But with 11 required off the final over, Woakes recovered his composure in the nick of time, and England have won the coveted UBL Cup with a game to spare as all their dreams of a dead rubber in Sharjah on Monday came true.
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Captain Shahid Afridi came and went in the blink of an eye, chipping a catch to cover off Parry and, when Maqsood was stumped off a Moeen wide, three wickets had fallen for one run in five balls.
Afridi’s brief but withering assault – 24 off just eight balls, with three sixes in one over off Woakes – threatened to turn the tide decisively.
England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, James Vince, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Sam Billings, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Stephen Parry.
England rested their captain Eoin Morgan, bringing in wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler as the man in charge for the game today.
The second match in the three-game series is in Dubai on Friday. Pakistan is hoping to win the series by 2-1 in order to hold their current position.
For both sides, this series marks an opportunity to try out combinations ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 in India in March-April, as they begin preparations for the world event.
Playing in only his third T20I, Billings arrived at the crease in the 14th over with England 95-4 but used the rebuilding work of Vince and Morgan, who shared 76 for the fourth wicket, as a foundation.
“It wasn’t easy to comeback after being 19-3 so we are chilled after winning the first match and it was great to see (James) Vince batting so well and lifting us”, said Morgan. Shahid Afridi was also wicketless with the ball but he feels that batting was the main thing that led the team down.
Topley made the first breakthrough as Pakistan were bowled out for 146.
England have ripped up the template which got them nowhere in Australia and New Zealand last winter, and Morgan added: “I think our progress since the start of the summer has been outstanding”.
At 19 for three after Morgan won the toss, Vince had one ready-made – and his 41 set the stage for Billings (53) to race to his half-century in just 24 balls.
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Sam Billings’ exit for 11 – courtesy of a wonderful juggling catch from Umar Akmal on the boundary rope – prompted a flurry of late wickets, but an unbeaten 15 from Woakes proved key in taking England beyond 170. At once Pakistan were in deep trouble as 7 wickets were fallen at the team score of 75, but the tail enders Anwar Ali (20), Sohail Tanvir(25 not out) and Wahab Riaz(21) scored some runs with impressive strike rate saved Pakistan from humiliation.
