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England v Pakistan, 2nd ODI: Five Things We Learned

Cricket Britain - England v Pakistan - Second One Day International - Lord’s - 27/8/16 England's Mark Wood, Joe Root and Jason Roy (R) celebrate the wicket of Pakistan's Shoaib Malik Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs Livepic EDITORIAL USE ONLY. (REUTERS)

England produce another dominant perrofmance to beat Pakistan in the second ODI. Here’s what we learned from Lord’s…

MAN OF THE DAY - JOE ROOT (89 off 108)

He was hobbling after a collision in the field with Adil Rashid. He was popping painkillers and stretching to sort out a back injury that needs constant round-the-clock management. And yet, with all this weighing him down, he produced an innings of real class to help England over the line in what could have been a tricky chase. Losing Jason Roy to the second ball of their chase of 252 brought Root to the chase and, from the off, he produced a classic. He was helped by an asking rate than never became unmanageable. That he only hit four boundaries is a surprise considering the sounds the ball made off his bat and the way in which Pakistan seemed to fret each time he was on strike.

SUPER SARFRAZ (105 off 130)

The first Pakistani wicketkeeper to score a century on ODI soil, as well as the first Pakistan batsman to score one at Lord’s. That he did so after coming in with his side 2-3 at the beginning of the fourth over says all you need to know about Sarfraz. He relishes the battle and can play a number of different situations. In an ideal innings, he is the icing on the cake: running the field ragged and finding boundaries at ease in the last 15 or 20 overs. But today, his side were in strife and he knew he had to bat time. He scored just three fours in his first fifty, which came off 61 balls. The second fifty came off 63, as he built a platform for a late dash which Imad Wasim was able to provide.

IMAD WORLD

Most of the Pakistan side might have underwhelmed, but Imad Wasim showed that if the revolution is to come, he should comfortably survive it. With the bat, he notched his second ODI half-century for Pakistan, to help them to a respectable total after the flaws of the top order. It was his work with the ball that backed up his earlier work and almost swung the game. His left-arm spin, bowled with a bit of an undercut, surprised England’s batsmen, who were at times unable to pick up his length. Alex Hales lost his nerve and swept across the line to bring up his first wicket, before he rushed Eoin Morgan, who had looked set. That he only conceded four boundaries from his seven overs, with 20 dot balls, showed just how much control he possesses.

KERPLUNKETT!

Might have used this one before – it’s not even a good pun, to be fair – but it’s difficult to find the words for just how glorious this catch was. After taking a stunning caught and bowled chance in the Royal London Cup quarter-final against Kent (watch that here), he repeated the trick to remove Wahab Riaz. Catch of the summer? It has to be close…

REST

Given England’s winter programme, coupled with 2017′s schedule, it did jar to see Root in such discomfort today. England need not squeeze too much out of him for the rest of the summer. Today, the ECB announced that Stuart Broad and James Anderson will play no more cricket this season, be it for England or their county, to rest up ailments that were slowly morphing from ailments to problems. Perhaps they can write a similar sicknote for Root. With players like Jonny Bairstow, Ben Duckett and Sam Billings in the wings, there are plenty of capable replacements.