Harry Brook and Ben Duckett bludgeoned maiden T20 half-centuries as England bounced back to beat Pakistan by 63 runs Friday.
Brook smashed 81 off 35 balls and left-hander Duckett made 70 off 42 deliveries as England racked up 221-3 after losing the toss.
Pakistan’s top order crumbled against fast bowlers Mark Wood and Reece Topley and finished on 158-8 a day after chasing down 199.
“We were ruthless tonight, especially in batting,” England skipper Moeen Ali said. “Brooky hopefully grows and becomes one of the top players. Wood bowled at serious pace, great to have him back. He’s a massive part of our team.”
Wood picked up 3-24 with pace that saw him touching 156 kph (97 mph) and Reece took 1-22 in their first game of the series as England brought them in for David Willey and Luke Wood.
England lead the series 2-1 with four more games to go.
Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan could not repeat their Thursday night heroics when they led Pakistan to a 10-wicket win with a brilliant double-century stand.
Both batters scored 8 runs each before Wood had Babar caught at third man in the third over and Topley clean-bowled Rizwan with a brilliant slower ball.
Pakistan slipped to 28-4 within the first six overs of the batting powerplay when Haider Ali was brilliantly snapped up by Adil Rashid at backward square leg and Sam Curran undid Iftikhar Ahmed with a short-pitched delivery.
“When you lose your four top batters within the first six overs, you always struggle,” Babar said. “Our bowling was also not up to the mark, but we will try not to repeat the mistakes in the next games.”
Left-hander Shan Masood, who made his T20 debut in the first game, top-scored with an unbeaten 65 off 40 balls but Pakistan always lagged well behind once they lost Babar and Rizwan and in the face of Wood’s fast deliveries.
Earlier, Brook smashed the Pakistan pacers in the latter half of the innings while Duckett was excellent against the spinners.
Brook punished Shahnawaz Dahani (0-62) with boundaries galore in the death overs as the fast bowler returned Pakistan’s second most expensive figures in a T20. Brook blistered eight fours and five sixes.
“It was very nice to get out there and have a match-winning performance,” Brook said. “I was Just hitting through the line of the ball … and was just trying to get (Duckett) on strike – he’s so good against spin, it’s ridiculous.”
Leg-spinner Usman Qadir picked up the wickets of debutant Will Jacks (40) and Dawid Malan (14) in his first two overs before ending with 2-48.
Jacks, who hit a century for Surrey in the Hundred, filled the shoes of the rested Alex Hales in his debut T20 by racking up eight boundaries on both sides of the pitch. He holed out in the deep against Qadir’s googly.
Brook and Duckett then combined in a breezy 139-run stand off just 66 balls in England’s highest score of the series.
Source: United News of Bangladesh