Player of the Match
Player of the Match

END OF OVER:
41 | 4 Runs | PAK: 250/9 (25 runs required, RR: 6.09)

  • Saeed Ajmal9 (8b)
  • Mohammad Irfan3 (5b)
  • Stuart Broad8-0-54-1
  • James Anderson9-0-35-2

It's been another pretty clinical performance from England. Their celebrations are a touch muted, but the home side have been good today. A team performance from them really with contributions from the top six in the batting order - led by Davies's 87 and Trott's 69 - and two wickets apiece for Anderson, Bresnan, Swann and Yardy. Pakistan kept up with the asking rate, just about, for much of their chase but as the pressure mounted their batting unravelled.

Their bowling was a bit of a mixed bag too. Shoaib Akhtar was exemplary with the new ball, but received no back-up at all and didn't have much luck either - he beat the outside edge of pretty much every batsman he bowled to. Ajmal was impressive, picking up four wickets, but the rest of the attack was a touch disappointing.

"The way Shoaib [Akhtar] bowled, he really bowled well," says Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi. "I'm not 100% happy but I'm happier than I was before. We need some more intensity in the field. Playing in these conditions you need experience, but Irfan is very talented and he will adjust himself quickly. I'm still hopeful, I'm always positive."

"Steve Davies was outstanding with the bat and our score was competitive on this wicket," says Andrew Strauss. "Bopara gave us some momentum to take into the field, but Pakistan did well to stay in the game. I'm pretty happy, but there are always areas to improve. We could have been better in the field. The guys in the squad are vying for positions in the team now, and that's always a healthy position."

Steve Davies is the Man of the Match. "I'm very happy to be honest," he says. "The pressure is on when you open the batting and I was happy to get a good score. I didn't time it too well at first and Shoaib bowled a really good spell, but it got easier the longer i was in." Ashes? World Cup? Athers asks. "Fingers crossed, yes," says Davies.

A final word before your commentary team - Andrew Miller, Sahil Dutta and Liam Brickhill - depart. In case you hadn't heard, this season NatWest is celebrating 30 years of its support of cricket in England (clue: this is the first match of the NatWest ODI series). You can look back at great NatWest cricket moments on their official site, powered by ESPNcricinfo. Definitely worth checking out, there have been some epic moments over the years. Well, that's all from us today. Gnasher's bulletin will be up presently, but otherwise it's goodbye from us.

40.6
1
Broad to Saeed Ajmal, 1 run, driven out to deep cover, and England win by 24 runs
40.5
1
Broad to Mohammad Irfan, 1 run, yorker, dug out into the leg side and Ajmal calls him through
40.4
0
Broad to Mohammad Irfan, no run, Irfan steps away, swinging outside off but can't get a touch on it - not that it makes much of a difference now!
40.3
1
Broad to Saeed Ajmal, 1 run, full-toss, driven down the ground for one

Pakistan 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st62Kamran AkmalMohammad Hafeez
2nd20Mohammad YousufKamran Akmal
3rd41Kamran AkmalFawad Alam
4th35Fawad AlamUmar Akmal
5th33Shahid AfridiUmar Akmal
6th27Shahid AfridiAsad Shafiq
7th15Shahid AfridiUmar Gul
8th5Shoaib AkhtarUmar Gul
9th6Saeed AjmalUmar Gul
10th6Saeed AjmalMohammad Irfan