He scored 93.10 of his runs in boundaries. Mohammad Amir hit a half-century at number 11 and Sharjeel Khan opened up with 58 but Azhar Ali’s team were never in the game. Afridi has scored 50 in less than 22 balls on nine occasions. Wahab Riaz suffered the most as he was hit to all corners of the ground, with the pacer conceding 110 runs from his quota of 10 overs. In the list of five most expensive figures for Pakistan he features three times. He, along with Joe Root, demolished the Pakistani attack and were on course to set a huge target.
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Although Hales began the series with scores of 7 and 14 in the first two ODIs, he has been impressive for much of the year in the 50-overs format.
Hales fell shortly after breaking Smith’s long-held record, pinned LBW attempting another big shot and Root followed soon after when he nicked through to Sarfraz. The other Englishmen with five consecutive 50s are Geoffrey Boycott, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, Jonathan Trott and Hales.
England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has named all-rounder Ben Stokes and fast bowler Mark Wood in the Twenty20 worldwide (T20I) squad for the one-off fixture against Pakistan in Old Trafford on September 7. Their previous highest was 129, also against Pakistan at Dubai (DSC) in 2015.
They answered the call with a century stand in this fourth Royal London Series match, after England stumbled to 72 for four in pursuit of 247 for eight under lights.
Stokes stroked a almost run-a-ball 69 and Bairstow, included at the last minute in place of the injured Jos Buttler, made 61 as England chased down Pakistan’s 247-8 with two overs to spare.
The hosts, following up the record-breaking heroics of Trent Bridge – where they racked up an all-time highest one-day worldwide total of 444 for three – have also wrapped up Andrew Strauss’ cross-format Super Series for good measure.
However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said last week that the tour, which includes three one-day global and two Test match fixtures in October and November, would go ahead as planned.
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Chris Woakes, the England fast bowler, has admitted the players “have to pinch ourselves” after the dramatic turnaround in their one-day fortunes over the past year.
