Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow shared a 103-run stand as England beat Pakistan by four wickets to keep their hopes of a series whitewash alive.
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“To have someone like Jonny who wasn’t in the side at the start of the series, just shows how far we’ve come as a team”.
Meanwhile Bairstow, who scored a match-winning 83 against New Zealand past year at Chester-le-Street after Buttler suffered a late hand injury, brought up his second fifty in 18 ODIs with a glorious drive down the ground.
England, who still won the series 4-1, were on course for their first 5-0 home ODI sweep when Pakistan, chasing 303 for victory, slumped to 77 for 3 after Mark Wood, the seamer, took two wickets in three balls.
Yet, after he and Ben Stokes had rescued Eoin Morgan’s team from 72 for four with a century stand to help them past a target of 247 for eight, the Yorkshireman admitted he longs for the day when he is in England’s first-choice one-day global line-up.
But all-rounder Ali, speaking in Cardiff yesterday ahead of England’s fifth and final one-day worldwide against Pakistan in the Welsh capital today, said: “If selected, I’ll definitely go”.
Their batting has been in a shambles throughout the tournament and that they got to 247 was thanks to skipper Azhar Ali who scored a measured 80 while all-rounder Imad Wasim provided the fireworks at the end with a 41-ball 57 run knock.
For the second time in two seasons he replaced Jos Buttler – one of the biggest pairs of shoes to fill in one-day cricket – and produced a match-winning performance.
Eoin Morgan’s men were in real trouble when they slipped to 72-4 in the 15th over of their pursuit of 248. “In terms of highs, Trent Bridge was the highest level”.
There was no repeat here as Hales, dismissed for eight by the hulking figure of 7ft 1in Mohammad Irfan, was brought down to size by the giant paceman.
“When I saw the fixture list, the games aren’t easy”, Arthur said.
But soon after, Pakistan were celebrating after taking the prized wicket of Root, out for 30 following a top-edge attempting to pull, with Irfan taking the catch at deep fine leg to leave England at 59-3. Earlier this season he played the whole one-day series against Sri Lanka – albeit batting just three times – because Ben Stokes was unavailable and past year played three times against Australia when Buttler was given a break.
Three wickets by right-arm pacer Anwar Ali and a half-century by opener Israrullah helped defending champions Peshawar claim their third match in a row as they crushed a hapless FATA side by seven wickets in the National T20 Cup at the Rawalpindi Stadium yesterday.
“The team management has asked to retain Hasan Ali for the T-20I against England on September 7, 2016”, the PCB added.
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He went on a run-a-ball fifty, including five fours and a six. Ben Stokes made 69 and Mohammad Irfan bagged two wickets.
