On a day in Southampton when blistering sunshine was replaced by moody skies and rain twice interrupted proceedings before a third shower proved to be terminal, it was England who emerged victorious, securing the first of five one-day internationals with Pakistan by 44 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis calculation.
Before play was finally called off at 9.55pm, theirs had been a cruise towards an underwhelming target of 261 – later adjusted to 252 from 48 overs – that was as calm as any to leave the docks down the road, with Jason Roy’s belligerent 65 from 56 balls, a neat 61 from Joe Root and an unbeaten 33 from the captain Eoin Morgan seeing the home side end up 194 for three from 34.3 overs, well ahead of the D/L par score of 150.
Pakistan will be left with a sense of what might have been, with their first innings looking nicely set for a late assault at 218 for four at the start of the 43th over, only for a 20-minute downpour and quick wickets from Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes soon after the resumption to see all momentum lost and result in a total of 260 for six that looked at the time, and proved to be, well-under par from the tourists. While Alex Hales fell for just seven in England’s reply, fencing loosely to slip from the seamer Umar Gul, Roy was in no mood to hang about and despite the right-hander being forced to pause early in the innings due to a dizzy spell caused by the sweltering afternoon heat, he forged on to break the back of the target in a stand of 89 with Root that went at quicker than a run a ball.
Roy is now averaging 95 from his six 50-over innings to date this summer and this was another typically brawny affair from the Surrey opener – albeit one that profited from a drop by the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed when on 24 – with six fours and one booming six before he was eventually caught on the long-on rope in the 19th over off the left-arm spin of Mohammad Nawaz.
“It was a great performance from the boys, especially with the ball,” said Roy. “We wanted to start the series well and while it’s a shame we didn’t get to knock off the runs – it’s England and it rains here – you always take the win. A target like that could have been tricky if we had lost early wickets but we we’re delighted.”
For Morgan, the England captain, there was a duty to be there at the end, both in light of a personal fallow spell with the bat that had seen him go 23 international innings without a half-century and the poorly called single in the 28th over of the run chase that left Root short of his ground as Azhar Ali hit the stumps from cover with a pinpoint throw.
But thanks to Roy’s breakneck start – the 26-year-old was later named man of the match – there was little pressure on the England captain and his partner Ben Stokes, who finished 15 not out, with England now heading to Lord’s for Saturday’s second fixture with a 1-0 lead, albeit with the small matter of a security briefing about their upcoming winter tour to Bangladesh in between.
That England, after losing the toss, had such a manageable goal owed much to a disciplined performance with the ball from their five full-time bowlers and a nicely burgled wicket from Root’s part-time off-spin, with the tone set early on by the returning Mark Wood in what washis first international game since October last year.
Wood has undergone two ankle operations during this time but the Durham seamer has lost not of his pace, bowling consistently in excess of 90mph in an initial burst that brought the demise of Sharjeel Khan. It was a dismissal that would have a knock-on effect later in the innings too, with the opener burning his side’s one review by curiously sending his clearly feathered top-edge to Jos Buttler behind the stumps upstairs.
Azhar, who like his opposite number, Morgan, has endured something of a drought in recent times, top-scored for Pakistan with 82 from 110 balls in an innings that owed much to his being dropped twice in the 10-over powerplay, first by Hales at backward point on nine and then on 13 by a sprawling Buttler down the legside.
Having lost the No3 Mohammed Hafeez in the 13th over to a loose slog-sweep off Root to deep square leg – Morgan had introduced his vice-captain to earn some wriggle room with the bowlers later in the innings – Azhar found a busy partner in Babar Azam, whose 40 from 42 balls supplied the bulk of a 61-run stand in 11.4 overs. Sharjeel will have avoided eye contact with Babar when the No4 eventually returned to the pavilion as the first of two victims for Adil Rashid, when the leg-spinner won an lbw appeal from a slider that had crashed into the front pad via the inside edge. Safraz Ahmed, his replacement, then kept up the tempo with a run-a-ball half-century that allowed his captain time to get in the groove and start unleashing boundaries himself.
Azhar’s demise in the 36th over, caught top-edging Rashid to Moeen Ali at short third man, brought the experienced Shoaib Malik to the crease. But those minutes of rain from the south disrupted their flow and in successive overs after the resumption the pair perished to catches at mid-off, first through Shoaib skewing a drive off Plunkett before a masterful back-of-the-hand slower ball from Woakes fooled Sarfraz.
It left two newcomers to the Pakistan side, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz, to scramble unbeaten scores of 17 apiece as England’s death bowlers shipped only 42 runs in the final seven overs. But as Roy soon demonstrated in striking three meaty fours off the third over from Umar Gul, the target the tourists set was never going to be enough.
