(Cricket news) England brought on their A game as they were impressive with both bat and ball to register a comprehensive win in the seventh T20I at Lahore and clinch a hard-fought series 4-3. England set a mammoth target of 209 with the bat, then England stayed on top with the ball as well with Pakistan falling short by 67 runs. England had small contributions right through the batting order but the majority of the work was done by Dawid Malan, who scored a 47-ball 78. His stand of 106 with Harry Brook powered England and then Malan went onto add 62 with Ben Duckett which steadied the innings after a wobbly start.

After a quickfire opening partnership between Phil Salt and Alex Hales, they fell in the space of three balls. Hales was trapped LBW by Mohammad Hasnain while Salt was run out when he was involved in a mix-up with Malan. With England in danger of setting a low target, Malan and Duckett took a watchful approach initially and gave England the much needed base to build on from. Malan then went on to get his fifty off 34 balls, and after the run out of Duckett, he began to increase his strike rate. He was very fortunate to have been dropped once on 29 by Babar Azam at cover, while his partner Harry Brook had similar faith when Babar dropped him on 24. Both Brook and Malan upped the ante in the final four overs with 55 runs coming, including 20 runs off the final over.

In the second innings, Pakistan were dealt with a massive blow early on as first Babar Azam chipped a catch to cover in the first over and then one ball later, Mohammad Rizwan was bowled by Reece Topley leaving Pakistan on 5/2 and on the backfoot straight away. It was Chris Woakes who set the tone early with the wicket of Azam but he was supported well by the other England bowlers. In the middle overs, Adil Rashid proved to be difficult to hit against, especially on a track that offered turn right in the second innings. The pacers remained in the game for long periods by taking the pace off the ball, which resulted in three of the wickets. For Pakistan, Shan Masood scored a fifty but he struggled to up the ante right through against a very good bowling line up. Now England have three T20Is against Australia while Pakistan travel to New Zealand to play in a tri-series also involving Bangladesh as preparation for the World Cup.

Brief Scores: England 209/3 (Dawid Malan 78*, Harry Brook 46*) beat Pakistan 142/8 (Shan Masood 56; Chris Woakes 3-26) by 67 runs

Also read: Surya, Rahul show seals T20I series win over India against SA