After the three one-sided affairs between England and Pakistan that culminated in a blizzard of records being broken at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, the fourth instalment at a sold-out and boisterous Headingley two days later, while still ending up as a victory for the home side, at least produced a contest.
Jonny Bairstow, playing his first match of the series after replacing the injured Jos Buttler just half an hour before the start of play, struck 61 from 83 balls that, along with a typically belligerent 69 from Ben Stokes, allowed Eoin Morgan’s side to chase down 248 under the beaming White Rose floodlights with 12 balls to spare.
Their four-wicket win now sees them head into Sunday’s finale in Cardiff hunting both their first 5-0 series whitewash at home and a first unbeaten summer in 50-over cricket since the era of white ball and coloured clothing began in England back in 1998.
With Pakistan posting 247 for eight, what look destined to be another stroll for England burst into life through the 7ft 1in left-armer, Mohammad Irfan, removing both Jason Roy and Alex Hales before Joe Root, in the search of a sixth successive half century in the format, top-edged Hasan Ali to deep fine leg on 30 to leave England 59 for three in the 12th over; when Umar Gul then had Morgan caught at slip on 11, this read 72 for four in the 15th.
But Stokes, a spectator when Alex Hales et al racked up 444-3 in Nottingham, responded with his murderous best, combining drilled straight drives with meaty heaves over mid-wicket and, as was the case in Cape Town last December during their stand of 399 against South Africa, he found the perfect ally in Bairstow.
Their partnership of 103 from 19.4 overs was the difference between the two sides and while both men departed before the close, England’s superior depth in batting told as Moeen Ali struck an unbeaten 45 from No7 and sealed both the win, and the scarcely mentioned Super Series, with two straight sixes down the ground off the part-time spin of Azhar Ali.
That the Pakistan captain had to turn his arm over came after Irfan was hit with a bout of cramp that saw him sent down just one wide in an aborted return after his initial five-over burst. The left-armer’s ability to bowl his full allocation might have tipped this game to the away side, however the gulf between the two opponents remains significant.
The tourists are suffering with low confidence, particularly with the bat, and were it not for Azhar’s 80 from 104 balls and a late flourish from No8 Imad Wasim – an unbeaten 57 from 41 – their scorecard after winning the toss would have been bleak, with just one partnership in excess of 50 courtesy of the latter’s late salvo.
As well as drafting in Bairstow when Buttler suffered a hamstring niggle in the warm-up, England called on David Willey and Chris Jordan in place of the rested Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, while tourists similarly rung the changes from Trent Bridge with Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik and Yasir Shah all stood down.
And on a pitch offering turn, it was the absence of those last two that may have stuck in the craw most as England’s spin pairing of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali shared five wickets in the middle overs that proved crippling for the tourists and capitalised on early strikes for both Jordan and Liam Plunkett.
Rashid’s three for 47 from his 10, through some lovely looping drift and with Bairstow purring to his leg-spinning county colleague from behind the stumps, were the standout figures, while Moeen, in an otherwise quiet series, claimed two for 39, with the ball that span and bounced past No7 Mohammad Nawaz for a simple stumping a wonderful bit of guile.
England’s fielding was much improved and kick-started by Stokes holding two swirling high catches off openers Sharjeel Khan and Sami Aslam; a diving effort on the midwicket boundary by the all-rounder off Sarfraz Ahmed would have been the pick, were it not off a free-hit that followed one of Moeen’s curious head-high moon balls.
As it was, that particular crown went to the flying effort at mid-on by Liam Plunkett that accounted for Pakistan’s dangerous wicketkeeper-batsman on six, the first of Rashid’s haul that was soon followed by his entrapment of the new man, Mohammad Rizwan, lbw.
Azhar had tried his best to anchor things from No3 but saw four partners come and go before he too took on the final ball of Rashid’s allocation and lost, skewing to long-on in the 38th over to leave his side 168 for six. Only Imad, through some inventive flicks and brutal straight hitting, gave Pakistan’s bowlers a chance.
The giant Irfan, not part of the original Pakistan squad, took up this challenge, steaming in from the Rugby Stand End with the new ball, and while his follow-through saw him twice warned for running on the pitch, his line to the right-handers Roy and Hales was impeccable and saw both men fall to genuine edges inside the first seven overs.
With Root’s miscued hook followed by Morgan, England were feeling the heat. Stokes offered one chance when dropped on 34 but otherwise his stand with Bairstow was one of controlled dominance until the former, with 73 runs to amass and 15.5 overs remaining, was caught in the deep off the left-arm spin of Imad attempting a third six.
It was not until Bairstow was run out by a direct hit, with the target whittled down to 23, that things began to get twitchy but with Irfan out of the equation and the remainder of his attack bowled out, Azhar had no one to turn to but himself for the 48th over, when just 12 runs were required. Moeen, in lifting two sixes back over the Pakistan captain’s head, had clearly decided enough was enough.
