England vs Pakistan, 1st ODI - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Pakistan tour of England, 2021 Venue: Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Date & Time: Jul 08, 01:00 PM LOCAL

Dawid Malan stroked a fifty © Getty

On expected lines, England have cruised to an easy win. Half-centuries by Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley have helped England register a 9-wicket win and take a 1-nil lead in the ODI series. However, it was set up by Saqib Mahmood's four-fer. Pakistan were outplayed with both bat and ball. They could never come back after the twin dismissals in the opening over.

FIFTY With a punch through the backward point region that raced away to the boundary, Zak Crawley has brought his half-century - a smooth fifty on debut.

FIFTYDawid Malan after a slightly jittery start has put on a flawless display of batting. Compact, controlled and fluent. Another half-century for the southpaw.104/1 in 16.2 overs

100 UPThis is proving to be quite a comfortable chase for Pakistan. Both Zak Crawley and Dawid Malan are picking runs at ease. Little fuss.

WICKETZak Crawley and Dawid Malan, without much fuss, have put on a half-century stand at quick pace. In doing so, more than half of England's required total is wiped off. All of a sudden, it looks like a different pitch. The ball is coming fast on to the bat and racing away as fast all over.

Top order is falling like nine pins. What a start from refurbished England!

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TOSS: England won the toss and elected to field. Many debutants in the XIs today.

Teams:

England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Dawid Malan, Zak Crawley, James Vince, Ben Stokes (c), John Simpson (wk), Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton, Brydon Carse, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson

Pakistan (Playing XI): Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Sohaib Maqsood, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

Hello and welcome to the first one-day international between England and Pakistan, set to be played at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The hosts may be familiar with the conditions, but a drastic change to their squad owing to positive COVID-19 cases may have left them with little time to prepare for the series. The Pakistani players, on the other hand, are set to resume their cricket after a brief break following the second leg of the Pakistan Super League. The conditions in the cold climes of England are set to be vastly different from what they endured in the UAE summer. Will it play a part or will it not? We will have to wait and watch. We will be bringing you the live updates from the contest. You can join in as well with your views and questions. Write to us on Twitter with #CricbuzzQnV

While we wait for the toss, you can check out our match preview: Pakistan out to test refurbished England