Batsman Jason Roy called on England to seize control of the one-day series with Pakistan in Saturday’s second match at Lord’s after he overcame a bout of illness to spearhead a 44-run win on Wednesday night.
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Azhar, who like his opposite number, Morgan, has endured something of a drought in recent times, top-scored for Pakistan with 82 from 110 balls in an innings that owed much to his being dropped twice in the 10-over powerplay, first by Hales at backward point on nine and then on 13 by a sprawling Jos Buttler down the legside.
Earlier, Azhar and Sarfraz Ahmed made half-centuries for Pakistan before rain halted their innings against England at 218 for four.
The players returned after a brief delay but only three more deliveries were possible before the weather intervened again.
Alex Hales had been first to go, prodding medium pacer Umar Gul to the diving Mohammad Hafeez at slip in the fifth over for seven. “I was very disappointed to get out when I was feeling good but the next game is around the corner so fingers crossed”.
After a fine bowling performance – that saw Mark Wood make his first appearance for England since October 2015 – had restricted Pakistan to a below par score on a good batting pitch, the Surrey star ensured his side came flying out of the blocks.
England captain Eoin Morgan chose to bring part-time spinner Joe Root on ahead of specialist slow bowlers Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
The ball appeared to be heading straight to Gul at square leg. The wicketkeeper batsman put up 46-run stand with veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik before the latter handed an easy catch to mid-off when Pakistan were 224 for five in 44-overs.
Linchpin Root struck a hassle-free 61 before succumbing to Azhar Ali’s easy run out from Morgan’s poor call, but England still coasted home.
Mark Wood (1-57) – making his first global appearance since October 2015 – immediately found his rhythm and troubled Sharjeel Khan (16) early on, and in the sixth over he got his man as Jos Buttler took down the leg side.
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.
Wood seems certain to be included on England’s winter tours of the subcontinent. Having reached 82, Azhar tried to slog-sweep from outside off, but simply top-edged a catch to short third-man.
Tough to tip the first match in any series, but given where momentum is from the Test series and Pakistan’s brutal thumping of Ireland, expect them to take a 1-0 lead.
Morgan finished on 33 not out with Ben Stokes on 15.
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With Eoin Morgan’s men cruising on 194-3, and needing 52 more to win from 14 overs, when the last downpour fell, they were awarded an easy win under the Duckworth-Lewis calculations as they laid down a marker for the remaining four matches of this series.
