Player of the Match
Player of the Match

A breathless finish to the second ODI and England come out on top, winning by four wickets with three balls remaining to go 2-0 up in this five-match series. Pakistan fought all the way but Andrew Strauss's hundred proved the difference between the two sides today. Still, Pakistan have been more competitive than they had been in a while, and can take plenty of pride from the way they kept fighting today. Stick with us for the presentations and a quick word from the two captains.

Just a quick reminder, there are still a couple of hours left for those of you in the UK to take advantage of free-to-air ESPN this weekend. Until the early hours of Monday morning the channel is unscrambled, so you can watch a variety of sports, including live coverage of the Aviva Premiership. It can be found on Sky channels 417 and 442 (HD) and Virgin media 529 and 530. Click here for more information.

Afridi singles out his top order for special praise, and rues a few missed opportunities in the field. The man who benefited from one of those dropped catches, Andrew Strauss, is the Man of the Match for his hundred. "When you're chasing 290 odd you need one guy to bat for most of the innings," explains Strauss. "[My game] feels pretty good at the moment, I'm enjoying playing with a bit more freedom. It's been fun. Our fielding was shambolic at times to be honest, but our bowlers did really well and we got over the line in the end. We're in a good position in the series now." Nick Knight asks Strauss what he has to say to those who suggest that he shouldn't be captain of the one-day side, and he replies: "nothing". Knight also mentions to Strauss that England are now the No. 2 one-day team in the world, and Strauss suggests that "we're going in the right direction then".

And that is just about all from your commentators today. Andrew McGlashan's match bulletin will be in presently, and there's also a gallery of today's match to peruse. Check in a little later for an analysis of this game, and in the meantime you might be interested to know that Bangalore are ticking towards a big win over Guyana in the Champion's League with those two old hands Dravid and Kallis trundling along quite happily. Who would've thought, a couple of years ago, that we'd see those two opening in a Twenty20? If you'd like to discuss today's ODI and tell everyone where you think Pakistan went wrong (or England went right) then head on down to our Facebook page. From Andrew Miller, Sahil Dutta and Liam Brickhill, it's goodbye for now.

49.3
1
Umar Gul to Bresnan, 1 run, drilled to mid-off, Alam fires a throw at the stumps but misses and England are home!

Afridi brings the field in now, almost everyone in the ring

49.2
4
Umar Gul to Bresnan, FOUR, bouncer, top-edged, and England drawl level as the ball loops up and over Kamran and bounces away to the boundary!
49.2
1w
Umar Gul to Bresnan, 1 wide, he's bowled a wide! The pressure is getting to Gul here, he charges in and sprays this very wide on the off side

Long-on is out as well, mid-off up

49.1
0
Umar Gul to Bresnan, no run, superb yorker! Right in the blockhole, full and fast. Bresnan jams down on it very hard but Gul leaps in his follow through to cut it off

Six balls remain, six runs required ... we're going to have a bit of a delay as Afridi holds an impromptu six-man team meeting. It's going to be Umar Gul to bowl the final over. Third man goes back, fine leg is up, deep point, deep midwicket ... wait, fine leg is going back now

END OF OVER:
49 | 7 Runs 1 Wkt | ENG: 289/6 (6 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.89, RRR: 6.00)

  • Tim Bresnan5 (4b)
  • Michael Yardy13 (8b)
  • Saeed Ajmal10-0-52-2
  • Umar Gul9-0-53-1
48.6
1
Saeed Ajmal to Bresnan, 1 run, drilled down to long-off, just the single and Bresnan keeps the strike

Pakistan tour of England 2010 News

England 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st43AJ StraussSM Davies
2nd146AJ StraussIJL Trott
3rd31PD CollingwoodAJ Strauss
4th28AJ StraussEJG Morgan
5th12RS BoparaEJG Morgan
6th22MH YardyRS Bopara
7th13MH YardyTT Bresnan