England Lions make it two in two to seal the series over Pakistan Shaheens

Pakistan Shaheens had no answer for England Lions’ clinical performance in the second T20 game played in Abu Dhabi. The defeat handed the three-match series to the Lions and left Shaheens with plenty of introspection.

McKinney and Cox shift gears

Deciding to bowl first, Pakistan's decision seemed spot on as Shahid Aziz dismissed Will Smeed off the very first ball of the innings. Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox then paired up to steady the innings and utilised the power play to its full extent. The duo notched up a 41-ball 61-run partnership, with McKinney doing the bulk of the scoring before Sufiyan Muqeem outfoxed him in the seventh over.

The run rate dipped briefly before James Coles, who would go on to undo Pakistan's efforts in both innings, went full throttle. Coles scored an unbeaten 48 off 30, helping Lions sign off on a target the bowling attack would have backed themselves to defend. With Coles, wicketkeeper batter Tom Moores also launched a blitzkrieg against Pakistan’s bowling attack. The pair added 40 runs in the last four overs, taking the total to 183.

Pakistan’s batting collapse

Pakistan got off to a decent start with Maaz Sadaqat and Shamyl Hussain building early momentum. However, four overs and a ball into the innings, the partnership was broken, and the side could not recover for the rest of the game. 

A couple of 20s and 0s later, Saad Masood and Hasan Nawaz showed some resistance, but by that time, the required run rate had escaped beyond reach. It became a question of whether Pakistan would run out of wickets or the balls first, and eventually it was the former.

Coles grabbed four wickets as the English spinners shared six wickets between them. 

The two teams still have another T20 to be played, which has been turned into a dead rubber with this win.

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