Vince trumps Babar as England complete ODI series sweep over Pakistan

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James Vince scored his maiden One-day International (ODI) century as England defeated Pakistan in the third match of the series and completed a clean sweep over the visitors.

Chasing a daunting target of 332 runs, England lost Dawid Malan for a duck in the second over of the innings.

Despite losing his partner, Malan’s fellow opener, Phil Salt, and Zak Crawley took charge of the innings and played a brisk innings of 37 off 22 and 39 off 24, respectively, to ensure that the home side remained ahead of the required run-rate. Both batsmen were dismissed by pacer Haris Rauf before they could post a substantial total on the board.  

Skipper Ben Stokes, who lived a charmed life with two dropped catches, also went back to the hut after scoring 32 runs, while John Simpson could only muster three runs.   

Despite scoring runs at a healthy rate, England had lost half their side with just 165 runs on the board.

At this stage, James Vince and Lewis Gregory stitched a brilliant partnership of 129 runs off 116 balls to take the game away from Pakistan.

Vince scored 102 off 95 balls, while Gregory accumulated 77 runs off 69 balls.  

Although Gregory and Vince departed in quick succession but the damage was already done.

Craig Overton (18 off 15) and Brydon Carse (12 off 11) struck a valuable 29-run partnership for the eight wicket to take their team over the line by three wickets.   

Haris Rauf was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan with figures of 4/65 in nine overs.

Earlier, skipper Babar Azam becomes the fastest batsman to reach 14 One-day International (ODI) centuries, in 81 innings, as Pakistan set England a daunting target of 332 runs in the third match of the ongoing series at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

The record was previously held by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who reached the milestone in 84 innings.

Pakistan were asked to bat first, after England’s captain Ben Stokes won the toss.

The visitors were rocked early when Saqib Mahmood dismissed opener Fakhar Zaman after the latter had scored six runs off 14 balls.

Pakistan had lost a flurry of wickets upfront, in the previous two matches, but Imamul Haq, along with Babar, ensured that this was not the case this time around.

The duo, who initially played with a cautious approach, compiled a 92-run partnership for the second wicket and provided the team with a solid foundation.

Imam was clean bowled, by a ripper from spinner Matt Parkinson, after scoring 56 runs off 73 balls.

Babar, who took 14 balls to get off the mark, paced his innings beautifully to reach his hundred off just 104 balls.

Mohammad Rizwan, who joined Babar after Imam’s departure, played an aggressive innings and complemented his captain in wonderful manner as Pakistan’s innings accelerated. The duo stitched a brilliant 179-run partnership of 120 balls to put Pakistan in a commanding position.

Rizwan, who scored 74 runs off 58 balls with the help of eight fours, was dismissed by pacer Brydon Carse in the 46^th over of the innings.

Babar was finally sent back to the hut in the final over of the innings but not before he had scored a mammoth 158 runs off 139 balls. His superb knock included 14 fours and four sixes.

A spell of quick wickets at the back end meant that Pakistan finished on 331/9 in their allotted 50 overs.

For England, Brydon Carse was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5/61 in 10 overs. Meanwhile, Mahmood bagged three wickets.