Woakes, Taylor guide England for easy win

English team secure 2-1 lead against Pakistan

SHARJAH: Seamer Chris Woakes grabbed four wickets while James Tylor notched an unbeaten half century to anchor England’s six-wicket win over Pakistan in the third day-night international in Sharjah on Tuesday.

Woakes’s 4-40 skittled Pakistan out for a below-par 208 in 49.5 overs before Taylor scored 67 for his seventh fifty to help England to the target in 41 overs for a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

Pakistan have one last chance to avoid their ninth series loss out of 11 in the United Arab Emirates (since 2009) when they play the final ODI in Dubai on Friday.

Pakistan won the first match by six wickets while England won the second by 95 runs – both in Abu Dhabi.

England were outstanding in all three departments as they bundled Pakistan out on a flat pitch for a low total and then rode an unbroken 117-run stand for the fifth wicket between Taylor and Jos Buttler (49 not out).

Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali blamed his team’s middle-innings collapse for the defeat. “We had a good start but we lost our way in the middle,” said Ali. “We were looking for 270-280 but run outs cost us and we were left 50 short.”

It was a case of sloppy batting as Pakistan, who won the toss and batted, were derailed from 92-1 in the 20th over, losing their last nine wickets for just 116 runs.

Their cause was not helped by three unnecessary run outs of Azhar Ali (36), Mohammad Rizwan (one) and Malik (16) with Woakes the main wicket taker. It was only through a ninth-wicket stand of 26 between Wahab Riaz (33 not out) and Gohar (15) that Pakistan got past the 200-mark.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2015.