken the record, but preferred to focus on the team rather than his personal performance.
# Joe Root equaled the record of consecutive 50s for England. “You ‘re always guaranteed high-scoring games and we’ve seen another one tonight”. Their previous highest was 129, also against Pakistan at Dubai (DSC) in 2015.
Watch England take on Pakistan in the fourth ODI at Headingley from 1.30pm on Thursday, live on Sky Sports 2.
With the 169-run win, the hosts have wrapped up the five-match series in overwhelming style.
None of the Pakistan seamers or their premier spinner Yasir Shah (0-48 off six overs) were spared by England’s batsmen after Morgan won the toss and opted to bat first on an ideal batting surface.
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They put on 37 in 11 overs until Aslam skied a second catch to Stokes, this time at deep midwicket off Liam Plunkett.
