Pakistan vs. England: Winners and Losers from 2nd ODI
England levelled the one-day series against Pakistan with a comprehensive 95-run win at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Alex Hales' maiden ODI ton helped England, who opted to bat first after winning the toss, reach 283 for five from their 50 overs.
Hales combined with fellow opener Jason Roy (54) to put on a stand worth 102, then added a further 114 runs for the second wicket with Joe Root, who made 63.
Wahab Riaz did peg back the tourists in the closing stages, however England's final total proved to be plenty.
Pakistan's run chase simply never got going. They lost half their side with only 50 runs on the board.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed made a top score of 64, but Pakistan were bowled out for 188 in 45.5 overs.
Here, Bleacher Report picks out the winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Alex Hales
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Alex Hales had flattered to deceive in ODI cricket prior to the second match of the series against Pakistan.
He had started out with scores of 40 and 42 in his first two knocks in 50-over action for his country, but since then, he had only registered two half-centuries in 18 trips to the middle.
However, the Nottinghamshire batsman bounced back from a failure in the series opener with a maiden one-day hundred on Friday.
Hales hit three sixes and seven fours to make 109 from 117 balls—his ton providing the backbone for England's competitive score.
The importance of his innings may go beyond just the 50-over format, though.
The right-hander did not feature during the recent Test series against Pakistan, but he could get his chance on the tour of South Africa later in the winter.
As author and journalist Peter Miller pointed out on Twitter, "That Hales hundred is so important for England going forward. Need someone to make all format opening spot their own."
Loser: England's Late Flourish
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After 30 overs in their innings, England were coasting along at 165 for one.
Thanks to Alex Hales' hundred and half-centuries from Jason Roy and Joe Root, the tourists had seemingly laid the platform for a total in excess of 300.
However, the onslaught in the closing overs never really materialised.
Even Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler—two players known for their ability to find, and even clear, the boundary—struggled to lift the pace.
England were restricted by some brilliant death bowling from Pakistan's seamers, most notably Wahab Riaz.
The left-armer finished with figures of three for 43, as England managed to add just 56 runs from the final 60 deliveries of their innings.
Cricket commentator Roshan Abeysinghe praised Wahab on Twitter: "Wahab Riyaz's spell today in the 2nd ODI confirmed his world class status. Pace accuracy and deception absolutely deadly."
Winner: England's Seamers
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Pakistan always faced a tall order to chase down a target of 284, so the opening powerplay period looked crucial.
Their hopes of getting off to a fast start were dashed, however, by England's seamers.
David Willey produced an excellent opening spell that saw him pick up the wickets of Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez, the two players who had steered Pakistan to glory in the series opener.
Pakistan finished the first 10 overs on 19 for two, a hole they were never able to dig themselves out of.
Chris Woakes finished with four for 33, in the process picking up his first wicket in one-day cricket for England since taking two against Scotland at the Cricket World Cup back in February.
Not to be completely overshadowed by his fellow pacemen, Reece Topley knocked over last man Mohammad Irfan to complete an impressive bowling performance by the visitors.
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Loser: Pakistan's Selectors
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Pakistan needed to make at least one change to the XI that won the opening game by six wickets, following the retirement of veteran batsman Younis Khan.
However, the surprising decision was taken to shuffle things around in the hope of finding a better balance to the batting order.
Bilal Asif was dropped from the side completely, meaning Babar Azam had to be pushed up to open the innings.
Babar had scored an unbeaten half-century in the victory on Wednesday. Yet the promotion up from six failed to pay off—the right-hander being trapped leg before wicket for just four.
Iftikhar Ahmed was selected in place of Younis, slotting straight in at four ahead of the more experienced Shoaib Malik.
He did pick up a wicket with the ball on debut, but Iftikhar's maiden innings saw him labour to five from 21 balls before being caught at mid-on.
Perhaps Pakistan may consider promoting Sarfraz Ahmed. He has been used as an opener previously in 50-over cricket and showed his class with a battling half-century.
Winner: Adil Rashid
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After conceding 60 from nine wicketless overs in the first ODI, Adil Rashid bounced back in style on Friday.
Helped by having plenty of runs to play with, and coming on after Pakistan had faltered early on, the Yorkshire leg-spinner picked up one for 32 from his 10 overs.
Mohammad Rizwan was his solitary wicket, bowled by a delivery that went on with the arm.
Rashid also had Shoaib Malik adjudged leg before wicket by the on-field umpire, only for the batsman to successfully overturn the decision courtesy of the review system.
The slow bowler deceived the experienced Malik with his googly—a delivery he used with great regularity during a spell that included 33 dot balls.
Journalist Mike Selvey praised the bowler on Twitter: "Rashid googly more potent than his leg break for short form, imo. maybe he should use as stock ball, as if off break bowler with doosra."
Loser: Yasir Shah
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Yasir Shah caused England plenty of problems in the Test series, finishing with 15 wickets despite missing the opening match due to a back spasm.
The leg-spinner continued to have the upper hand over the tourists in the opening one-dayer, picking up figures of one for 38 as Pakistan won at a canter.
However, Yasir found the going much tougher in the second successive match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Following his early introduction into the attack, the slow bowler wasn't allowed to settle by England's opening duo of Jason Roy and Alex Hales.
They took 17 from his first two overs, while Hales also hit Yasir for a pair of sixes later on. His final figures saw him go for 70 runs from nine overs.
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