Birmingham, July 14 (IANS) James Vince scored a hundred and Lewis Gregory contributed 77 as England defeated Pakistan by three wickets to complete a clean sweep of the three-match ODI series.
Vince raced to 102 off 95 deliveries and Gregory struck his 77 of 69 balls as hosts England, chasing Pakistan's challenging score of 331 for seven wickets, reached 332 for seven with two overs to spare.
Opener Phil Salt scored 37 while skipper Ben Stokes added 32 as England held their nerves to register a comfortable win in third and final ODI.
Earlier, skipper Babar Azam struck a career-best 158 (139-ball) and helped Pakistan's batting finally came good in this series.
Opener Imam-ul-Haq scored 56 and Mohammad Rizwan 74 as Pakistan posted 331 for nine wickets in their allotted 50 overs.
Playing against a makeshift England squad, after the originally selected player went into isolation after three players tested positive for COVID-19, Pakistan has struggled with their batting, putting up scores of 141 and 195 as they were outplayed in the first two ODIs.
Babar came in after Fakhar Zaman was out early for 6, caught by Zak Crawley off Saqib Mahmood. He raised 92 runs for the third wicket with opener Imam-ul-Haq and then put together a partnership of 179 with Rizwan. However, they suffered a collapse soon after Rizwan was out, caught by wicketkeeper Simpson off seamer Brydon Carse, with the score 292/3. Only one of the remaining seven batsman managed to reach double digits.
But Babar kept blasting runs from the other end and was the eighth batsman out with the score 328 in the 50th over.
He struck 14 boundaries and four sixes during his innings. Carse was the best England bowler on display as he claimed five wickets for 61 in his 10 overs.
Brief scores: Pakistan 331/9 in 50 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 56, Babar Azam 158, M Rizwan 74; Brydon Carse 5/61). England 332/7 in 48 overs (Phil Salt 37, James Vince 102, Ben Stokes 32, Lewis Gregory 77; Haris Rauf 4/65)
Four Indian players scored a hat-trick each as the women’s hockey team mauled lowly Kazakhstan 21-0 to notch up its second consecutive win in the Asian Games here on Tuesday.
An athlete not old enough to grasp the enormity of his feat struck gold, a seasoned but scarred pro found his silver lining and a man here for hobby collected a bronze as shooters dominated India’s medal haul in the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Vinesh Phogat on Monday became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Games gold after she defeated Japan's Yuki Irie in the 50 kilogram women's Freestyle final here.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was on Friday named the Indian contingent’s flag-bearer for the Asian Games opening ceremony to be held on August 18 in Jakarta.
Riding high on the runners-up performance at last month's Champions Trophy, former India hockey captain Manpreet Singh is targeting the gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games.
"I don't want her to think of a medal from the outset. She is coming back after an injury and it won't be easy. I want her to reach the finals. That is the first target," Nandi told IANS.
