Pakistan vs England, 3rd ODI: Woakes, Taylor inspire England win

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).

Taylor smashed two boundaries off lanky paceman Mohammad Irfan and then clobbered a flat six to reach his fifty off 51 balls. In all he hit six boundaries and two sixes off 69 balls.

Buttler supplemented Taylor, hitting the winning six as the pair survived some anxious moments early on after Pakistan caught England at 93-4.

Irfan gave Pakistan an early breakthrough when he dismissed Jason Roy for seven while debutant left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, included for the injured Yasir Shah, had Joe Root caught off a full toss for 11.

Alex Hales (30) and Eoin Morgan (35) added 60 for the third wicket before Gohar had the opener caught in the slips while Morgan was bowled by Shoaib Malik.

But Taylor and Buttler ensured no further loss and the victory, with Morgan full of praise for the pair after the successful chase.

"To perform like this is satisfying," said Morgan. "The partnership between Taylor and Buttler was outstanding and it's a magnificent win and we hope we go on and win the series."

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.

Pakistan were off to a confident start when Ali and Babar Azam (22) put on 45 by the 11th over before Woakes broke the opening stand when he had Azam caught in the deep off a short delivery in his third over.

Ali and Mohammad Hafeez, who top scored with 45, took the score to 92 when the Pakistani skipper failed to make his ground as the pair set off for a difficult single from point.

Pakistan lost the next five wickets for the addition of just 53 runs to slump to 145-6 in the 36th over as Hafeez and Sarfraz Ahmed (26) were caught in the deep in successive overs.

Hafeez hit two sixes and two boundaries off 71 balls.

Mohammad Rizwan was casually run out for one while Iftikhar Ahmed hooked a Woakes delivery straight into the hands of Root at deep square leg after scoring just three and Anwar Ali made seven.

Riaz smashed three sixes in his 35-ball knock as Woakes ended the innings off the penultimate delivery.

A 117-run partnership between James Taylor (67) and Jos Buttler (49) and four wickets from Chris Woakes helped England take an unassailable 2-1 lead against Pakistan in the four-match ODI series after beating the hosts by six wickets in the third day-night encounter at the Sharjah Stadium on Tuesday.

England chased down 209 after Pakistan put up a woeful show with three of their batsmen getting run out.

SIX: Buttler smashes Iftikhar for a six to finish the match in 41 overs.

100-partnership: Buttler and Taylor take England closer home.

FOUR: Taylor is a bit lucky here as his sweep shot is in the air and Gohar misses it completely, was it the lights which caught him unawares?

SIX: Taylor hits a flat maximum to bring up his 50. 

Eng 171 for 4, 35 overs Pak were 144-5.

FOUR: Taylor nears his 50 after hitting Gohar straight down the ground.

FOURS: Taylor pulls Irfan over mid-off and then through mid-wicket as England look to be crusing home now.

50-partnership: Taylor and Buttler put on 50 runs from 42 balls to keep England in the fray. Eng are 144-4, 30 overs; Pak were 134-3.

SIX: Taylor hoists Malik over mid-wicket.

FOURS: Buttler reverse sweeps Gohar twice past the close-in fielders. Eng 120-4, 25 overs. Pak were 115-2.

FOUR: Taylor sweeps and Gohar, a respite boundary after two quick wickets.

Malik gets dangerman Morgan as he has no clue to the prodigious turn the spinner was getting. Eng 93-4, 22 overs.

Eoin Morgan b Shoaib Malik 35 (58b 4x4 0x6)

Gohar gets Pakistan back into the match by removing Hales to end his 60-run partnership with Morgan.

Alex Hales c Mohammad Rizwan b Zafar Gohar 30 (49b 2x4 1x6)

FOUR: Morgan does the reverse sweep again, this time against Gohar to bring up the 50-run partnership with Hales.

FOUR: Morgan plays his favourite shot, the reverse sweep of Malik.

Drinks

After 15 overs Eng are 63-2 while Pak were 63-1.

FOUR: Hales picks up the momentum sweeping Iftikhar through square leg.

FOUR: Morgan pulls Riaz again to the ropes to bring up England 50.

