England unchanged as Pakistan bat first at Lord’s

Joe Root steered England to a 2-0 lead in the five-match one-day global series against Pakistan at Lord’s.

Pakistan 2 for 3 inside first four overs: Pakistan got off to a poor start as their batsmen looked clueless against the seam movements of England’s opening bowlers, in the form of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.

Sarfraz Ahmed became the first Pakistan batsman to score a one-day hundred at Lord’s as the tourists battled back from three early setbacks in the second Royal London ODI.

England s fielding was shoddy at times but Plunkett held a brilliant diving one-handed catch at extra-cover to dismiss Wahab Riaz before No 11 Amir, who took Pakistan to 250 with a boundary, was run out.

England lead the five-match series 1-0.

England, meanwhile, have retained their XI of the first game.

In 2010 he lost the key to his ministerial red box while watching an England v Pakistan test match at the ground, which is in his Rushcliffe constituency.

Six boundaries and a maximum followed from the typically aggressive Stokes as England cantered towards victory, though they reached the target in somewhat disjointed fashion.

Pakistan one-day captain Azhar Ali, out for a duck on Saturday after deciding to bat first, said: “I think it’s clear we are a little bit behind but we’re working on it. We need wickets in the middle and wickets will be key, particularly against the side like England who bat that deep and we can only stop them from scoring by taking wickets”, he added.

But Ahmed, as he d often done during the preceding 2-2 drawn Test series, frustrated England with a mixture of orthodox and improvised shots.

Ahmed steadied the innings with some superb running between the wickets, and contributed half-century stands with Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik before Wasim joined him in the 27th over at 125-5 and raised another productive 77-run stand.

He survived an lbw appeal from the seamer soon after but seven balls later slog swept Rashid straight to Alex Hales on the ropes.