Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Karachi : England defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in the final test of the three-match series to complete a 3-0 clean sweep after their comprehensive performance throughout the series here at the National Stadium, Karachi on Tuesday.
Pakistan suffered their first series whitewash on home soil after the English team played an amazing brand of aggressive cricket to trounce them thrice in the test series. On the fourth morning in Karachi, England required 38 minutes to finish off a decisive eight-wicket victory, eventually reaching their fourth-innings target of 167 in 28.1 overs.
After an unsuccessful bid to win the third Test in three days, England were a little more cautious on the fourth morning, but still took only 11.1 overs to complete the clean sweep with captain Ben Stokes undefeated on 35 at one end while Duckett with unbeaten 82 runs, at the other end.
England resumed their inning on the fourth day at 112-2, with Stokes at 15* and Duckett on 50*. The duo took England to victory within an hour only requiring close to 12 overs for the remaining 55 runs.
In an incredibly spectacular return to test cricket, Duckett continued to sweep, reverse-sweep, and paddle-sweep Abrar Ahmed while Stokes set the tone by muscling the third ball he faced through midwicket.
Earlier, Pakistan had suffered a dramatic collapse in their second inning which saw them lose their last 7 wickets for 52 runs, extending their lead to a paltry 166-run which was never going to be enough against the free-flowing English batting line-up.
Debutant Rehan Ahmed was the wrecker-in-chief as he scalped five wickets and made an excellent start to his test career.
Following the final match of his lengthy and illustrious international career for Pakistan, Azhar Ali was cheered off the field while holding a souvenir stump. The former Pakistan captain appeared in 97 tests and scored 7097 runs at 42.49, including 19 centuries.
Harry Brook, who amassed 468 runs in five innings to lead the tour, was declared Player of the Series after scoring three hundreds in the series.
Since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and coach, respectively, England has won nine out of ten Test matches, a remarkable turnaround from a run of just one victory in 17 prior to their appointments. In their first Test series in Pakistan since 2005, they destroyed a fragile Pakistani team.
Pakistan now has a short turnaround before their Boxing Day match against New Zealand.
Brief Scores: England 354 (Brook 111, Foakes 64, Pope 51; Nauman 4-126, Abrar 4-150) and 170/ 2 (Duckett 82*, Zak Crawley 41; Abrar Ahmed 2-78) beat Pakistan 304 (Babar 78, Salman 56; Leach 4-140) and 216 (Babar 54, Shakeel 53; Rehan 5-48) (ANI)