FOUR: Morgan pulls a high length ball from Riaz to the ropes. Eng 41-2, 10 overs. Pak were 43-0 at the same stage.

SIX: Hales gets some pressure off England with a big hit off Gohar after he was kept by Irfan.

DROPPED: Gohar has a caught and bowled chance but Morgan's shot is so powerful that it hits Gohar higher on the arm which needs attention.

Debutant Gohar strikes in his first over getting rid of Root who pulled a low full toss into the hands of Iftikhar at deep square leg.

Joe Root c Iftikhar Ahmed b Zafar Gohar 11 (14b 1x4 0x6)

ESCAPE: Hales survives a caught-and-bowled chance from Irfan.

Irfan strikes early to get Roy for the second time in the series.

Jason Roy c Shoaib Malik b Mohammad Irfan 7 (6b 1x4 0x6)

FOUR: Hales glides Anwar Ali down leg side.

FOUR: Jason Roy is off to a flyer guiding Irfan's first ball through covers.

Pakistan innings

Some outstanding fielding from England and some mindless batting from Pakistan saw the visitors do well to bowl the hosts out for 208 in the third day-night ODI at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

After winning the toss and electing to bat captain Azhar Ali and Babar Azam gave them a decent start with a 45-run partnership.

Azam was out for 22 trying to hit Chris Woakes out of the ground.

Azhar and Mohammed Hafeez put on another 47 runs but Azhar was run out and from there Pakistan's innings began to crumble. Another two run-outs -- that of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Rizwan -- and some poor shots saw Pakistan struggle in the middle but for tailenders Wahab Riaz (33 not out) and debutant Zafar Gohar (15) who gave the team something to fight.

Chris Woakes was England's most impressive bowler with four for 40. 

Woakes gets his fourth victim, that is of the giant Irfan to leave Wahab Riaz stranded on 33.

Mohammad Irfan b Woakes 0 (18m 7b 0x4 0x6)

SIX: Wahab Riaz pulls Willey this time over long on and the Pakistani supporters are on their feet.

Dropped: Riaz survives as Root drops a sitter to leave Topley fuming.

SIX: Wahab Riaz pulls Topley from off-side towards mid-wicket and long-on area.

Gohar is out scoring a run-a-ball 15, considering it was his debut the young lad did well. Pak 187-9, 47 overs.

Zafar Gohar c Buttler b Woakes 15 (15b 0x4 1x6)

SIX: A maximum finally and that too from debutant Zafar Gohar over mid-on. Pak 181-8, 45 overs.

It's been 111 balls since Pakistan hit the last boundary.

It's mindless cricket from the Pakistan side as Malik becomes the third batsman to get run out.

Shoaib Malik run out 16 (29b 0x4 0x6)

Anwar skies one to Ali and Pakistan are in trouble. Anwar should have done better after he survived a stumping in the previous over from Rashid's bowling when Buttler failed to collect the ball cleanly. Pak 157-7, 40 overs.

Anwar Ali c Ali b Topley 7 (19b 0x4 0x6)

Drinks

Iftikhar gets carried away and tries to hook Woakes but it lands in Root's hands at deep square-leg. Pak 144-6, 36 overs

Iftikhar Ahmed c Root b Woakes 3 (10b 0x4 0x6)

Moeen Ali has been impressive in choking the run flow from the Pakistan batsmen with figures of 10-0-30-1.

Pakistan have been pushed on the back foot scoring only 9 runs from 26 balls for the loss of three wickets. Pak 114-5, 35 overs.

Another silly run-out from the Pakistan batsmen. Rizwan plays the ball down mid-wicket and sets out for a casual single withuot realising that Malik didn't even budge at the other end. Pak 135-5, 33 overs

Mohammad Rizwan run out 1 (3b 0x4 0x6)

Sarfraz's run-a-ball innings ends after he holes out to Jordan in the deep.

Sarfraz Ahmed c sub (Jordan) b Ali 26 (26b 3x4 0x6)

Hafeez top-edges towards deep square leg and Root makes no mistake. Pak 134-3, 30 overs.

