Cardiff, July 8: Saqib Mahmood’s four-wicket haul and Dawid Malan’s unbeaten 68-run knock helped second string England thrash Pakistan by nine wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series here at the Sophia Gardens on Thursday.
Earlier this week, three England players tested positive for COVID-19 and the first choice squad was sent into mandatory isolation. As a result, a completely different squad was selected for the series against Pakistan.
CHasing 142, England openers Phil Salt and Dawid Malan put on 22 runs for the first wicket, but the partnership came to an end in the fifth over as Salt (7) was sent back to the paviolion by Shaheen Afridi.
Zak Crawley then joined Malan and the duo mixed caution with aggression to ensure England did not suffer any further hiccups. Malan (68*) and Crawley (58*) remained unbeaten as England cruised home by nine wickets with 169 balls to spare.
Earlier, Saqib Mahmood picked up a four-wicket haul to help England bundle out Pakistan for a paltry 141 runs inside 36 overs. Pakistan lost their first four wickets for just 26 runs before Fakhar Zaman and Sohaib Maqsood put on a brief 53-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Shadab Khan showed promise with his 30 but was unable to receive any support from the lower order. (ANI)
