Pakistan captain Azhar Ali praised Hales and Buttler but accepted his own side’s fielding had been well below the required standard.
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The fourth one-day global between Pakistan and England will be played in Leeds at Headingley in Leeds on Thursday.
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.
In the meantime, on the pitch, he has earned fresh admiration from his white-ball captain Morgan. “Jonny was outstanding but he’s finding it hard to get into a winning side, which is a good problem for us”.
# Joe Root equaled the record of consecutive 50s for England.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first on a sunny afternoon.
“All I can do is try to score as many runs as I can in the remaining games and keep myself in contention for that spot”. “Irfan bowled well on his comeback but unfortunately his calf was cramping up. and we couldn’t break partnerships in that middle period”.
Despite Azhar and Imad, no other Pakistani batsman could make an impact, Sami Aslam (24), Babar Azam (12), Rizwan (12) and Sharjeel Khan departed for 16. Then Wasim produced a wonderful counter-attack, striking seven fours and a six in his half-century.
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.
The chief architect of that demolition job was Alex Hales, who plundered 22 fours and four sixes in his 171 from 122 balls – again, another record, the highest individual score by an Englishman, beating Robin Smith’s 167 from way back in 1993.
Root is seeking to become the first player since Pakistan legend Javed Miandad to score six successive ODI half-centuries today. Azhar Ali’s team must rouse themselves for the final three matches of the tour, with 50-over games at Headingley and Cardiff followed by a T20 global at Old Trafford.
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England’s one-day cricket is in rude health right now but the same can not be said of Pakistan who desperately need a change in fortunes in ODIs and T20Is. England had scored 444 runs while Pakistan could only score 275 runs in response.
