England claim series win in final over thriller

England beat Pakistan by three wickets at Old Trafford to seal another series victory as their successful white-ball summer came to a close.

Despite a superb performance with the ball restricting Pakistan to just 155 runs from their 20 overs, England did not make the chase easy for themselves, especially after losing Jason Roy (64).

With Jos Buttler coming off the back of a majestic half-century on his return from injury last time out, a required run rate of under eight would presumably be a formality for Eoin Morgan’s side.

However, an opening stand of 67 somewhat flattered the Lancashire batsman who looked surprisingly uncomfortable at the crease before mistiming a lofted drive into the hands of Babar Azam for just 21 off 22 deliveries.

Roy, on the other hand, had no problem finding the rope as he smashed for four fours off Shaheen Shah Afridi during the second over of the innings.

There was a time over the winter where Roy’s place in the T20I side was potentially insecure with an average of 14.85 across both white-ball formats for his country in 2020.

Alex Hales’ re-emergence was also arguably a greater threat to Roy, as the ostracized Notts star top-scored in BBL 10. But Morgan’s faith has been repaid by Roy who has averaged 43.75 in ODI’s and 30.30 in T20I’s.

The Surrey opener brought up his half-century off 31 deliveries with a number of orthodox and unorthodox strokes in all areas of the ground ensuring that he remained unpredictable to the Pakistani attack.

But he would play one shot too many in a bid to send Usman Qadir for a third consecutive boundary. Just like Buttler, Roy would pick out the hands of long-off to bring his knock to a close.

Over-hastiness would see the downfall of Jonny Bairstow (5) and Moeen Ali (1), who would lose their wickets with unnecessary attempted slogs against spin.

That being said, Dawid Malan (31) would perhaps hold his side back with a strike rate of 93.93, although, his runs were welcome after the world’s number one ranked T20I batsman failed to register double figures in his last four innings.

Before being bowled by Mohammad Hafeez’s effective part-time off-spin, Malan also acted as a foil to his skipper who injected pace into the innings with two sixes into the leg-side having been short of runs in the format himself.

Malan would depart with the hosts needing a seemingly simple 12 runs off nine balls, yet his wicket would spark a mini-collapse in the closing stages.

Liam Livingstone would live up to his growing reputation as a big-hitter by smashing his first ball for six, though he was caught off the bowling of Hafeez with the very next delivery, leaving his side in need of six runs from seven balls.

Hasan Ali would pick up his first wicket in the final over after Morgan attempted to hit a match-winning boundary but instead skewed to long-off for 21.

The loss of their captain would leave Chris Jordan and David Willey needing to score four runs from four balls for victory, and England could rely upon their all-time leading T20I wicket-taker as Jordan scampered back for two after bottom-edging an Ali delivery to backwards-square.

Initially, it looked like the tourists would post a bigger score than they eventually did after ending the powerplay at 52-1, with Azam (11) the only man to fall.

That soon changed once Adil Rashid got his teeth stuck into the Pakistan batting line-up. After picking up the scalp of Azam, the Yorkshireman would dismiss Sohaib Maqsood (13), and then saw off Hafeez (1) who sent a drag-down straight into the hands of Bairstow at deep-square-leg.

Mohammad Rizwan has been a consistent thorn in the England attack this summer, and he proved his class once again by posting his eighth 50 this calendar year.

Strong off the front foot and back, he continued to find the rope despite wickets falling around him as Moeen Ali joined the party to dismiss Fakhar Zaman (24).

Rashid would register career-best figures with the wicket of Shadab Khan (2), whilst Imad Wasim (3) was made to pay for jogging between the wickets and was run-out.

With the help of Hasan Ali (15*), Rizwan carried his bat to push Pakistan over 150 and give their brilliant supporters something to cheer for.

Jordan will make the headlines for scoring the winning runs and rightly so, however, his 20th over went for just five runs which was ultimately the difference between the two sides.

All is not lost for Azam’s side though, they will go into the World Cup with one of the most in-form T20I batsmen possible in the shape of Rizwan, whilst the likes of Afridi, Khan and Mohammad Hasnain have all impressed with the ball.

From Morgan’s perspective, he could not ask for much more ahead of the World Cup. Livingstone’s performances have provided him with even greater batting depth which is something every other captain will be envious of.

The two teams will meet in October for two T20I fixtures in Karachi which will act as great preparation for the World Cup.

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