Pakistan A 217 for 7 (Zaman 62, Curran 2-40) beat England Lions 216 (Billings 89, Zaman 5-27) by three wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Pakistan A completed their comeback from 2-0 down to take the unofficial ODI series against England Lions with a hard-fought three-wicket win in Dubai. Fakhar Zaman was the star of the show, claiming 5 for 27 with the ball before crunching 62 off 65 balls to help ease Pakistan's path in the chase.
The Lions kept battling until the end in their attempts to defend 216, having chosen to bat first on a tricky surface. The spinners were expensive but Liam Dawson and Stephen Parry took the first three Pakistan wickets to fall, while Zaman and Asif Zakir fell in quick succession after a 53-run partnership.
Tom Curran then struck twice in a row, either side of a wide, to reduce Pakistan to 187 for 7, still 30 runs from victory. It required the calm heads of Zohaib Khan and Mohammad Hasan to see them home with 13 balls to spare, repaying England for their 3-2 win in the T20s before Christmas.
England's total was based around a century stand between Sam Billings, who top-scored with 89, and Dawson but there was little of substance either side of their fifth-wicket partnership. They rebuilt the innings from 52 for 4 but, after Dawson was dismissed for 48 in the 41st over, another slow collapse ensued to leave England all out with five balls unbowled.
Junaid Khan and Mohammad Abbas picked up an opener apiece and left-arm spinner Zohaib then removed Ben Foakes and Daniel Bell-Drummond (25) to send the top four back inside 20 overs of the decider.
Billings and Dawson accumulated steadily to resurrect the Lions, adding 106 in 20.2 overs. Dawson only hit one boundary in his innings and when he was bowled just short of a half-century by Zaman, England struggled for momentum. Tom Westley was trapped in front and Billings became Zaman's third wicket a couple of overs later, stumped after hitting back-to-back boundaries.
The Lions managed to add 58 during the last ten overs, even as wickets fell, but Zaman wrapped up a maiden five-for - he had previously only taken two List A wickets - by removing Curran and Parry and Mohammad Nawaz finished the innings early by having Toby Roland-Jones stumped.
