Alex Hales’ debut ODI ton guides England to victory against Pak, level series 1-1
Abu Dhabi: England won the second one-day international against Pakistan by 95 runs on Monday to level the series at 1-1. England reached 283-5 after winning the toss and batting first, with opener Alex Hales getting his maiden ODI century, then bowled out Pakistan for 188 in the 46th over.
Pakistan never got going after losing the first two wickets for 10 runs, including that of first-match centurion Mohammad Hafeez for a duck.
England's left-arm opening bowler David Willey got rid of Hafeez and new opener Babar Azam before finishing with 3-25. He was given excellent support by Chris Woakes, who took 4-33.
Only Sarfraz Ahmed, coming in at No 7, provided some resistance, making 64 before he became Woakes' fourth victim.
"It's an excellent performance, quite a commanding one. We learnt from our previous experience two days ago, particularly with the batting," England captain Eoin Morgan said.
Despite losing the first match by six wickets on Wednesday when Pakistan easily chased down 216, England elected to bat first again and got a brilliant start from the top order.
Hales made 102 in the opening stand with Jason Roy (54), then 114 for the second wicket with Joe Root (63). His 109 had three sixes and seven fours.
It was his first century in 21 ODIs, and he was out stumped by wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed when he tried to sweep Iftikhar Ahmed.
When Hales was second out on 216, it was the 39th over of the match, and England was expected to set a target of close to 300. But Pakistan fought back in the final 10 overs, restricting England to just 56 runs and picking up three wickets.
"I think our bowlers did really well to contain them for 283 when at one stage it looked like they will make 300 plus. I think we should have chased that total. We didn't play the brand of cricket we wanted to play while batting. We did not start well, we kept losing wickets and we never got the momentum during the innings," Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said.
Paceman Wahab Riaz took 3-43 in his 10 overs, and was the most successful Pakistan bowler. Debutant Iftikhar Ahmed and tall paceman Mohammad Irfan shared the other wickets. The third ODI in the four-match series will be played in Sharjah on Tuesday. (Photos: AP)
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