CARDIFF: England captain Eoin Morgan led his side to a seven-wicket win over Pakistan in a lone Twenty20 international in Cardiff on Sunday with an unbeaten innings of 57.

Test skipper Joe Root made 47 and James Vince 36 as England overhauled Pakistan’s total of 173 for six with four balls to spare at Sophia Gardens.

This was England’s second victory in three days after their One-day International success away to Morgan’s native Ireland in Dublin on Friday as they continued an encouraging start to a season that sees them staging both the 50-over World Cup and the Ashes.

England fast bowler Jofra Archer also continued his push for a World Cup call-up by taking two for 29 in Pakistan’s innings.

The recalled Ben Duckett fell early in England’s chase, driving Shaheen Afridi to mid-off, but Vince and Root kept England up with the run-rate thanks to a series of sparkling shots.

Vince was caught down the legside by Pakistan captain and wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed off Imad Wasim but Morgan kept the runs coming, taking 14 off three successive balls from medium-pacer Faheem Ashraf.

And even when Sarfraz caught Root, there was little danger to England’s hopes of victory with Morgan hitting five fours and three sixes in his 29-ball stay.

There was a bizarre incident at the start of Pakistan’s third over when the ground made way beneath David Willey as the England seamer was just about to make his delivery stride.

Fortunately for England, Willey avoided serious injury.

Babar Azam (65) and Haris Sohail (50) shared a stand of 103 after Pakistan had been 31 for two following Sarfraz’s decision to bat first on a green-tinged pitch.

Haris hit Chris Jordan for six before Babar struck successive sixes off spinner Joe Denly to complete a 31-ball fifty.

Pakistan then saw both their well-set batsmen fall in quick succession with Barbados-born Archer, renowned for his form in T20 franchise cricket, removing Haris before he ran out Babar.

England and Pakistan will now play a five-match ODI series starting at The Oval on Wednesday.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman c Morgan b Curran 7
Babar Azam run out 65
Imam-ul-Haq c Foakes b Archer 7
Haris Sohail c Willey b Archer 50
Asif Ali run out 3
Imad Wasim not out 18
Faheem Ashraf c Denly b Jordan 17
Hasan Ali not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-3) 6

TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs) 173

FALL OF WKTS: 1-16, 2-31, 3-124, 4-135, 5-139, 6-165.

DID NOT BAT: Sarfraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain.

BOWLING: Willey 3-0-25-0 (3w); Curran 4-0-28-1; Archer 4-0-29-2; Jordan 4-0-41-1; Adil Rashid 4-0-32-0; Denly 1-0-15-0.

ENGLAND:

J.M. Vince c Sarfraz b Imad 36
B.M. Duckett c Imad b Shaheen 9
J.E. Root c Sarfraz b Hasan 47
E.J.G. Morgan not out 57
J.L. Denly not out 20

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3, NB-1) 6

TOTAL (for three wkts, 19.2 overs) 175

FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-66, 3-131.

DID NOT BAT: B.T. Foakes, D.J. Willey, Adil Rashid, T.K. Curran, J.C. Archer, C.J. Jordan.

BOWLING: Imad Wasim 4-0-24-1; Faheem Ashraf 3.2-0-43-0; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-0-35-1 (2w); Mohammad Hasnain 4-0-29-0 (1w); Hasan Ali 4-0-42-1 (1nb).

RESULT: England won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: M.A. Gough (England) and A.G. Wharf (England).

TV UMPIRE: R.T. Robinson (England).

MATCH REFEREE: R.B. Richardson (West Indies).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Eoin Morgan.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2019