England saved their best till last to claim the spoils in a 4-3 series win over Pakistan to send them Down Under with a spring in their step.
Conditions might be a little different at the T20 World Cup in Australia, where England now head straight to, but nothing beats that winning feeling, especially one as emphatic as this. Led by Dawid Malan's 78 not out in a mammoth total of 209-3, England put both parts of their game together to win by 67 runs in Lahore.
Chris Woakes returned to take 3-26, but it was the efforts of himself and Reece Topley in getting rid of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan inside the first three overs that essentially won the game.
There was more to the series than results alone as changes to the team after every game suggests, and not to mention the fact that England were touring Pakistan for the first time in 17 years.
But to enjoy the cut and thrust of a thoroughly entertaining series, to see so many of their players play match-winning roles and to finish up in the winner’s circle makes this tour a triumph. Usual skipper Jos Buttler didn’t even get on the field apart from to deliver drinks as he continued to recover from his calf injury, but he was delighted with what he saw.
“I’ve been really pleased,” said Buttler. “I think we’ve played some good cricket, some young guys like Harry Brook have looked at home in the international environment and played some eye-catching innings. And I think we’ve been quite consistent throughout the whole seven games which has been really pleasing.”
Brook was again impressive in scoring 46 from 29 balls which helped make him player of the series, although he was eclipsed on the day by Malan who finally found a proper score to go with his starts.
With his experience and love of Australian conditions Malan will be a key cog in England’s push for glory and now he has a confidence-boosting knock to go with it. “We saw it as a final, so to be able to put things together under pressure as a batting unit when it mattered most was fantastic for us,” said Malan.
Phil Salt and Alex Hales picked up where they left off in the previous game to set the tone with another blistering start. They both fell within two balls of each other but Ben Duckett, Malan and Brook simply carried on the carnage to make sure that Pakistan would need to make a record score to win.
As it was they suffered their fourth biggest defeat in terms of runs as fans streamed out of the ground well before the final ball was bowled. England now move on to Australia with three coaches who know exactly what to expect with David Saker and Mike Hussey alongside Matthew Mott for the next two months.
“To have a finals night and play so well gives us confidence going into a World Cup,” said Mott. “Harry Brook has done well and looked really composed out there, and Malan was outstanding. In Australia there are some different conditions, but we are comfortable with the options we’ve got and all our players are tracking right.”
