Pakistan strolled to victory by six wickets with more than six overs to spare. Mohammad Hafeez, now relishing being a specialist batsman – he is no longer allowed to bowl – continued where he left off in the Test series, purring to a polished century just before the winning runs were hit.
Hafeez was the man of a very forgettable match, especially from the perspective of the England camp. Having won the toss England were bowled out for 216 on a slow, blameless pitch and that was about 50 runs short of a competitive target. Despite early wickets for Reece Topley in his second one-day international the outcome was as predictable as the United Arab Emirates weather.
Eoin Morgan, whose innings rescued his team from utter humiliation, acknowledged that his side were “slow out of the traps. Our batting let us down massively. We were looking at a minimum of 250”. Given such a meagre score he was reluctant to focus on the limitations of his bowlers. At least his side has less than 48 hours to dwell upon a tepid performance.
The England scorecard, seemingly so reassuring before a ball was bowled, looked ugly by the time Pakistan had completed 49.4 overs. The first 10 batsmen all have first-class hundreds to their name yet on this day England’s batting strength was paper-thin.
There was one period of hope when Morgan and James Taylor were together compiling a fourth-wicket partnership of 133. Morgan, with no obvious scars from his last ODI innings when he was hit by a short ball from Mitchell Starc at Old Trafford, scored 76; Taylor, not a bad man for a crisis, mustered 60. But the next highest scorer was the last man out, Chris Woakes, who scrambled a plucky 33.
Morgan and Taylor were thrown together within four overs. The pitch may have looked grey and dry yet England’s upper order suggested that this was Derby on a dank day in April.
Jason Roy missed his second ball. It looked as if that he never picked up its trajectory, a feasible theory since Mohammad Irfan is about seven feet tall. It is just possible that Roy was not looking in the right direction. Joe Root reviewed his lbw decision more on the basis that he is now the side’s best batsman and therefore deserving of latitude rather than any great conviction that the ball was missing his leg stump, and then Alex Hales nibbled aimlessly.
From 14 for three Morgan and Taylor restored the situation. They were necessarily watchful yet Morgan’s timing was pure; Taylor as ever was busy and occasionally belligerent. He hit the only two sixes of the innings way into the stands at long-off. But Morgan’s departure, after edging Shoaib Malik to the keeper, Sarfraz Ahmed, was the prelude to a collapse. England would lose five wickets for 33 runs.
Taylor, usually so sensible, called Jos Buttler for an improbable single and England’s beleaguered wicketkeeper was run out. Such was Taylor’s misjudgment that a direct hit from Azhar Ali at cover was not required. Soon after Taylor clipped an off-break to midwicket. Then Babar Azam pulled off a brilliant, diving one-handed catch to dispose of Moeen Ali off the bowling of Yasir Shah.
Hence the England innings was constipated. There was not a four off the bat after the 36th over, however commendably Woakes scrapped at the end. Pakistan’s out-cricket had been as sharp as England’s batting, with the exception of Morgan and Taylor, had been toothless.
Topley gave England hope in his opening six-over spell. He found just enough swing to gain two lbw victims, Azhar Ali and Bilal Asif, an impostor at the top of the order. Then he dismissed Younis Khan, who to the surprise and dismay of both the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Shaharyar Khan, and their chief selector, Haroon Rasheed, was playing his last ODI.
Younis, after an excellent Test series, had just been recalled to the one-day side to “stabilise the batting”. Yet on the morning of the match Younis, an emotional, endearing man, announced that he was retiring from ODI cricket.
He could not decorate the occasion and had contributed a rather frantic nine when he holed out to mid-on off Topley.
But he received a warm send-off from a crowd of about 4,000, soon to be followed by embraces from his fellow players. From now on he will concentrate on Test runs provided the powers that be are not too stroppy with him.
Thereafter Hafeez effortlessly guided Pakistan to victory. His timing was as silky smooth as it was throughout the Test series and, as predicted, he was quick to attack Adil Rashid, who bowled too many long-hops. There was passive support from Shoaib Malik for 15 overs followed by more pugnacious strokeplay from Babar Azam, who hit four sixes, thereby bringing this game to a mercifully swift end.
