Nottingham, May 18: Ben Stokes’s unbeaten 71 rescued England from a top-order collapse as the World Cup hosts and favourites beat Pakistan by three wickets with three balls to spare at Trent Bridge.
Friday’s win in a floodlit match saw England secure the series at 3-0 up with one to play, but it was far from routine.
England were cruising to a target of 341 at 201 for one when Jason Roy’s dismissal for 114 sparked a collapse that saw three wickets lost for seven runs in 10 balls.
And when Moeen Ali was out for a duck, England were 216 for five.
But Stokes steadied the ship and with No 8 Tom Curran (31) got England back on track in a stand of 61.
Curran, pushing for a place in England’s final 15-man World Cup squad, had already taken four for 75 in Pakistan’s 340 for seven.
This was a modest score at Trent Bridge, where England have twice set the record for the highest one-day international total, with last year’s 481 for six against Australia following their 444 for three against Pakistan in 2016.
Jos Buttler, captaining England after regular skipper Eoin Morgan was given a one-game ban for a slow over-rate following Tuesday’s six-wicket win in Bristol, was pleased by the way the world’s number one-ranked ODI side had got out of a tight spot.
“You’ve just got to find a way to win and we’re going to have situations where we play poorly through a phase of the game, but we’ve managed to come out the other end of that today to win the game,” he said.
Earlier, Pakistan failed to capitalise on Babar Azam’s hundred.
Their innings fell away following a century stand between Babar, who made 115, and Hafeez (59).
Pakistan suffered a setback when Imam-ul-Haq, fresh from his career-best 151 at Bristol, had to retire hurt on three after missing an intended pull off an 89 mph ball from fast bowler Mark Wood that hit him on the elbow but X-rays showed no fracture.
Babar’s 10th four, a leg-glance off Stokes, took him to his ninth ODI hundred and first against England, in 104 balls before he holed out off Curran.
Jason Roy reveals baby drama after Pakistan hundred
NOTTINGHAM: Jason Roy was at a loss to explain how he had scored a match-winning century against Pakistan following an overnight visit to the hospital with his baby daughter.
Roy’s superb 114 was the centrepiece of England’s chase as they beat Pakistan at Trent Bridge on Friday to go 3-0 up with one to play in a one-day international series.
Yet Roy’s eighth century at this level came in trying circumstances, with the Surrey opening batsman saying he´d been more worried about daughter Everly than piling up the runs.
“It was a very emotional hundred. I didn’t see it coming,” Roy told BBC Radio’s Test Match Special.
“I had a bit of a rough morning so this one is a special one for me and my family,” added Roy, who returned to the hospital after a three-wicket win, although his daughter´s condition is not believed to be serious.
“It was my little one. We had to take her to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning. I stayed there until 8:30 am, came back for a couple of hours sleep and got to the ground just before warm-up and cracked on.”
Sarfaraz regrets not appealing Curran run out
NOTTINGHAM: Tom Curran played an important knock towards the end of the England innings which secured the team’s win against Pakistan in the fourth ODI.
Curran batting at No 8 scored 31 from 30 balls which was part of a 61-run partnership with Ben Stokes at a time when it seemed the match had slipped away from England.
Tom Curran, however, might have been run out for six had either Pakistan or the umpires spotted that a second direct hit in the same passage of play had dislodged the one remaining bail as he scrambled to complete a run.
Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who did not appeal for the Curran run-out was left regretting that decision but the wicket-keeper was arguably more frustrated by his team’s succession of costly fielding errors.
“We had enough runs on the board and if we field well we win this game,” said Sarfaraz.
“The coach told me (about the run-out). I thought both bails had come out, I hope that if the third umpire saw it on the television he would tell the umpires as well.”
