Captain Cook outscores Pakistan

Captain lead by example in team's win
Source: cricinfo

In the 1st ODI, Pakistan's brief moments of success proved no match to some brilliant performances by England's players. After a double strike from Afridi relatively early in the innings, England found themselves in an agonizingly familiar and vulnerable position; however, this time around, the ODI captain, Cook, and unscathed Bopara stabilized the innings by adding 131 together. By scoring his highest ODI score of 137, Cook outscored Pakistan's total (which included 14 extras) by 7 runs. Ajmal starred again with 5 wickets, but his magic came a little too late when most of the damage was already done. Pakistani pacemen, at their best, seemed out of sorts. They failed to exert pressure by containment and leaked 100 runs in 15 overs without picking up any wicket. Under lights, Pakistani innings folded like a lawn chair. None of the top order batsmen even attempted to weather the storm brought on by Finn. He bowled exceptionally and truly deserved to become the first English player to pick 5 wickets against Pakistan in ODI, but... The middle order also didn't show any signs of fight back and crumbled like a house of sand. Pakistani batsmen without any doubt played poorly, but credit to English bowlers who bowled straight and used conditions to perfection. After losing in such a humiliating fashion, Pakistani team reassured fans that they will never cease to amaze.