England slay records and Pakistan to seal series

Alex Hales-inspired England put on one of the finest displays of batting in modern-day cricket to batter, bully and eventually decimate Pakistan to secure a mammoth 169-run victory and put the five-match One-Day International (ODI) series beyond the visitors’ reach with a 3-0 lead at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Tuesday (August 30). Hales’s 171 is now the best individual score by an English batsman, beating the previous best of 167 not out by Robin Smith that stood for 23 years.

The highlights reel of Hales’s 122-ball stay at the wicket, that was characterised by a mindful start, consolidation and the seamless shifting of gears, could serve as a fine case study to Pakistan – as they can clearly trace what is missing in their ODI game. The Asian side enthralled all with their performances in Tests to claim the top spot, but appear to be lagging behind in the 50-over format.

Brief Scores: England 444/3 in 50 overs (Alex Hales 171, Jos Buttler 90, Joe Root 85, Eoin Morgan 57; Hasan Ali 2-74) beat Pakistan 275 in 42.4 overs (Sharjeel Khan 58, Sarfraz Ahmed 38; Chris Woakes 4-41) by 169 runs