England thrash Pak to clinch ODI series

London, July 11: England’s makeshift team turned in another A-list performance against Pakistan and sealed the one-day international series at Lord’s in front of English cricket’s biggest crowd in almost two years on Saturday with a 52-run victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead. The result was in the balance when England was bowled out for 247 but Pakistan finished well short on 195 all out.
England was asked to bat first and soon found itself in some bother after Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley followed unbeaten half-centuries last time out with matching ducks. Malan was the first of five wickets for Hasan Ali when he squirted to second slip, while Crawley saw his off stump flattened by a rocket of a yorker from Shaheen Shah Afridi.
England was vulnerable at 160-7, but were bolstered by a 69-run stand between Gregory and Brydon Carse (31).
Pakistan would still have been happy with its work but the chase was quickly undermined by the loss of three wickets for 36.
Gregory struck with his first delivery, pushed across Imam-ul-Haq who obliged with an edge, and would later return to see off Shadab and Haris Rauf to complete a fine all-round show.
The third and last ODI is on Tuesday. (PTI)
Brief Scores:
England 247 all out
in 45.2 overs
(P Salt 60, J Vince 56;
H Ali 5/51)
Pakistan 195 all out
in 41 overs
(S Shakeel 56, H Ali 31;
L Gregory 3/44).