Vince century helps England clinch 3-0 series sweep over Pakistan

Vince scored 102 from 95 balls as a depleted England lineup chased down 332 at Edgbaston with two overs to spare.

England's James Vince raises his bat after scoring his maiden international century during the third ODI against Pakistan.

James Vince posted his maiden international century to help England to a three-wicket win over Pakistan on Tuesday and a sweep of the three-match one-day international series.

Vince scored 102 from 95 balls as a depleted England lineup chased down 332 at Edgbaston with two overs to spare.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam scored 158 as his team tallied 331-9 after being sent in to bat by England.

Most of England's first-choice ODI lineup had to isolate after a COVID-19 outbreak just over a week ago following the Sri Lanka series, giving 30-year-old Vince another chance in the international arena.

 

“I hadn’t given up on this moment, but this time last week I didn’t expect it at all,” Vince said. ”I wasn’t sure it was going to come. There was probably a realisation I wasn’t going to be in the squad or be high up in the pecking order, so I was delighted I got another opportunity."

Vince said scoring a hundred for his country “was one of my dreams growing up.” It took until his 50th innings across all formats in international cricket to reach the century milestone.

“I don’t know when the next will be or if there will be another one. But that was, without doubt, one of the best days I’ve had,” he said.

England was 165-5 in the 24th over before Vince shared a stand of 129 with Lewis Gregory (77) to accelerate the chase. Vince chipped Haris Rauf (4-65) to mid-off in the 43rd.

 

Craig Overton (18 not out) and Brydon Carse (12 not out) finished things off.

Pakistan's innings was built around Babar's partnership of 179 with Mohammed Rizwan, who scored 74 from 58 balls.

Babar reached three triple figures from 104 deliveries, getting there with two boundaries in three balls by pulling Carse (5-61) with authority and then middling a compact cut shot.

England broke up the partnership when Rizwan went after a leg-side bouncer from Carse but feathered a nick through to John Simpson.

Carse picked up two more late wickets as the visitors moved to 309-5.

Babar was on a career-best 150 when he survived a run out attempt in the 48th over, but Carse finally ended Babar’s entertaining stay, producing a rare mis-hit to Dawid Malan with four balls remaining in Pakistan's innings.

Carse and Saqid Mahmood (3-60) collected two wickets apiece in the last two overs as Pakistan slumped from 324-5 to 329-9 finished his 10 overs with two wickets in six deliveries.