sport news England seal series win over Pakistan after Dawid Malan's unbeaten 78 steers ... trends now

England jet off to Australia on Sunday after emphatically proving themselves tournament-ready in the winner-takes-all finale to their Pakistan tour.

Talk within the tourists’ camp in the build-up had been of testing themselves in the kind of knockout contest the seventh and final match of an enthralling series presented.

And they met that test with nous and nerve to complete a 4-3 win, as Dawid Malan’s unbeaten 78 plus an innings of 46 not out from Harry Brook helped set a 210-run target and challenged Pakistan to complete what would have been their record chase.

Any doubts they would be travelling to the World Cup with another tick in the win column were then dispelled inside the first couple of overs as Pakistan’s batting bankers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan fell to the new ball.

In the end, the margin was a huge 67 runs as the home team struggled to develop any momentum thereafter.

Malan had endured an underwhelming series to this point but broke out at the death to make the most of a couple of lives, and put his part in the run out of Phil Salt behind him.

The Yorkshire left-hander had come to the crease in the fifth over when England’s rollicking start had been checked by Mohammad Hasnain pinning Alex Hales leg before with a nip-backer.

Two balls later, however, England were 39 for two after Salt hared down the pitch in response to the ball squeezing off Malan’s pads behind square on the leg side.

It left both men at the same end and Salt with a forlorn task of beating Shadab Khan’s throw. No more than a lob, it evaded Hasnain’s attempts to gather but burst into the stumps nevertheless.

The double blow did not dishearten, however, as Malan and Ben

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