VINCE CLAIMS CLEAN SWEEP
Ton shows England’s strength in depth
JAMES VINCE struck his first international century as England’s brilliant B-team completed a 3-0 clean sweep over Pakistan.
The Hampshire batsman’s 102 and partnership of 129 with Lewis Gregory secured the fifth-highest run chase in their history, reining in Pakistan’s 331-9 to win by three wickets.
It was a victory that proved emphatically England’s whiteball squad cupboards have never held so much talent.
Stand-in captain Ben Stokes agreed after seeing off the world’s sixth-best ODI side.
He said: “Throughout the series the efforts have been fantastic. Everyone called up has seriously put their hand up.”
Of the three victories this was the tightest, following nine-wicket and 52-run wins at Cardiff and Lord’s.
When Vince and Gregory came together at 165-5 in the 24th over, they were still 167 runs away from what seemed an outside chance of victory.
They will both be kicking themselves that they left it to the bowlers to get over the line, but Brydon Carse and Craig Overton dragged England home.
Yet even allowing for a frustrating exit before the job was done, this meant a lot to Vince, as the flourish of his bat and roaring celebration on seeing his 91st ball beat the fielder at deep midwicket showed.
He said: “It’s really pleasing to make a contribution, this time last week I didn’t expect this opportunity.”
For all his natural talent, he has never been able to get across the three-figure line in 13 Tests, 18 ODIs or 12 T20s before now.
Credit should also go to Phil Salt, who served notice Jason Roy has a successor with a ballistic powerplay, and Gregory, who played a superb supporting role to Vince.
After Gregory departed for 77, Overton and Carse held their nerve to knock off 29 with 12 balls to spare. Pakistan left it too late to spark into life in this series, but this was a warning they might yet be a handful in the T20 series, starting at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Their total was built around a blistering 158 from the captain Babar Azam, the highest score by a Pakistan batsman in England. He was helped by half-centuries from opener Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan.
A late flurry of wickets delivered Carse a five-for, with two wickets in each of his final two overs as Pakistan fell in a heap from 305-3.
In between Carse’s strikes, player of the series Saqib Mahmood claimed two victims in consecutive deliveries as the tourists lost six wickets in 15 balls. It proved crucial.