England, which went 4-0 up in the five-match series with the win, sank to 72 for 4 pursuing a target of 248.
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Sunday’s fifth and final match in Cardiff is their final home ODI before the road to the Champions Trophy begins next May and so, while lusting for another Trent Bridge-style mauling may be the preferred option for spectators, another tight and competitive affair like that witnessed in Leeds might not be the worst thing for a side still with experience left to bank.
Sarfraz Ahmed made a classy 90 as Pakistan achieved a consolation four-wicket win in the fifth and final one-day global in Cardiff on Sunday.
His calf cramp left Pakistan short of a bowler when he was needed the most.
The giant 7ft 1in (2.1 metres) Irfan, who was himself only called into the squad as an injury replacement for Mohammad Hafeez on August 27, managed just five legitimate overs in Thursday’s fourth one-day worldwide against England at Headingley before going off with cramps to the visible annoyance of coach Mickey Arthur.
Pakistan have now recalled Hasan Ali for the lone T20 worldwide against England, which is to be held on September 7 at Old Trafford in Manchester. Pakistan were back in it. Definitely, we didn’t bowl well enough in Nottingham.
But they lost four wickets inside 15 overs of their reply to a Pakistan total of 247 for eight built on Azhar’s 80 and all-rounder Imad Wasim’s unbeaten 57.
Roy was dismissed in the 28th over when he top edged Amir to mid-wicket and Stokes spliced an easy catch off Hasan as Pakistan hit back late in the innings, limiting England to 58 in the last 10 overs. “They are by far the most powerful and thrilling unit we have ever had”.
“It is what it is”, said Arthur, who only took over as Pakistan coach in May. “It was important looking ahead to the winter [tours of Bangladesh and India] in case we go to three spinners that he had a game under his belt”. “England are a phenomenal cricket team, power-hitters all the way down”, he said.
“Where we are lacking as a batting unit we are not rotating the strike and we don’t have the guys who can clear the ropes. I look at the strikers England have at their disposal – it’s unbelievable”.
England (squad): Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wicket keeper), Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.
Pakistan: Azhar Ali (capt), Sharjeel Khan, Sami Aslam, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz.
Irfan ruled out as Pakistan hope for face-saving win was posted in Sports of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on September 04, 2016 and was last updated on September 04, 2016.
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As for the stark contrast in Pakistan’s Test and 50-over form, Mahmood said: “We’ve got a lot of new faces in the one-day side”.
