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Michael Vaughan lashes out at ‘pathetic’ Pakistan after England loss

England won the first ODI by nine wickets in convincing fashion

Michael Vaughan lashes out at ‘pathetic’ Pakistan after England loss PHOTO: Reuters

Former captain Michael Vaughan has termed Pakistan’s performance as pathetic after a humiliating defeat at the hands of England in the first One-day International at Cardiff on Thursday.

England's makeshift one-day international team put the Covid-19 issues that hit the previous squad behind them to bowl out Pakistan for 141 runs before cruising to a clinical nine-wicket win in the three-match series opener.

Stand-in skipper Ben Stokes led an entirely fresh England XI, including five debutants, after a Covid-19 outbreak in the squad during the recent series win over Sri Lanka meant all 16 players initially selected had to self-isolate.

“For England, to rock up only yesterday as a team and perform like they did tells us so much about the culture of the white ball team, very, very impressive. For Pakistan they were PATHETIC. It’s the only way to describe a performance like that,” Vaughan tweeted from his official account.

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Chasing 142 for a 1-0 lead in the series, England lost Phil Salt in the fifth over before fellow opener Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley steadied the ship.

Malan (68 not out) brought up his second fifty in his fourth ODI appearance and Crawley (58 not out) also scored a half-century on his ODI debut as England cruised home in 21.5 overs.