England Physical Disability suffered the disappointment of an 18-run loss to Pakistan in their one-day series decider at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai.
With the scoreline poised at 1-1 after England’s nine-wicket triumph yesterday, Jimmy Williams’ side will have been confident of victory today.
They quelled Pakistan’s decent start, but Rehan Ghani’s 61 from number seven set up a strong total of 175.
Although several England batsmen got in, none went on to a significant score as Fayaz Ahmed returned 5-28 and Pakistan inflicted the same scoreline as in the Twenty20 rubber.
Having won the toss, Pakistan made a change at the top of the order where Altaf Ahmed replaced Matloob Qureshi.
It paid off as Altaf shared in an opening stand of 52 until Hasnain Alam was held at square-leg off Alex Hammond for a run-a-ball 35.
Callum Flynn then affected the run-outs of Qureshi and Altaf, the latter for 20, and England continued to run through the middle order as Hammond trapped Danish Ahmed in front.
Pakistan had 79 when the fifth wicket fell and were in trouble with less than half their 40 overs bowled. Off-spin duo Fred Bridges and Hammond continued to hamper their opponents, ending with 2-23 and 3-33 respectively.
However, Ghani - assisted firstly by Abdullah and then by Ameer Ahmed - resisted before he was eventually bowled by Williams towards the end of the innings.
Hammond’s mis-timed aerial drive to mid-off saw him depart early in the reply, but Gordon Laidlaw and Flynn responded with a partnership of 48.
They were looking comfortable when Flynn called his partner for one and both batsmen ended up at the same end, Laidlaw perishing on 21.
Fayaz struck twice as Flynn was stumped for 29 and Oliver Barton cheaply bowled to leave England 66 for four.
Iain Nain and skipper Williams steadied the ship for a while and their alliance of 46 was the second-highest of the innings. Yet Williams was bowled by Rao Javed for 20 and Jordan Williams went soon after.
With the run-rate ever increasing, the odds were falling in favour of Pakistan and when Rao cleaned up Nain, for a battling 32, the game was all but lost.
Just some bright hitting at the end by Stephen Braithwaite took the final score to 157 as Fayaz accounted for the tail.