Pakistan vs England, 3rd T20I: Fit-again Wood fires after Brook, Duckett set up crushing English win

Babar
Azam
and
Mohammad
Rizwan
starred
in
a
record-breaking
10-wicket
win
for
Pakistan
at
the
National
Stadium
in
Karachi
earlier,
but
the
tourists
responded
in
emphatic
fashion
at
the
same
venue
24
hours
later.

Brook
(81
not
out
off
35
balls)
and
Duckett
(70no
from
42)
put
on
139
in
a
sublime
unbroken
fourth-wicket
stand
to
get
England
up
to
an
imposing
221-3.

1

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Pakistan
fell
short
on
158-8,
Wood
taking
3-25
in
his
first
match
for
six
months
following
two
elbow
operations,
with
a
first
T20I
half-century
for
Shan
Masood
(66no
from
40)
in
vain.

Will
Jacks,
in
for
Alex
Hales,
struck
an
impressive
40
off
22
balls
after
Babar
put
England
in,
before
Usman
Qadir
(2-48)
got
rid
of
the
debutant
and
Dawid
Malan
(14).

England
were
82-3
when
Jacks
departed,
but
Duckett
and
Brook
combined
for
a
match-winning
stand
to
silence
the
crowd
a
day
after
Babar
and
Rizwan
put
on
a
show.

The
right
and
left-hand
combination
showed
the
tourists’ strength
in
depth
with
the
bat
as
the
Pakistan
bowlers
were
unable
to
contain
them.

Babar
and
Rizwan
could
not
repeat
their
heroics
from
the
previous
day,
when
they
put
on
203,
the
hostile
Wood
dismissing
the
captain
for
eight
and
Haider
Ali
for
just
three.

Reece
Topley
cleaned
up
Rizwan
in
a
nightmare
start
to
Pakistan’s
run
chase
and
Adil
Rashid
took
2-32
as
Babar’s
side
never
looked
like
chasing
down
their
target
despite
the
best
efforts
of
Masood.

Brook
and
Duckett
come
to
the
fore

Big
things
are
expected
of
Brook,
who
made
his
Test
debut
against
South
Africa
at
The
Oval
this
month,
and
the
23-year-old
showed
precisely
why
as
he
made
a
brilliant
maiden
half-century
for
his
country.

He
struck
five
sixes
and
eight
fours,
timing
the
ball
sweetly
as
he
piled
on
the
runs
on
both
sides
of
the
wicket
and
facing
only
24
balls
for
his
fifty.

Duckett
played
the
spinners
superbly,
sweeping
with
authority
to
bring
up
his
half-century
from
just
31
balls.

Wood
back
with
a
bang

The
luckless
Wood
had
been
out
since
March
due
to
more
injury
woes,
but
generated
blistering
pace
and
looked
like
he
had
never
been
away.

Wood
claimed
the
huge
wicket
of
Babar,
caught
on
the
boundary
by
Topley
from
a
searing
delivery,
and
saw
the
back
of
Haider
in
a
breathtaking
opening
burst,
then
returning
to
remove
Haris
Rauf
in
the
penultimate
over.