England piled up a world record One-day worldwide total of 444 for three against Pakistan after Alex Hales and Jos Buttler ran riot at a sun-kissed Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
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In the process, England wrapped up the series, their 3-0 lead with two games remaining now unassailable.
England’s total surpassed the previous record of 443 for nine by Sri Lanka against the Netherlands at Amstelveen in 2006. The record also pushed South Africa’s 439 runs against West Indies in 2015 to the third spot in the record books.
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 a year ago. One over later after Hales was dismissed, Pakistan managed to pick Root’s wicket as well.
England, chasing a target of 248, finished on 252 for six with 12 balls to spare.
It seemed as if England would fall short of the highest ODI score but the last ball of the innings saw Buttler smash Hasan Ali over extra-cover for four to the delight of a capacity crowd. It was a ideal day of cricket for England, who did no wrong and a day Pakistan would pay to forget.
Hales added: “It’s been a tough few weeks personally”. But Alex Hales’ now holds this feat for his 171 vs Pakistan.
Lanky left-arm pacer Mohammad Irfan, who was summoned to England after the second match to replace injured Mohammad Hafeez, is likely to come in for Wahab Riaz, who leaked 110 runs in 10 overs at Trent Bridge to record the second worst bowling figures in ODIs. Riaz’s indiscipline proved expensive since he twice took “wickets” with no-balls.
This was for the first time a Pakistan bowler had given more than 100 runs in an ODI. “Our fielding, on a wicket like this, it needs to support the bowlers and that didn’t happen”.
But Hales believes it’s just a matter of time before an England colleague betters his score. Azhar Ali joined Sami Aslam in the middle and the two slowly took the total to 61 when Sami Aslam was caught by Stokes off Plunkett s bowling.
The struggling Pakistan side made four changes. 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.
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Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali shared five wickets between them, Rashid – one of five Yorkshire players in the side – taking 3 for 47 on his home ground.
