Party time England win thriller to clinch T20 series
Rashid and Moeen shine with ball to set up series win Roy smashes 36-ball 64 and Morgan a crucial 21 from 12
It was party night at Emirates Old Trafford as England won a terrific match in the final over to clinch the Twenty20 series 2-1 and give the Hundred a benchmark to live up to.
A full house of 21,000 let off steam after months deprived of toplevel cricket and both teams delivered a fine game to match the occasion, with England chasing down their target of 155 to win by three wickets with two balls to spare after Adil Rashid’s career-best four for 35 had earlier put them in charge.
Eoin Morgan played a crucial hand, hitting 21 off 12 balls, helping England to sign off their white-ball summer with a fourth series win out of four, and 10 victories from a possible 12 games (one defeat and one no result). While it was close, they always felt just ahead at the end.
This was a final audition for England’s World Cup hopefuls on a pitch totally unsuited to their freewheeling ways. Rashid is a certain starter, of course, but Moeen Ali played a big part and in the last two games has reimposed himself on this side, taking one for 19 off four accurate overs. Man of the series Liam Livingstone may have only lasted two balls but has showed England the future over the past week. Dawid Malan laboured to 31 off 33 and averaged 11 in the series with a strike rate of 75 – a loss of form at the wrong time perhaps.
England cannot bury Livingstone’s talent down at seven like they did here. He clonked his first ball for six and while he was out the next delivery it is aggression from ball one that will be key on the UAE’S slow pitches for the World Cup, where matches might be tight like this. Malan may well earn a Test recall, but he is clinging on in this side and needed the World Cup to be on quicker tracks in Australia – as originally planned before it was delayed by Covid – and not in Asia.
“Guys have achieved when they came in and played, plenty of options when it comes to selection. We have 17 or 18 vying for 15 places,”
Morgan said. It was a night for the spinners, with all batsmen struggling to adapt when pace was taken off the ball. Pakistan’s 154 for six looked thin against such a powerful England batting line-up, but both innings followed the same course, with an opener providing lift-off before the spinners squeezed.
England spent half their summer at Old Trafford last year playing in a closed ground. This occasion could not have been more different. The enormous party stand was packed and with horns blaring throughout the night, the crowd produced a fabulous atmosphere. It was marred slightly by three pitch invasions,
nervous players waving the fans away fearful of Covid. Mohammad Rizwan’s fine 76 off 57 balls propped up Pakistan but he found little support. All wickets fell to spin, apart from the run out, but pace, or more accurately the lack of it, still had a role to play; Chris Jordan bowling a superb final over that cost just five runs as his speeds ranged from 65mph to 90.
Moeen did not bowl a bad ball, sending a signal to Morgan, who has under-bowled him recently, and his figures did not do him full justice. He bowled the best ball of the day that spat and turned sharply into the ribs of Rizwan, surprising the batsman
and Jos Buttler behind the stumps. Rashid profited from his mate’s fine performance, cleaning up as Pakistan batsmen swung hard. Rashid dragged back his length and forced players to take risks to the deep-square boundaries, even snaffling a wicket with a drag down that may have gone for six on other, smaller grounds.
Rizwan’s unbeaten 76 included three towering sixes but England deprived him of the strike; he faced only 57 balls despite batting through the entire innings, limiting the damage he could inflict.
With so much depth to England’s batting, Pakistan needed powerplay wickets. Buttler could not find his range, leaving it to Roy, who was superb as he took on the square boundaries, pulling and sweeping hard. His 64 off 36 balls included 12 fours and one six put England in charge but they stuttered as soon as he holed out attempting a rare big hit down the ground.
Jonny Bairstow, who is expected to be recalled to the Test side this week as back-up for Buttler, skewed a catch to cover and Moeen was bowled as momentum shifted.
England were six down and needed 29 off the last 18 balls with the game in the balance. Morgan thrashed Hasan Ali for two sixes in the crucial 18th over to lift the pressure – but it was back on again when Malan was bowled. Livingstone hit the ball into the stands as he threatened a fairy-tale finish on his home ground, but it was not to be.
The target was down to six off the final over, which should have been a comfortable trot for the line. But Morgan was caught off the second ball sparking more palpitations. Jordan, always a cool head, sprinted a couple of twos with David Willey to seal victory.