Pakistan elect to field as England lapse to 56/4 in Lahore ODI tri-series
Pakistan faced England in an ODI tri-series match in Lahore on Sunday, with Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi winning the toss and electing to field. England's innings suffered early setbacks including Harry Brook being run out and Jordan Cox being caught, and the tourists were 56/4 after the first 10 overs.
England made one change with 25-year-old fast bowler Henry Crocombe making his ODI debut, replacing Josh Tongue; Pakistan made two alterations as fast bowler Razaullah debuted after Naseem Shah dislocated a finger during the warm-up and Shadab Khan returned to the side in place of Faheem Ashraf. England entered the match seeking their first win in the tournament after losing to Pakistan by 87 runs and then suffering a defeat to Sri Lanka in a 430 chase in which captain Harry Brook reached 200 off 114 balls. Pakistan began the tri-series with a 37-run win over Sri Lanka and had also beaten England by 87 runs earlier in the campaign.
Pakistan dominated the opening Powerplay, described in the commentary as "resplendent in pink," and restricted England while breaking through the top order; Ben Duckett was leading the resistance and was the only England batter early on to have passed double figures. The fielding restrictions for Powerplay 2 were noted as allowing a maximum of four fielders outside the inner ring until the 40th over, and Pakistan introduced Saim Ayub as their first look at spin.
A pivotal moment arrived when Harry Brook was run out. The live blog recorded the event with the line "Shaheen Afridi to Harry Brook, OUT! BROOK IS RUN OUT!" — Brook tucked a single behind square leg, pushed for a second and was short of his ground when Saad Baig removed the bails; the TV umpire reviewed the angles and it was deemed a clean stumping, leaving England 19/3 at that stage.
Sam Curran was sent in at number 6 and struck boundaries against Haris Rauf, including a pull behind square leg and shots to backward point as he sought to steady the innings. Haris Rauf claimed a scalp when he had Jordan Cox caught by Babar Azam at wide slip, a dismissal described in the commentary as "OUT! CAUGHT!" and which contributed to England being four down inside the first ten overs.
Ben Duckett provided England's principal scoring contributions, racing to a fifty described as "50 up for England, at better than a run-a-ball despite losing three early wickets," and profiting from short and wide deliveries to collect multiple boundaries. Shaheen Afridi's bowling figures at one point read "4-0-18-2 so far," while debutant Razaullah conceded a boundary and a six to Duckett during his early overs.
The full playing XIs were recorded as follows: England — Tom Banton, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook (captain), Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Gus Atkinson, Henry Crocombe. Pakistan — Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saad Baig, Salman Agha, Hasan Nawaz, Arafat Minhas, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi (captain), Razaullah, Haris Rauf.
England needed a win to get their campaign back on track, while Pakistan aimed to continue their winning run in the tri-series.
