Alex Hales departed for 22 off the bowling of Mohammad Irfan but Jason Roy and Joe Root both piled on the runs as England moved into a great position.
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Needing 336 for victory, Pakistan looked like pulling it off as Azhar Ali, Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik went about their task.
As a result, Pakistan slumped from 132-2 to 208 all out and England were then grateful for an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 117 between James Taylor and Jos Buttler as they overcame a mid-innings wobble to triumph comfortably on a pitch offering appreciable turn. Despite losing Taylor at 306-5, Buttler powered on and reached his ton at just over two runs a ball, in a typically swashbuckling display.
After a trio of calamitous run outs in the third game of the series as Pakistan collapsed from 132-2 to 208 all out, Mohammad Hafeez (37) was the victim of another mix-up between the wickets to leave the score reading 129-3.
Most worrying of all for England was how cleanly Malik was hitting the ball, his fifty came from 31 balls, until Hales pulled off another stunning catch in the deep.
He gave one chance, on 77, when an outside edge off Yasir Shah was dropped at slip – Mohammad Rizwan had little chance after the ball deflected off the keeper’s gloves – but this was an innings which allied power and placement; restraint and aggression.
Azam throws it away after scoring a superb half century. Pak 64-2, 8.4 overs.
Shehzad perishes pulling Willey straight to midwicket.
Azhar Ali gets into his stride with a couple of boundaries off Topley.
Pakistan after putting a hard effort to chase a giant target of 356, fell short of 84 runs in final One Day worldwide (ODI) against England at Dubai global Cricket Stadium, Dubai.
The only disappointment of his innings came in the fact it had to end, unbeaten on 116 from 52 balls, albeit with the record book in tatters.
Root followed Roy an over later, stumped attempting to reverse sweep Azhar Ali for 71, but that only served to clear the way for Buttler to take over following his move up the order.
It was the fastest ODI over by an England batsman, beating his own previous record by a staggering 15 deliveries.
Buttler admitted he would have to take a few days to realise quite what he had achieved with this latest innings, and even joked that his thoughts had been closer to retirement than record-breaking in the preceding weeks.
England were unchanged for the third game in succession.
England chose to bat after winning the toss earlier in the day as Pakistan rejigged their line-up in a bid to save the series.
“It’s the best I’ve ever played for England”, he said. “So there is pressure and since it’s a must-win game, you take that as positive and focus on cricket, if you use all your abilities then there is no doubt you can do it”.
“It’s another step on the way to that World Cup in March and April”. Everything seemed to come off – when I didn’t get it, it landed in a gap. But to be honest I haven’t trained any differently.
A three-match Twenty20 series between the two teams starts Thursday in Dubai.
“All of us were hurt”, said Ali.
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“We were lost for words in that changing room”, said captain Eoin Morgan.
