By Matt Hardy
England’s highest-ranked batter Dawid Malan hit 78 not out as Moeen Ali’s Twenty20 side won the final match of their tour to Pakistan and claimed a highly competitive seven-game series 4-3 last night.
With the series on a knife-edge following three matches in Karachi and three in Lahore, everything came down to this match at the Gaddafi Stadium.
A theme throughout the series – England’s first of any kind in Pakistan since 2006 – was tourist openers dropping like flies. This was eradicated here.
Phil Salt’s steady 20 and Alex Hales’s cautious 18 gave England a small platform before Malan came in and showed off an array of skills at the crease.
Pakistan’s fielding throughout England’s innings was poor but Malan’s knock – which included eight fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 166 – motored England to a total of 209. The lively Harry Brook contributed an unbeaten 46 to the target.
In response, the world’s first and third best T20 batters – Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam – fell for a combined total of five runs before England rolled through much of the order despite a resilient 56 from Shan Masood.
England won the decider by 67 runs, almost the most nailed-on result of them all. Chris Woakes finished the match with three wickets for 24 and David Willey got two for 22, while Reece Topley, Adil Rashid and Sam Curran all picked up scalps.
England took the series 4-3 in what felt like a smart bit of pre-World Cup touring. Seven matches inside 13 days replicated the kind of schedule and travel burden that sides may face at the showpiece event in Australia later this month, and the varying results will stand both sides in good stead.
The series, too, has had a more human side to it. Pakistan for a long time was a no-go zone for touring sides but England’s series over the last month has shone a light on the country and its deep admiration for cricket and cricketers.
Before the tour bowler Chris Jordan – who did not travel to Pakistan – said England should expect a warm welcome from the locals and boy did they receive one.
In a country still affected by recent flooding, where millions are displaced from their homes, the sport has been a gentle distraction from real life. And the series itself? Well, that did not disappoint.
It was thrilling, close, antagonising at times. It was everything you want from a series and something that many didn’t expect from such a cramped schedule.
The reasons behind this tour were obvious – the need for World Cup preparation plus the likely backlash from pulling out of fixtures last year – but more series like this one wouldn’t be unwelcome.
England now travel Down Under with a first T20 series win under head coach Matthew Mott under their belts. They’ll play Australia in a mini-series before their opening World Cup match against Afghanistan on 22 October.
But following a 17-year absence from Pakistan, there is a sense that the Test team – who tour the country in December – will already have an eye on what must be a tour of a lifetime, given the welcome England’s T20 side experienced over the last fortnight.
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