Pakistan thrashed England by nine wickets as they reached their victory target inside 15 overs at Old Trafford.

A tame total for England

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Eoin Morgan's side limped to an under-par score of 135 for seven; with Alex Hales top scoring with 37 off 26 balls.

Hales put on an opening stand of 56 with Jason Roy (21) before they both fell to Imad Wasim who finished with fine figures of two wickets for just 17 runs. Wahab Riaz also found his groove and he removed Jos Butler and Morgan for 16 and 14 respectively as the hosts found themselves 110- 6; with Riaz ending with fine figures of three wickets for 18 runs from his four overs.

Some fine bowling and some equally poor shot selection from England saw them lose Joe Root for six and Ben Stokes for four as none of the last seven batsmen scored over 16 runs. The hosts struggled during the middle part of their innings as they lost six wickets for just 54 runs, which simply isn't good enough at international level.

England only hit one six on what was a flat pitch in Manchester, and they went more than seven overs without hitting a boundary. 

A score of 135 was never going to be enough against an explosive Pakistan line up as both openers blasted their way to fifties as they reached the target with over 30 balls remaining. It’s only the third time that England have lost by nine wickets in T20 history.

Pakistan strolled to victory in Manchester. | Image credit: Getty Images
Pakistan strolled to victory in Manchester. | Image credit: Getty Images

The result never looked in doubt

From the start of the Pakistan innings, you could see that there was only going to be one winner as they carried on their form from their one-day-international win in Cardiff on Sunday. They dealt exclusively in boundaries as their first 36 runs came from fours alone and only inside four overs.

Sharjeel Khan, who has signed for Leicestershire for next year’s T20 Blast, raced to his score of 59 from just 36 balls; before being caught by Moeen Ali off the bowling of Adil Rashid. His opening partner Khalid Latif also hit 59 as the tourists strolled to victory.

The tourists were able to find the gaps and boundary with ease as the hosts' bowlers toiled.

England’s bowling figures led to grim reading as Chris JordanLiam Plunkett, Stokes Joe Root all had double figure economy rates. It turned out to be a disappointing end to what has been a fine white-ball performance throughout the summer for England with one day series wins against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

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About the author
James Stokes
21 year old Sports Journalism Graduate, follow the mighty owls. Lover of all things football and cricket.