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Wonderful Woakes stars as England wrap up 4-0 win

England completed a 4-0 ODI series win over Pakistan, triumphing by 54 runs at Headingley on Sunday with the aid of five wickets from Chris Woakes.

By Opta
Adil Rashid Chris Woakes - cropped

Headingley, May 19: Chris Woakes claimed a fabulous five-wicket haul as England wrapped up a 4-0 series victory over Pakistan with a 54-run triumph in the fifth and final ODI at Headingley.

Home skipper Eoin Morgan opted to bat first - in preparation for losing a toss at the upcoming Cricket World Cup - and then provided one of two substantial contributions to a total of 351-9, scoring 76 from 64 balls as Joe Root hit 84 off 73.

Woakes then undermined Pakistan's reply by taking three wickets in his first two overs, which were both maidens, and finishing with 5-54 to underline his value with the World Cup looming.

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The tourists will head into the global showpiece having lost 10 ODIs in a row. They were dismissed for 297 in 46.5 overs on Sunday, despite 97 from captain Sarfraz Ahmed and a typically stylish 80 from Babar Azam.

Pakistan's top scorers were both run out, Babar thanks to an eye-catching piece of work from Adil Rashid, who produced another moment of magic to catch Shoaib Malik off his own bowling.

Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood were all rested, suggesting the trio have done enough to earn places in England's final World Cup squad, to be announced on Tuesday.

Woakes also appears a certainty to be selected given his consistently strong performances in recent years and he made a spectacular start to his opening spell, having Fakhar Zaman caught at second slip before Abid Ali and Mohammad Hafeez were both trapped lbw to leave Pakistan 6-3.

An enjoyable stand of 146 between Babar and Sarfraz brought Pakistan back into the contest, only for the former to be brilliantly run out when Rashid flicked the ball onto the stumps at the non-striker's end without looking from Jos Buttler's throw.

England continued to excel in the field and Rashid's one-handed return catch to dismiss Shoaib was followed by Buttler reacting sharply to deny Sarfraz a hundred. England's wicketkeeper stuck out his boot to stop a late cut before striking the stumps with Sarfraz's bat inside the crease but not grounded.

That breakthrough all but ended Pakistan's hopes of a successful chase and Woakes returned to claim two more scalps before a 10th-wicket stand of 47 between Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Hasnain delayed the inevitable.

England's total owed much to the work of Root and Morgan, who put on 117 for the third wicket after openers James Vince (33) and Jonny Bairstow (32) had departed.

A second batting collapse in as many matches followed but Tom Curran provided a degree of momentum in the closing overs, following up his crucial 31 at Trent Bridge with 29 not out from 15 balls.

Curran and Willey could well be battling it out for one slot in England's World Cup squad, but neither could make a notable impression with the ball, returning respective figures of 0-40 from six overs and 1-55 from nine.

Story first published: Sunday, May 19, 2019, 23:36 [IST]
Other articles published on May 19, 2019