An all-around performance from Lewis Gregory and a superb bowling effort from Saqib Mahmood marks England as the series winner. England won the second ODI at Lords quite comfortably to lead the series by 2-0.
The visitors were bowled out on 195/10 in 41 overs after chasing 248 in a rain-affected match, which reduced to 47 overs per side.
On a tricky surface at Lords on Saturday, the seamers were getting some movement and Pakistan needed a solid start which they failed to do.
Saqib Mahmood and Lewsi Gregory found enough seam to leave Pakistan struggling at 36/3. Imam ul Haq played an outside-off delivery to nick behind the stumps.
Saqib then shaped in quick delivery to get rid of the dangerous Babar Azam. There was no chance for Babar to play that delivery and he challenged the decision but it was of no worth.
Saqib kept the movement alive and got the reward from Mohammad Rizwan who was caught by John Simpson. Fakhar Zaman played a lazy 10 off 45 balls before Craig Overton got the better of him.
In the middle, Pakistan was coming back into the contest when Saud Shakeel and Sohaib Maqsood combined some runs. While Shakeel was playing his flicks and drives Masood tried to slog Overton without much connection with the bat, Simpson took a safe catch.
After the departure of Sohaib Maqsood, Shakeel stood another partnership with Shadab Khan. That too did not last long as Gregory dismissed Shadab with a bumper.
Gregory, who is known for brilliant keeping in the County cricket took a superb catch down the leg side to send Faheem Ashraf back to the pavilion.
While Pakistan kept struggling at 118/7, Hassan Ali opened up his long handle to smash Matt Parkinson for three sixes in an over.
At that stage, Ben Stokes decided to introduce seamers from both ends and his decision got him the reward of Hassan Ali when the Durham pacer Brydon Carse bowled a short-pitched delivery to open his account in International cricket.
Shakeel did not give up and fought till the end alongside Shaheen Afridi to get his side within 56 runs of victory. But with the required rate jumping overhead, he decided to play a slog sweep but only found a fielder there.
Gregory completed the task for England with the final wicket of Haris Rauf.
Earlier, England who was asked to bat first started their innings on a poor note. They lost two quick wickets inside the powerplay before James Vince and Phil Salt joined to accelerate the innings.
England’s full-strength playing XI is known for taking an aggressive route when they are in trouble and the new addition of England never changed the template.
Vince and Salt up the ante with a couple of shots in every over. Salt played a fearless inning by attacking every bowler. Vince too joined him in the cause and the duo took England across 100 in just 14 overs.
Babar Azam then smartly introduced the spinners – Shadab and Shakeel – who brought Pakistan back into the game after removing Vince and Salt quickly.
England skipper, Ben Stokes was playing his 100th ODI and he was looking in fine touch before Hassan Ali ripped off his stumps.
Hassan kept digging through England’s middle-order after dislodging Simpson and Overton one after other. However, England’s lower order showed some strength.
Lewis Gregory and Brydon Carse kept the scorecard moving with the singles and doubles. Just when both of them were set enough to get England across 250, Haris Rauf came in to get rid of them.
Hassan Ali came in to give the final touch as he took the final wicket of Mahmood, to end his excellent figures of 5/51.
Pakistan came into the series against the brand new England side but the inexperienced side has shown their skills to clinch the series by 2-0.
England will be much happier with their bench strength right now and it will be interesting to see whether England picks Will Jacks for the final ODI.
Brief scores: England 247 in 45.2 overs (Philip Salt 60, James Vince 56; Hasan Ali 5-51) beat Pakistan 195 in 41 overs (Saud Shakeel 56; Lewis Gregory 3-44, Saqib 2-21) by 52 runs.