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Pakistan v England, 3rd T20i: Five Things We Learned

England ended their tour against Pakistan with victory in the third T20 to complete a series clean sweep. What did we learn from a dramatic match decided in a Super Over?

MAN OF THE DAY – CHRIS JORDAN

What a ridiculous match to finish what has been a long but thoroughly enjoyable tour. The truth is, Shoaib Malik should probably be our MOTD (his praises are sung further down), but the game was eventually won in a Super Over bowled by Chris Jordan. When the Sussex man was setting his field before the six-ball slugfest, all bets were against him. His four overs in the match proper cost 39 wicketless runs, with only five dot balls and far too many full tosses. And yet, he managed to deliver a high-pressured over in which only one run came off the bat (to go with two leg-byes) and finished with a yorker that took out leg-stump, as Umar Akmal shuffled across to fashion something off the last ball. “He’s been our best yorker bowler,” said Eoin Morgan on his decision to back Jordan. That’s the sort of confidence running through this England side.

SHOAIB MALIK (75 off 54 balls)

On another day, he clears Sam Billings at long on and he’s walking off a match-winner. In from the start of Pakistan’s second over, with 146 required from 19 overs, he kept his cool to brush off the errors of his team-mates and, when united with a partner he could trust in Shahid Afridi (yes, seriously) set about wrestling the game back for his side. Perhaps the shot of the day came from him, not for value (it only went for four) but for ingenuity and execution: dancing down to a cutter from David Willey, he met it on the top of its bounce and guided it between point and third man. All in all, he hit eight fours and two sixes. A home tour that started with a career best Test score of 245 ends with his best in T20i.

WOAKES’ FLOURISH

Describing Chris Woakes as “reliable” is probably damning him with faint praise. Ultimately, he has shown himself to be a very good performer in a relatively simple way: a right arm pace bowler who won’t necessarily tear through a side and a capable batsman who will play in the straightest of lines and hit through the V-est of Vs. There are doubts as to whether he can sustain himself at the highest level, but he showed the international scene something more – some swagger. England looked well below par until Woakes turned up with 37 from 24 balls. His three sixes were comprehensive: two of them – an inside-out drive over cover point and a thump of wide mid-on – ended up out of the ground. For a player many believe cannot do much more than the straight and narrow, this was a eye-opening walk on the wild side.

ROOT’S YEAR

It was a cameo of sorts – coming to the crease second ball and hitting a punchy 32 off 22 balls to begin a recovery that he couldn’t quite see through. Ah well, sometimes the shining armour can weigh you down. But during the course of this innings, Root became England’s leading run-scorer in a calendar year for all three formats, surpassing Kevin Pietersen in nine fewer innings. With one Test left on 2015’s itinerary – South Africa on Boxing Day – he could add some wiggle room between him and England’s greatest multi-format run-scorer. Eventually, Root will probably take that title too.

WE’RE YAMIN

Fast, skiddy, moving in with the arm and then a bit more off the gleaming pitch: that was the first and only ball Jason Roy received, opening up the match for England, who had chosen to bat for the third T20 in succession. A diamond duck for Roy but a perfect beginning for the bowler, 25-year-old Aamer Yamin on T20i debut. An all-rounder by trade, Yamin is the 11th bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in T20is and the first Pakistani to do so.