Jos Buttler heralded the contribution of Ben Stokes after England secured a series win over Pakistan with a game to spare.

Stokes hit 71 from 64 balls, playing conservatively at first as wickets tumbled before opening his shoulders to see the home side over the line with three balls to spare.

“He played fantastically well,” said Buttler

“We played great cricket all the way through the game apart from those four poor overs where we lost wickets to some soft dismissals, so for Ben to soak up that pressure and be not out at the end will give him lots of confidence. It’s great to see him come through and play in that fashion.

The England chase was spearheaded by Jason Roy’s commanding 114 – the opener smashing his way to his eighth ODI century.

“It’s great to watch him go about his work,” said Buttler of Roy.

“He’s been in brilliant form in this series, and he was desperate to go on and score a hundred. It’s great to watch him in full flow.”

England restricted Pakistan to 340-7 from their 50 overs, with Tom Curran’s 4-75 crucial in checking the visitors’ progress.

And the stand-in skipper acknowledged the Surrey man’s contribution.

“He’s a fantastic cricketer with both bat and ball, and he always wants to be involved in the game.

“I love his character – every time he’s been asked to perform he’s done brilliantly well, and I thought he had a great game today.

“As daft as it sounds, I thought the bowling unit did a great job in restricting Pakistan to 340. We’ve played in some really high scoring games here, so I don’t think 340 felt such a huge score on a wicket like that with a fast outfield and small boundaries.”

With tonight’s triumph, England went 3-0 up in their final ODI series before the ICC Cricket World Cup with one game to spare.

They now head to Leeds on Sunday to see out the series, before a World Cup campaign that includes a rematch with Pakistan at Trent Bridge on 3rd June.

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The last few seats are available for Australia v Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Thursday 20th June, priced from £20 for adults and £6 for juniors. Tickets can be purchased from the official ICC Cricket World Cup Ticketing Site.