England bowler Chris Woakes took his third five-wicket haul in Sunday’s ODI victory over Pakistan to increase his World Cup hopes.
Opting to bat first at Headingley, England made a quick-fire start before James Vince (33), who is expected to make the final cut for the World Cup squad, hooked Shaheen Afridi’s delivery to Fakhar Zaman.
Jonny Bairstow (32) was next to follow, falling to Imad Wasim, but Joe Root and captain Eoin Morgan put on a fantastic 117 third-wicket stand before the skipper was dismissed by Shaheen for 76.
Wickets started to fall at regular intervals for the hosts, with Root (84), Jos Buttler (34), Ben Stokes (21), Moeen Ali (0), Woakes (13) and David Willey (14) all being sent back to the pavilion.
Tom Curran (29no) and Adil Rashid (2) ended up unbeaten at the crease as England made 351-9 from their allotted 50 overs, setting the visitors what looked to be a reachable target.
However, Pakistan’s reply got off to a dreadful start as Woakes dismissed Fakhar (0), Abid Ali (5) and Mohammad Hafeez (0), reducing the visitors to 6-3 with just 2.6 overs gone.
Sarfaraz Ahmed and Babar Azam helped their side recover to 152 before the latter was superbly run out by Rashid, who collected the ball near his stumps before dislodging the bails with a behind the back throw.
That started a collapse as Pakistan went from 152-4 to 297 all out, with Buttler stumping number 11 Mohammad Hasnain for 28 to wrap up a 54-run victory and a 4-0 series win.
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It was the performance of Woakes that grabbed the headlines as he also claimed the scalps of Wasim and Hassan Ali to seal the third five-wicket haul of his ODI career, perfect timing ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup squad announcement.
Speaking afterwards, the all-rounder said: “It’s been a great series for us and a great few weeks for us against a strong Pakistan team. The confidence is high and keeps everyone on their toes.
We are always trying to improve and it is a great place to be. “We are wishing each other the best and enjoying our success. Thankfully it was my turn to take the wickets today but we like to share it around.”
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