Billings propels England to 14-run win over Pakistan in T20

England wrapped up victory in the T20 series against Pakistan after a tight three-run victory in Dubai.

He then took the wickets of Jason Roy and James Vince.

England are therefore in a hurry to find out as much as possible as quickly as possible, in time for the ICC World Twenty20 next March, about how their own rising stars react to pressure situations.

It was an eventful game for Afridi, whose skiddy leg-breaks had earlier caused problems for the English batsmen. THere have been 9 such instances with at least 4 players but not a single before this one involving five batsmen.

As they entered the final over the game remained on a knife-edge with still 11 runs required by Pakistan and three wickets in hand.

After England bowled moderately with the new ball, and Pakistan openers Rafatullah Mohmand and Ahmed Shehzad took advantage in a 51-run stand, the spinners had their say.

Sarfraz dragged the first ball onto his stumps, before Sohail Tanvir dispatched his first delivery over square leg for four.

Chris Woakes conceded just seven runs from the final over to deny the designated hosts, in pursuit of 173 to draw level, in a dramatic finale that was made possible by a brutal Shahid Afridi blitz. A juggling catch at the boundary rope from Umar Akmal saw the end of Sam Billings (11). Eoin Morgan and his team have displayed positive, attacking intent and that is what earned them the rewards even yesterday, where they beat their opponents by 14 runs.

Adil Rashid was England’s most impressive bowler, taking 2-18 in four overs, while Liam Plunkett was the most successful with 3-33.

The third and final match of the series will be played in Sharjah on November 30.

No one would have guessed that, though, as he marshalled a young team to a series-clinching Twenty20 victory over Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium.

“It’s a bit more stressful being captain but it was a performance full of character”. That’s a great effort. “For Woakes to come back, having bowled that over at Afridi, to get it right shows a lot about him”.

Replacing Root at number three, he had a maiden fifty in his sights until he began to struggle against Wahab’s changes of pace and was eventually bowled aiming a big hit at another slower ball.

Billings was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his brilliant contribution with the bat. Hopefully today we did that. This was a closer game.

“In county cricket, we just don’t have a good enough tournament for guys to be exposed to it as often as we’d like”. We should raise our fielding standard and our fitness standards.

With England winning the toss and choosing to bat, it was upto them to put the game beyond Pakistan.

We have sometime before World Twenty20 so we need to work on our weak areas.

‘We look to be as attacking as we possibly can be.