England beat Pakistan by 12 runs in a high-scoring match to take a 1-0 lead in the series

England defeated Pakistan by 12 runs in the 2nd ODI played at Southampton on Saturday. It was an amazing display of batting by both teams as Jos Buttler's quick-fire century took the hosts to a massive total, but despite Fakhar Zaman's brilliant knock, Pakistan fell short of the target.

Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and decided to bowl first. England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow provided a flying start with some brilliant shots putting pressure on Pakistan bowlers right from word go. At the end of 10 overs, England openers took them to 57 for 0.

After the power play overs, Roy and Bairstow played with positive intent, not allowing the bowlers to settle to a line and length. Jason Roy reached his fifty off 60 balls and then Jonny Bairstow followed with his fifty off 40 balls. Shaheen Shah Afridi got the breakthrough by dismissing Bairstow for 51. Bairstow and Jason Roy added 115 runs for the opening wicket in 19 overs.

Jason Roy continued to play with the attacking approach. Joe Root coming at number 3, also played with positive intent. It was a great batting display by Roy who took on the Pakistan bowlers. Rain arrived at a score of 170 for 1. After the rain break, Hasan Ali dismissed Roy for 87 runs. Roy and Root added 62 runs for the 2nd wicket.

England captain Eoin Morgan came to the crease and looked good right from word go. Yasir Shah dismissed Joe Root for 40 runs. Then came the belligerent batting from Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan.

Morgan reached his fifty off 34 balls and then it was followed by Jos Buttler’s fifty off 32 balls. In the last 10 overs, England scored 112 runs without losing a wicket. After reaching his 50, Buttler was unstoppable by reaching his century off 50 balls and remained not out on 110 off 55 balls. Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler added 162 unbeaten runs for the 4th wicket to help England post a massive total of 373 for 3 in 50 overs.

Chasing the target of 374 runs to win, Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq got the team off a flying start putting pressure on England bowlers. At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan openers took them to 66 for 0.

After the power play overs, Zaman continued his aggressive approach. Moeen Ali got the breakthrough by dismissing Imam for 35. Imam and Zaman added 92 runs for the opening wicket in 14.2 overs. Zaman reached his fifty off 39 balls while Babar Azam took time to settle.

Zaman showed his class and made sure that Pakistan are in the hunt to chase down the target. The explosive left-handed batsman reached his 4th ODI century off 84 balls and attacked England bowlers after that. Chris Woakes got the important breakthrough by dismissing the centurion Zaman for a brilliant 138. Zaman and Babar Azam added 135 runs for the 2nd wicket.

Babar Azam reached his fifty off 50 balls and was dismissed by Adil Rashid. Asif Ali came to the crease and put the England spinners under pressure. Harris Sohail scored just 14 runs off 18 balls and got caught off Liam Plunkett. Asif Ali and Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed tried their best but England bowled well in the last 5 overs, giving away only 40 runs. Asif Ali reached his fifty off 34 balls but was dismissed for 51.

With 19 runs required off the last over, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Hasan Ali could not hit boundaries as Pakistan scored 361 for 7 in 50 overs.

Brief scores: England 373 for 4 in 50 overs ( Jos Buttler 110*, Jason Roy 87, Eoin Morgan 71*, Hasan Ali 1/80) beat Pakistan 361 for 7 in 50 overs ( Fakhar Zaman 138, Asif Ali 51, Sarfaraz Ahmed 41*, David Willey 2/57) by 12 runs.