“I knew it was something in the 160s or so when Jason [Roy] was just a couple runs short of it [at the Oval]”. It was a flawless day of cricket for England, who did no wrong and a day Pakistan would pay to forget.
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Alex Hales does not expect to be an England record-holder for long after his 171 helped the team post a new world one-day global mark of 444 for three en route to thrashing Pakistan on Tuesday.
Jos Buttler followed up with the quickest-ever England ODI fifty, off just 22 balls, on his way to an unbeaten 90 off 51 balls featuring seven fours and seven sixes.
Three players have addressed the topic in press conferences, since the England and Wales Cricket Board’s security adviser Reg Dickason reported back last week that it will be safe to travel, and each has cited “tough decisions” not yet reached. After Pakistan going for 444 runs, the only two teams left now are England and Bangladesh.
Pakistan made a brief comeback in the game as they dismissed Root in the next over.
It was not until his 11th ODI innings that he made a half-century and it was his 21st when his maiden century came, against Pakistan, in Abu Dhabi past year.
“We always talk about it as a team, we haven’t reached our full potential yet, still more to come. We have a lot of confidence and depth in our batting and the skill level we showed was exceptional”.
DID NOT BAT: B.A. Stokes, Moeen Ali, C.R. Woakes, L.E. Plunkett, Adil Rashid, M.A. Wood.
Pakistan were in danger of facing their heaviest ever defeat in an ODI when they reeled at 199-9 in the 36th over. He scored 93.10 of his runs in boundaries.
It will also be interesting to see if Pakistan make changes to their bowling unit after the thrashing in Nottingham. Wahab is the first Pakistan bowler to concede over 100 runs in an ODI. But Hales clubbed 11 of the 13 off his next, and then 19 of the 20 when Azhar Ali chanced an over of his own leg-spin.
“We didn’t start well in the field. Those fielding lapses straightaway didn’t send a good message”.
The result clinches both the one-day series and the “super series” that combined points from all three formats of the game.
Partnerships of 248 between Hales and Joe Root (85) and an unbroken 161 shared by Buttler and England captain Eoin Morgan (57 not out) overwhelmed Pakistan’s bowlers in a total featuring 16 sixes.
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Pakistan (squad): Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket keeper), Sami Aslam, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket keeper), Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah.
