A lively Oval crowd, not witness to a men’s T20I in a decade, were treated to some brutal hitting from England’s openers, Jos Buttler and Phil Salt sharing a blistering 82-run stand that at one stage included six boundaries in succession.
Back in the camp having dashed home for the birth of his third child, Buttler backed up his 84 at Edgbaston on Saturday with 39 from 20 balls here, England’s key batter seemingly back close to his best ahead of a tournament that may well decide whether he continues as captain.
Salt, meanwhile, again showed his ultra-aggressive streak as the ideal foil for Buttler’s calm, hitting eight boundaries in his 45 from 25 balls. He, too, will go into next Tuesday’s opener against Scotland feeling good about life, particularly since his last trip to the Caribbean before Christmas included hundreds in back-to-back games.
England were helped, it must be said, by two horrible drops from Azam Khan behind the stumps, first of Salt on 34 and then Will Jacks on eight. Equally, though, the hosts might have romped home more emphatically had it not been for a defiant middle-over burst from Haris Rauf, who accounted single-handedly for the top order in a spell of three-for-38. Even more impressive was the seamer’s glorious left-footed dribble along the boundary to deny Jonny Bairstow four runs.
Bairstow, though, was another in ruthless form with the bat, blunting any hopes of a Pakistan fightback with successive sixes off Shadab Khan, before Yorkshire teammate Harry Brook hit the winning runs into the stand off Rauf.