Chasing a target of 248, all Pakistan needed was a steady start. But their top order flopped again. Fakhar, Babar and Rizwan, the in-form batsmen for them, had yet another forgetful outing with the bat. The Pakistan skipper did play a few delightful shots before getting out but Zaman struggled big-time during his stay. In the first 10 overs, three wickets were down and the touring team was always behind the 8-ball from thereon. Saud Shakeel was the only batsman who showed the composure and desire to stay out in the middle and build an innings.

He notched up his maiden ODI fifty and kept a little bit of hope alive for Pakistan. There were a couple of moments when Pakistan managed to scare England. One was when Hasan Ali took Matt Parkinson to the cleaners and another was when the stand between Saud and Shaheen Afridi was blossoming. It was taking Pakistan slowly but steadily towards the target. One thing is for sure, had Pakistan been more sensible in preserving their wickets, they would have ended on the right side of the result. This is something for the team management to ponder upon.