Published: Nov 17, 2015, 11:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 18, 2015, 06:15 AM (IST)
England have sealed victory in the third match of the four-match series against Pakistan at Sharjah and James Taylor‘s unbeaten knock of 67 was instrumental in the victory. Taylor walked out at a stage when the game seemed tipped in Pakistan’s favour with the spinners exploiting the turn on the surface to dismiss Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales in quick succession. Taylor however dealt with the situation with great maturity and ensured England won the game. With that win, it is confirmed that England can’t lose the series. LIVE SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England, 3rd ODI at Sharjah
England’s innings in chase of 209 did not have the ideal start when Jason Roy was dismissed cheaply by a hostile Mohammad Irfan. Joe Root did not make a significant impact either scoring just 11 runs before falling to debutant spinner Zafar Gohar. After those early wickets, Morgan and Hales built a good solid partnership and it looked like England’s win would be a cakewalk, which it eventually was. LIVE UPDATES: Pakistan vs England, 3rd ODI at Sharjah
However, the quick dismissals of the two batsmen had England reeling at four for 93 and with the amount of turn the bowlers were generating it looked like Pakistan had the advantage. Shoaib Malik dismissed Eoin Morgan to reach an elusive all-round record, while Gohar had his second wicket in form of Hales. Their hopes of a turnaround victory were thwarted by a sublime Taylor and a nervy yet resolute Buttler. They built a 100-run partnership by which time the game had completely gone out of hand for the home side. Buttler and Taylor stayed on till the end to see their team through. Buttler sealed the game with a six that took his score to 49.
Eariler, England totally dominated Pakistan in the first innings. They were exceptional with the ball, taking wickets at regular intervals except for a brief period when Mohammad Hafeez was involved in a sizable partnership with Sarfraz Ahmed. Pakistan were dismal in their combat against some buoyant bowling and most batsmen fell to miscalculated shots as a result of disciplined bowling from the English bowlers. There were also a couple of totally unnecessary run outs that added to their misery. Chris Woakes took another four-for and had most of his wickets off short balls.
England 210 for four in 41 overs (James Taylor 67, Jos Buttler 49; Zafar Gohar 2 for 54) beat Pakistan 208 in 49.5 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 45, Wahab Riaz 33; Chris Woakes 4 for 40) by six wickets.
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)
