England deliver and head to Oz with confidence
EnglAnD jet off to Australia today after emphatically proving themselves tournament-ready in the winner-takes-all finale to their epic Pakistan tour.
Talk within the tourists’ camp in the build-up to the seventh and final match had been of the need to test themselves in knockout-style scenarios.
And they met that test with nous and nerve to complete a 4-3 win, as Dawid Malan’s unbeaten 78 plus an innings of 46 not out from Harry Brook helped set a 210-run target and challenged Pakistan to complete what would have been their record chase.
Any doubts England would be travelling to the World Cup with another tick in the win column were then dispelled inside the first couple of overs as Pakistan’s batting bankers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan fell to the new ball.
‘That was very pleasing,’ said England captain Moeen Ali, following the 67-run win.
‘In the end, we’ll look back and think if we were really on it, we would have won 6-1 but we’re really happy that we’ve won the series and go to Australia in a good position.
‘If you look at the last two games, both must-win games, going into a World Cup that’s really important — the pressure of being able to perform was huge.
‘I don’t think we’re the favourites for the World Cup. But I know we’re a very dangerous team to play and a lot of teams will fear playing us.’
Malan had endured an underwhelming tour, but made the most of a couple of lives and put his part in the run out of Phil Salt behind him to render the loss of the toss insignificant.
The Yorkshire left-hander had come to the crease in the fifth over when England’s rollicking start was checked by Mohammad Hasnain pinning Alex Hales leg before.
Within two balls, England were 39 for two after a moment of high farce accounted for Salt, Pakistan’s slayer in another one-sided result 48 hours earlier.
This time Salt had taken 20 off a dozen deliveries when he bolted down the pitch in response to the ball squeezing off Malan’s pads into open space behind square.
It left both players at the same end and Salt with a forlorn task of beating Shadab Khan’s throw. no more than a lob, what it lacked in power it made up for in accuracy as it evaded Hasnain’s attempts to gather for a direct hit.
England attacked from their low ebb, Malan and Ben Duckett countering with a stand of 61 in five overs, the latter once again showing his disdain for Pakistan’s spin before departing to a moment of brilliance by Rizwan.
If Salt’s run out had been comical, this one was clinical as Rizwan clawed an inside edge that bounced down the leg-side and broke the wicket with a swish of his arm, Duckett’s momentum down the pitch doing for him.
Malan was put down on 29 at cover by Babar off Iftikhar
Ahmed’s round-arm spin soon afterwards and again on 62 when Mohammad Wasim floored a steepler at midwicket at the death.
And he made the Pakistanis pay in tandem with county colleague Brook, with whom he shared an unbroken century stand.
Babar put down a towering chance to mid-on by Brook, who drove and clipped four sixes while Malan went through the gears to cruise beyond a 34-ball 50.
From the fifth ball of the innings, Babar threaded Chris Woakes straight to short extra cover and Pakistan were 5-2 when Rizwan had his off stump pinned back by Reece Topley.
There was no coming back from that, although as has been the case throughout the series, it did not stop a home crowd seeking a miracle chanting for six specialist Asif Ali.
Those chants increased in volume in line with a spiralling run rate that was in the high teens when he came to the crease at 86 for four and stood at over 20 when he hooked Woakes — who finished with three for 26 in just his second game back from a six-month injury lay off — straight to deep square leg.
There was still more than a quarter of the innings remaining but another full house had witnessed enough, as hundreds streamed for the exits, and England turned thoughts to another challenge Down Under.