NOTTINGHAM, May 18: Ben Stokes�s unbeaten 71 rescued England from a top-order collapse as the World Cup hosts and favourites beat Pakistan by three wickets with three balls to spare at Trent Bridge.
Friday�s win in a floodlit match saw England secure the series at 3-0 up with one to play, but it was far from routine.
England were cruising to a target of 341 at 201 for one when Jason Roy�s dismissal for 114 sparked a collapse that saw three wickets lost for seven runs in 10 balls. And when Moeen Ali was out for a duck, England were 216 for five.
But Stokes steadied the ship and with No 8 Tom Curran (31) got England back on track in a stand of 61. Curran, pushing for a place in England�s final 15-man World Cup squad, had already taken four for 75 in Pakistan�s 340 for seven.
This was a modest score at Trent Bridge, where England have twice set the record for the highest one-day international total, with last year�s 481 for six against Australia following their 444 for three against Pakistan in 2016.
�We got there in the end,� man-of-the-match Roy told Sky Sports.
�I knew we had a big total on the board and I got out and I knew the job wasn�t done so I was very frustrated. But then the boys came in and finished it off extremely well.�
Jos Buttler, captaining England after regular skipper Eoin Morgan was given a one-game ban for a slow over-rate following Tuesday�s six-wicket win in Bristol, was pleased by the way the world�s number one-ranked ODI side had got out of a tight spot.
�You�ve just got to find a way to win and we�re going to have situations where we play poorly through a phase of the game, but we�ve managed to come out the other end of that today to win the game,� he said.
Pakistan captain Safraz Ahmed was once again left lamenting his side�s sloppy fielding.
�It was definitely tough luck for us after we put runs on the board,� he said. �But unfortunately our bowling execution was not up to the mark and we didn�t field well.� Roy, missed on 25 by Fakhar Zaman, reached his eighth ODI hundred in style, with fourth six in 75 balls faced, by lofting off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez over extra-cover But the 28-year-old couldn�t see England home, gloving a hook off Hasnain to wicket-keeper Sarfraz. � AFP
