England seal Pakistan series with 52-run win in second ODI

Gulf Today Report

England beat Pakistan by 52 runs in the second One-Day International (ODI) at Lord’s on Saturday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in a three-match series.

Pakistan, set 248 to win in a match reduced by rain to 47 overs per side, were dismissed for 195. Lewis Gregory took 3-44 after making a valuable 40 in England’s 247.
Hasan Ali attempts to stop a four. Reuters

Phil Salt top-scored for England with 60 -- his maiden ODI fifty - and James Vince made 56, with Pakistan’s Hasan Ali taking 5-51.
The series concludes with a day/nighter at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Hasan Ali took five wickets but England recovered to 247 all out. England were set for a commanding total in a match reduced by rain to 47 overs per side while Phil Salt (60) and James Vince (56) were sharing a third-wicket stand of 97 after both Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley had fallen for ducks.

From 118-2, however, England lost five wickets for 42 runs to be 160-7 in what was the first one-day international at Lord’s since England’s dramatic 2019 World Cup final win over New Zealand and the first in the UK where a capacity crowd had been allowed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ben Stokes plays a shot as Babar Azam and Rizwan look on during the second ODI at Lord's on Saturday. Reuters

Both sides were unchanged after England, forced into selecting a wholly new squad after a Covid outbreak within their camp, had thrashed Pakistan by nine wickets at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

But after Pakistan captain Babar Azam had won the toss, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Ali reduced England to 21-2 inside five overs. Malan and Zak Crawley, who had each made unbeaten fifties on Thursday, both fell for nought.

Teams England: Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, Zak Crawley, James Vince, Ben Stokes (capt), John Simpson (wkt), Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton, Brydon Carse, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wkt), Saud Shakeel, Sohaib Maqsood, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf

Umpires: Alex Wharf (ENG), Richard Illingworth (ENG)

TV umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)