England set sights on whitewash

Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow both made fifties as England beat Pakistan by four wickets in the fourth one-day international at Headingley on Thursday.

England, now 4-0 up in this five-match series, slumped to 72/4 pursuing a target of 248.

But Stokes (69) and wicket-keeper Bairstow (61), only playing on his Yorkshire home ground after Jos Buttler was ruled out in the warm-up with a hamstring injury, got the innings back on track with a fifth-wicket partnership of 103.

Neither batsman was in at the finish of this day/night fixture, with Moeen Ali (45 not out) hitting Pakistan captain Azhar Ali for six to win the match with 12 balls to spare.

England were chasing a target that seemed all the more modest after their world ODI record total of 444/3 during a 169-run win in the third match at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.

But they lost four wickets inside 15 overs of their reply to a Pakistan total of 247/8 built on Azhar’s 80 and all-rounder Imad Wasim’s unbeaten 57.

Scoreboard Pakistan: 247/8 England: J. Roy c Rizwan b Irfan 14, A. Hales c Sarfraz Ahmed b Irfan 8, J. Root c Irfan b Hasan Ali 30, E. Morgan c Sharjeel Khan b Umar Gul 11, B. Stokes c Babar Azam b Imad Wasim 69, J. Bairstow (run out) 61, M. Ali (not out) 45, D. Willey (not out) 4. Extras (lb3, w7) 10. Total: (for 6 wkts, in 48 overs) 252. FoW: 1-15, 2-36, 3-59, 4-72, 5-175, 6-225. Bowling: Irfan 5-1-26-2 (3w), Umar Gul 10-1-39-1 (1w), Hasan Ali 10-0-53-1, Imad Wasim 10-0-50-1 (2w), Mohammad Nawaz 10-0-54-0 (1w), Azhar Ali 3-0-27-0.