SALT ‘N’ SHAKE

England opener’s knock sets up Pakistan decider

ON AN evening in which Babar Azam equalled one of world cricket’s speedbatting records, Phil Salt reduced him to the role of pace-maker.

Pakistan captain Babar’s unbeaten 87 saw him become the joint-fastest player to 3,000 Twenty20 international runs — matching India’s Virat Kohli by doing so in his 81st innings, and helped set England the task of chasing down 170 to keep this series alive.

But in a display of clinical hitting, Salt engineered a chase that made Pakistan’s earlier efforts look pedestrian. The 26-year-old had shown his ability to score quickly at this level with a half-century off just 22 balls on his debut against the West Indies earlier this year.

Since that innings of 57, however, there had been little of substance and after adding just 70 to his career tally in his next eight appearances, he averaged 14.11. Here, he simply blew those statistics away, crunching his way to a 19-ball 50 in a timely reminder of his game-altering qualities, as the tourists romped to an eight-wicket victory with more than a quarter of the innings unused.

‘The way I play is aggressive and I want to win as many games as possible while I’m in an England shirt,’ said Salt, whose 88th run, from the 41st delivery he faced, fittingly proved to be the winning one.

‘The first few games haven’t gone to plan — I’ve been finding ways to get out — but it’s nice in a big game, with the series on the line, to come up with a performance like that.’

Salt clipped the left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz for a couple of fours from the first three balls of a chase of 170, and then tore into the recalled pace bowler Shahnawaz Dahani, as the second over cost 22.

With Alex Hales in on the act, the England 50 was up in just three overs, and even though Shadab Khan separated the opening pair with a googly that was edged to short third man, there was no respite from Salt, in a powerplay score of 82 for one.

Here, Salt sent the ball skimming to the rope and over it on three occasions, pulling Dahani and Aamer Jamal for head-high sixes either side of towering Nawaz straight down the ground in a fifth over that cost 19.

With left-handers Dawid Malan and Ben Duckett threading the ball into gaps for their rewards, Pakistan found no respite. Earlier, they were missing Mohammad Rizwan, the series’ leading batsman, and England seized their opportunity to expose an inexperienced home batting unit.

Left-armers David Willey and Sam Curran both took two wickets.

For once, it meant that England did not miss the pace of Mark Wood, who was resting along with Chris Woakes. The pair will be back tomorrow for what is a decider thanks to Salt’s swashbuckling knock.