England have one hand on the T20 World Cup trophy after restricting Pakistan to 8-137 as predicted rain failed to arrive for the blockbuster final at the MCG.
Captain Jos Buttler's decision to bowl first on Sunday night reaped rewards for his country as Pakistan's batters never looked comfortable on a tricky pitch.
Left-arm seamer Sam Curran put in a likely match-winning spell of 3-12 from his four overs, continuing an impressive tournament for the 24-year-old.
Curran was able to remove the composed Shan Masood, forcing the middle-order batter into playing a bad shot when caught on the boundary for 38.
He also took the scalp of Mohammad Rizwan (15), bowling the explosive opener for England's first wicket of the match.
Legspinner Adil Rashid was equally as influential, finishing with figures of 2-22 and took the vital wicket of Mohammad Haris with the first ball he bowled.
Rashid's next scalp was even important, dismissing dangerous Pakistan captain Babar Azam (32) during an over that turned out to be a wicket-maiden.
Star allrounder Ben Stokes endured a nervous start with the new ball, sending down a no-ball and a wide with the first two deliveries of the game.
But it was all England after that, silencing the strong-Pakistan crowd by taking regular wickets and limiting their ability to find the boundary.
England's white-ball batting line-up is arguably the strongest in world cricket and they are coming off a 10-wicket smashing of India in the semi-final.
Openers Buttler and Alex Hales put on the highest partnership in T20 World Cup history to easily chase down India's score of 169 on Thursday night.
England and Pakistan both took unchanged teams into the decider after peaking at the right end of the tournament.
Key England fast bowler Mark Wood (hip) and important batter Dawid Malan (groin) were again left out after struggling with injury.
England are trying to become the first team to hold the ODI and T20 World Cups at the same time after their memorable win in the 2019 50-over final at Lord's.
It is Pakistan's first appearance in a World Cup final since they won the 2009 T20 tournament with victory over Sri Lanka in the decider.
Despite a forecast of heavy showers and possible storms, rain has so far not disrupted the match
Rain has hit large parts of northern Victoria but nothing has fallen around the MCG precinct.
Up to 20mm of rain and a possible storm was expected for Melbourne on Sunday, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting a 100 per cent chance of showers.
To constitute a match, a minimum of 10 overs per team is required, unlike the group stage when only five overs per-side was needed to complete a game.
The ICC had contingency plans in place to finish the match on Monday in the event rain impacted Sunday's start.
