The hosts' dominant opening display leaves Azhar Ali's side with plenty to ponder if they are to get back into this ODI series, says the Analyst
Pakistan tried gamely to compete with England at the Ageas Bowl, but fell some way short in the first ODI.
They mostly seemed to be playing one-day cricket from the 1990s.
They will have to quickly get up to speed to challenge this powerful, well-drilled England outfit at Lord’s on Saturday.
With three fast bowlers capable of bowling at 90mph, England have both venom with the new ball and variety with the older one.
They made clever use of fast bouncers, with the big square boundaries at the Ageas making it hard for batsmen to hook and pull for fours and sixes.
It was noticeable that England posted their best catcher – Ben Stokes – at deep square leg, waiting to prey on mistimed hooks.
At Lord’s, the quick men may change tack slightly, as the square boundaries at the Home of Cricket are shorter.
Mishits can go for six there.
But Mark Wood – sometimes touching 93mph with his whippy explosive action – will still be hard to take on.
And both Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett have subtle changes of pace and cool heads as batsmen seek to hit over the infield in the death overs.
They are a potent combination.
Moeen Ali’s reliability, and Adil Rashid’s subtle variations and ability to tease mistakes out of well-set batsmen, are vital, too.
The Yorkshire leg-spinner tosses the ball up outside off stump and encourages the batsman to try and heave it over the leg-side.
Overall, Eoin Morgan has an excellent set of bowlers at his disposal.
But it is England’s batting that seems able to trump anything the opposition conjure up.
Jason Roy seems incapable of failing at the moment – perhaps that’s why he felt slightly dizzy on Wednesday.
Only over-confidence stopped him from bludgeoning a third ODI hundred of the summer.
Alex Hales is still searching for fluency and rhythm, but after he was out, Joe Root stroked the bowling around for a sublime 61.
And Morgan and Stokes had England well ahead on DLS by the time the rain came.
One-day batting ace Jos Buttler was not even required.
The Pakistanis must consider their bowling options.
The first over of the innings was bowled by a spinner – Imad Wasim – and they should have continued with him as both Roy and Hales prefer pace on the ball early on.
They should save the pacemen for Root – who milks spin in his sleep – and Morgan, who still doesn’t look comfortable when confronted with a persistently brisk off–stump attack.
And their fielding must be sharper too. Otherwise they will not rise above ninth in the ODI rankings, and may struggle to automatically qualify for the 2019 World cup.
There were some bright signs – notably in the wristy batting of 21-year-old Babar Azam and the combative efforts of Sarfraz Ahmed.
But they will have to significantly raise their game to live with this super-confident England side.
