Joe Root scored an imperious 89 to steer England to a convincing four-wicket win over Pakistan in the second Royal London One Day International at Lord’s.
Root’s match-sealing innings followed an all-round performance from the hosts after England’s three seamers took eight wickets between them to dismiss the tourists for 251 runs.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Pakistan, who made three changes form the side that lost by 44-runs in the first ODI at Southampton, were immediately on the back-foot when they lost their first 3 wickets for just two runs.
In the second over of the match, Sami Aslam, playing in his second ODI, was adjudged, after a review, to have gloved the ball down the leg-side to Jos Buttler, giving Chris Woakes his first wicket of the match.
In the next over, Durham paceman Mark Wood charged in and unleashed an 88 miles-per-hour thunderbolt to flatten Sharjeel Khan’s off-stump for nought; Pakistan 2-2.
The captain Azhar Ali became Woakes' second scalp when he edged through to Buttler without scoring.
Arriving at the crease on 2-3, wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, together with Barbar Azam, started to rebuild the innings, adding 64 runs before Liam Plunkett clean bowled Barbar for 30.
Coming in at 66-4, Shoaib Malik hit a run ball 28 before the right-hander came unstuck against a bouncer from Wood which he edged to Buttler.
Sarfraz, who scored a half century in the first ODI, became the first Pakistan cricketer to reach three figures at Lord’s, when he reached the milestone off 124 balls, but he was dismissed shortly afterwards for 105, caught in the deep by Alex Hales off Adil Rashid.
Plunkett dismissed Hasan Ali for a five ball duck before Woakes got his third wicket thanks to a remarkable catch from Plunkett, who plucked a cleanly struck Wahab Riaz (6) cut out of the air with a one-handed diving catch at cover.
At the other end, Imad Wasim hit 14 off Plunkett en route to a half century before Wood had Yasir Shah caught for nought; Wood finishing with figures of 3-46.
Wasim remained unbeaten on 62 when a mixup between the left-hander and Mohammed Amir left them both at the same end, leaving Woakes to run-out the number 11 at the non-strikers end with the penultimate delivery of the innings.
Pakistan started the defence of their 251 total by removing the in-form Jason Roy in the first over. The left-hander, who scored a match winning 65 in the first ODI, survived two balls before he edged an Amir delivery onto his stumps without scoring.
Alex Hales got off to a steady start before the spin of Wasim bowled the Nottinghamshire batsman slog sweeping for 14 runs.
Eoin Morgan arrived at the crease with the score on 35-2 and, together with Root, the dynamic batting duo put on a 112-run partnership.
Morgan reached his half century off 63 balls, before the England captain attempted a cut shot - a favoured run-scoring stroke throughout his innings - but on this occasion he was bowled by Wasim for 68.
Morgan’s dismissal brought Ben Stokes to crease at number five. The north-easterner rocketed to 42 off 30 balls in a bid to finish off the game in style before he was castled by Hasan Ali.
Comfortably ahead of the required run-rate, England lost their fifth wicket when Jos Butler was run-out by a direct hit from Ali for four.
Closing in on a century, Root’s majestic innings came to an end as was caught in the covers off Riaz for 89. An unbeaten 21-run knock from Moeen Ali, together with Chris Woakes (7*), saw England home to a four-wicket win.
"It was a pretty clinical performance all round - our bowlers got the ball talking up front and Woakes and Wood bowled some absolute jaffas on a slower, turning pitch,” said England Captain Eoin Morgan.
England head to Trent Bridge for the third ODI, where they will look to gain an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
Trent Bridge will host an Investec Test Match between England and South Africa, and a Royal London One-Day International visit from the West Indies, in 2017.
Sign up here to be the first to hear about fixture and ticketing information for these two matches.