Mohammad Hafeez c Root b Willey 45 (71b 2x4 2x6)

FOUR: Sweet timing from Sarfraz Ahmed as the ball finds the gap between covers and long-off. Pak 115-2, 25 overs.

Half chance: Hafeez survives as Woakes, at extra cover, makes a valiant attempt getting his fingertips to an uppish shot.

FOUR: Sarfraz Ahmed sweps Moeen through mid-wicket, more of a sweep shot.

FOUR: Sarfraz Ahmed, sent ahead of the experienced Shoaib Malik, gets into the act.

A miunderstanding between Azhar and Hafeez leaves the skipper stranded, ending a good 47-run partnership. Pak 92-2, 20 overs.

Azhar Ali run out 36 (54b 1x4 1x6)

Drinks

SIX: Hafeez is on a roll here, picking Rashid again nicely to hit him high and straight into the stands.

SIX AND FOUR: Hafeez takes charge here hitting Rashid over mid-off on two occasions although lucky on the first attempt when it went slightly above the reach of the fielder at mid-on.

FOUR: Hafeez spanks Woakes over mid-off.

Babar Azam tries to pull a short ball from Woakes which is outside the off stump but ends up top-edging it to Rashid at long leg. Pak 45-1, 11 overs.

Babar Azam c Rashid b Woakes 22 (30b 2x4 0x6)

FOUR: Babar Azam hits Topley down the ground.

SIX: England make a bowling change after six overs and Chris Woakes is introduced but Azhar Ali greets him in style by stepping down the track to loft him over mid-off.

FOUR: Babar Azam strides forward to hit Topley througn covers.

FOUR: Classy drive through cover and mid-off from the Pakistan captain.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first making only one change to the team that lost the second ODI to England.

Debutant Zafar Gohar replaces the injured Yasir Shah as Pakistan look to take a lead in the four-match series which is tied 1-1.

Buoyed by their performance in the last ODI in Abu Dhabi, England captain Eoin Morgan, has decided to go in with the same team.

Teams

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Zafar Gohar, Mohammad Irfan

England: Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, James Taylor, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Reece Topley.

Preview

Pakistan will be without injured leg-spinner Yasir Shah as they look for the right combination to win the third day-night international against England in Sharjah on Tuesday, with skipper Azhar Ali admitting his team needs to improve.

Team manager Intikhab Alam said a knee injury has ruled Shah out.

"We don't want to risk him as he is nursing a knee injury so he will not be considered for Tuesday's game," Alam told AFP.

Uncapped left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar will fill in for Shah as seeking a sixth bowler in the limited over series, Pakistan have not been able to include opener Ahmed Shehzad in the first two matches.

The series is tied at 1-1 after Pakistan won the first encounter by six wickets while England fought back to level the series with a 95-run win - both matches in Abu Dhabi.

Azhar said Pakistan suffered multiple problems and was forced to use 11 different opening combinations in the last 12 months.
 
"Ideally, we want to have a set opening pair but unfortunately in the last one year or so we had a lot of injuries plus we had some problems with our allrounders as well," said Azhar.

"(Mohammad) Hafeez is not allowed to bowl," said Azhar of the spinning allrounder banned from bowling over illegal action since July this year.

"Then we have injury to Imad Wasim," said Azhar of the newcomer who was ruled out of the four-match series with a hand injury.

"These things create problems in picking the right combination and if there is a weak link in bowling then you can struggle to control the flow of runs and I think that can damage the combination of the team and you have to sacrifice a player to have a better combination," said Azhar who backed his spinners.

"Yasir bowled well in the first game," said Azhar of the spinner who took 15 wickets in Pakistan's preceding 2-0 Test wins but managed 1-108 in two one-day matches.

"You bank on spinners in this part but there was less support for the spinners in Abu Dhabi, the other thing is that some times the other team also hanldes spinners well so there is no issue on their abilities," said Azhar.

Azhar said Pakistan was better than its number eight one-day rankings suggests.

"We are a better team than our rankings suggest but for now we are focused on this series and we will take it series by series and in future like to improve our rankings as well," he said.

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