Summary Entire English top order, helped by Pakistani fielders, chips in to ease out the chase
SOUTHAMPTON (Web Desk) - England batted brilliantly and was definitely helped by some poor Pakistani bowling and fielding. Jason Roy was dropped by Sarfraz at just 2 and he went on to score 61 runs, paving the way for England to what seems now to be a smooth chase.
Pakistan set total of 261 for England in the first One-Day International played at Rose Bowl, Southampton, on Wednesday after skipper Azhar Ali won the toss and decided to bat first.
Azhar himself turned out to be the leading run-scorer for Pakistan after contributing 82 runs with the bat. Sarfraz remained played a knock of 55 runs whereas Babar Azam scored 40 runs.
Adil Rashid picked up two wickets for England whereas Moeen Ali, Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and Joe Root were among the other wicket-takers.
England innings
England batted brilliantly at the top as Pakistan bowlers continued to bowl at the wrong lines while the fielders seemed completely out of stocks, dropping catches and giving away runs freely. Jason Roy was dropped by Sarfraz Ahmed early on in the innings, helping the English batsmen to lay solid foundations for the chase.
Although England had lost the wicket of their already struggling opener Hales with just a total of 27 runs on the board, Sarfraz dropped a sitter soon after off Amir s bowling, helping Jason Roy uproot Pakistan s bowling attack in the overs to come. Joe Root and Jason Roy played brilliantly for their 89-run partnership. Jason Roy was finally caught at the boundary by Babar Azam but by that time he had already scored 65 runs off just 56 balls with the help of 6 boundaries and a six.
Joe Root, however, continued to score runs at the other end, along with Eoin Morgan. He scored 61 runs off 72 balls with the help of 6 boundaries. But by the time he was run out by skipper Azhar Ali off a direct hit, England had already scored 158 runs and required only 103 runs off the remaining 22.1 overs with 7 wickets in hand.
Pakistan innings
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision paid off well as skipper Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan went off to a quick start. However, Sharjeel couldn t hold on to his aggressive nature and gave his wicket away when the openers had put up only 25 runs together. Pakistan were 25 for 1 when Hafeez joined Azhar Ali in the middle.
However, Hafeez continued his poor Test form into the ODIs as well and lost his wicket cheaply to Joe Root for just 11 runs after playing 15 balls. Babar Azam and Azhar Ali then took the innings forward for Pakistan and with 40 runs off just 42 balls, Babar Azam took the score to 113 before being taken out by Adil Rashid that seemed to be a harsh decision as the bowler clearly seemed touching the bat before going on to hit his pad but since Sharjeel Khan had already used Pakistan s sole attempt at reviewing the umpire s decision, Azam had to go.
Azhar Ali formed yet another good partnership with the wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed but finally lost his wicket after scoring 82 runs off 110 balls. However, Pakistan were already 178 for 4 at that time and with Shoaib Malik coming in, seemed well placed to reach a respectable total. Sarfraz and Malik had gathered 44 runs between them before Shoaib Malik was caught by Adil Rashif off Plunkett s bowling after scoring 17 runs.
Sarfraz went on to make his third half-century and scored 55 runs off 58 balls. Nawaz and Imad scored 17 runs each off 15 and 20 balls respectively and Pakistan finished at 260 for 6 off their allotted 50 overs.
Pakistan line-up
Azhar Ali (c), Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Umar Gul
England line-up
AD Hales, JJ Roy, JE Root, EJG Morgan (c), BA Stokes, JC Buttler, MM Ali, CR Woakes, AU Rashid, LE Plunkett, MA Wood
