The Hindu : Sport : England clinches series with crushing win

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England clinches series with crushing win

— Photo: AP

England captain Andrew Strauss (centre) and teammates celebrate after winning the fifth and final one-day match.

SOUTHAMPTON: Eoin Morgan's latest match-winning Rose Bowl century saw England to a crushing 121-run victory against Pakistan as it took the five-match one-day series 3-2 on Wednesday to end a scandal-marred season.

Success meant England had won consecutive Test (3-1), Twenty20 (2-0) and limited-overs series against a Pakistan side whose tour was overshadowed by ‘spot-fixing' allegations. Man-of-the-match Morgan made 107 not out in a total of 256 for six after England had slumped to 47 for three following captain Andrew Strauss's decision to bat first.

Former Ireland left-hander Morgan had previously made an unbeaten 103 as England beat Australia by four wickets in the first one-dayer at the Rose Bowl in June.

Pakistan was eventually dismissed for 135 with 13 overs still left, seamer Stuart Broad taking three for 25 and off-spinner Graeme Swann three for 26. “It was a huge game of cricket really, a very tough series,” Strauss told reporters.

Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, fuelled the controversy engulfing this tour by accusing England of losing last week's third ODI at The Oval deliberately.

“It's been a long summer and we've been to some pretty unpleasant places as a team over the last few days and had to show a lot of unity and togetherness,” Strauss, the man-of-the-series, added.

“You could see how much it meant to us when the last wicket went down. Motivation wasn't a problem.”

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said: “I was thinking about a happy ending but it hasn't happened.

“There were some controversies on this tour but my team was very united and I think this will give us some good results in future.” — AFP

England: A. Strauss c Kamran b Akhtar 25, S. Davies st Kamran b Hafeez 17, J. Trott b Akhtar 3, I. Bell b Afridi 28, P. Collingwood b Gul 47, E. Morgan (not out) 107, L. Wright b Akhtar 1, T. Bresnan (not out) 18; Extras (lb-5, w-5): 10; Total (for six wkts in 50 overs): 256.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-46, 3-47, 4-106, 5-199, 6-202.

Pakistan bowling: Akhtar 10-0-40-3, Razzaq 3-0-26-0, Hafeez 9-1-40-1, Gul 10-1-55-1, Ajmal 8-0-50-0, Afridi 10-0-40-1.

Pakistan: K. Akmal lbw b Wright 41, Md. Hafeez c Collingwood b Broad 29, A. Shafiq c Davies b Broad 0, Md. Yousuf b Swann 20, F. Alam b Swann 1, Umar Akmal c & b Collingwood 19, S. Afridi b Swann 0, A. Razzaq (not out) 11, U. Gul (run out) 6, S. Ajmal (run out) 2, S. Akhtar c Morgan b Broad 0; Extras (lb-3, w-2, nb-1): 6; Total (in 37 overs): 135.

Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-63, 3-80, 4-83, 5-104, 6-104, 7-121, 8-130, 9-135.

England bowling: Bresnan 7-0-31-0, Anderson 6-1-26-0, Broad 8-1-25-3, Wright 6-0-16-1, Swann 9-0-26-3, Collingwood 1-0-8-1.

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