A transformed England side, albeit one containing exactly the same 11 players who on the same pitch performed so tepidly on Wednesday, completely outplayed Pakistan in the second one-day international. The series is level as the teams head for Sharjah.
England, bolstered by a fine maiden century by Alex Hales, won by 95 runs and but for a face-saving innings of 64 by Sarfraz Ahmed the margin would have been greater.
The three batsmen, Hales, Jason Roy and Joe Root, who had mustered 10 runs between them 48 hours earlier, contributed 226 of England’s 283 runs. Then the bowlers, triggered by David Willey’s opening spell, were able to impose a stranglehold on Pakistan, which was never broken. Dismissing Mohammed Hafeez, who has tormented England for the last month, for a duck helped enormously.
Suddenly there was a spring in the step of all the bowlers. It may be that their confidence had been enhanced by the fact they were defending a substantial total, whose foundation had been laid by Hales. This may be a landmark innings for the opening batsman, calming his anxieties and enhancing his confidence.
Hales, the man of the match, said scoring a hundred was “a very special feeling. I’ll remember it for a long time.” He has been around for a while and knows the pitfalls of looking too far ahead so rather than concentrate on whether this knock might improve his Test prospects in South Africa, he expressed delight that his innings and this victory kept alive England’s chances of winning the one-day series.
He looked a relieved man, having produced only two half-centuries and a top score of 67 in 20 ODI innings. Here he was wonderfully measured and assured, biding his time before opening his shoulders. Outside of T20 cricket it was easily his best innings for England.
Initially it was Roy who caught the eye with an impudent reverse hit for four against Yasir Shah and a magisterial back foot drive followed by a dismissive pull off Wahab Riaz. Sometimes he makes batting seem as natural to him as was villainy to the original JR. Together the opening pair added 102 in 18 overs whereupon Roy casually chipped the ball to mid-on.
One day Roy should go on to three figures for England and it will be a treat, but on this occasion Hales made sure he was the man to capitalise on his start. There were two mighty sixes off Yasir, who was finding containment as elusive as any English leg-spinner on a surface that did not help the spinners as much as expected.
Hales faltered briefly when he suddenly played and missed four times in a row against the giant Mohammed Irfan. He recovered his composure in time to sweep Iftikhar Ahmed for two runs before commencing his celebrations at reaching three figures. Soon after Hales was deftly stumped by Sarfraz when attempting to sweep.
Root played delightfully to reach his half-century but when he started slogging towards the end he was emasculated; despite much swinging of the bat his last 10 runs took 17 balls. However none of the batsmen prospered in the last 10 overs, during which England scored a curious and disappointing 56 for three.
Then Pakistan were even more impotent in their first 10, after which they were 19 for two. Willey, nondescript in the first ODI, discovered a perfect rhythm and just enough swing to trouble the batsmen.
Soon Babar Azam was lbw, playing around his front pad; then Willey took the crucial wicket of Hafeez, caught by Jos Buttler from a delivery that slanted across the right-hander.
From there Pakistan never threatened with Chris Woakes, admirably disciplined, picking up the next three wickets. Iftikhar, a nervous debutant was caught at mid-on, Shoaib Malik pulled tamely to midwicket and then the opener Azhar Ali, who had crawled to 22, was deceived by a cutter and bowled off the inside edge.
Paul Farbrace, the assistant coach, had explained how the coaching staff felt Woakes had not bowled enough cutters on this surface on Wednesday. Here was a hint that this England side, young and unreliable though they may be, are prepared to listen, adjust and improve. Just as encouraging was how Adil Rashid, relishing a batting side under pressure, was for once much more effective and economical than Yasir.
After the dreary mediocrity of the first ODI England produced a performance as polished as the atrium of their hotel and many among the largest crowd of the tour headed home early.
