Buttler takes England to series win

Buttler has now compiled England’s three quickest ODI hundreds, this latest effort comfortably surpassing his 61-ball ton against Sri Lanka last year that previously represented a record.

Buttler came in at the team score of 194 in the 36th over and it seemed England would be happy with a final score of anything above 290.

Eoin Morgan’s men were well set, but when Root was stumped by Sarfraz Ahmed seven balls later and Morgan himself followed shortly after, England had slumped to 227-4.

“It’s a must-win game for us but it won’t be easy because England played well in the last two games and won”, said Ali of England’s 95-run and six-wicket wins.

Pakistan’s major problem though was a constant clatter of wickets during their innings, with valiant efforts from Babar Azam (51) and Shoaib Malik (52) being insufficient for their cause in the final analysis.

At one stage, he scored 57 runs off four overs on his own, with James Taylor contributing none at the other end, and his last 99 came from 33 deliveries as England plundered 129 off the last 10 overs.

Only two teams have done better; South Africa overtook Australia’s 435 at the Wanderers in 2006, and India got the better of Australia, chasing 360 in Jaipur in 2013. Hales might have missed out, but he took excellent catches to remove Azam and Malik.

David Willey (2-34) did the early damage for England with the ball, while spinners Adil Rashid (3-78) and Moeen Ali (3-53) each took three wickets despite leaking runs, as Pakistan were dismissed for 271.

Jos Buttler was the undisputed star of England’s series-clinching win over Pakistan, completing a succession of outstanding individual performances over the past 10 days to cheer coach Trevor Bayliss.

“It’s fantastic how cricket turns around”, Buttler said.

Raw power was on full display as Buttler switched to the topmost gear after his fifty, reaching to his century in a span of just 16 balls.

The duo added 140 runs for the second wicket, providing an excellent platform for a flawless finish although the partnership was broken when Roy holed out at long-off trying to hit Yasir Shah (1-57) for a six.

“It would be hard on Jonny because he hasn’t done anything wrong but Buttler was the chosen guy but I think on this form, with the T20s to come as well, I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t start in the Test series”.

Buttler shrugged off early nerves and soon took to the Pakistani bowling attack like the player of old, hitting eight sixes and eight boundaries, nearly effortlessly.

“The messages we were getting was it was a little bit two-paced… but it clearly obviously got better to bat on, didn’t it?” the captain asked, turning to Buttler with a smile in their joint post-match press conference. Hafeez succumbed to a terribly silly run-out.