Birmingham: England's excellent bowling and fielding guided them to a three-wicket win over Pakistan in the fifth and final One-Day International on Sunday to tie the series 2-2.
Sajid Mahmood, Paul Collingwood and James Dalrymple each took two wickets as Pakistan scored just 154-9 from their 50 overs. Jon Lewis and Michael Yardy claimed one dismissal apiece at Edgbaston.
In reply, England was wobbling at 118-7 when Mahmood took control, hitting three consecutive fours to be 22 not out as England reached 155-7 in the 31st over. His 2-24 ensured he was Man of the Match.
It was especially sweet for Mahmood as he was jeered by the visitor's supporters due to his Pakistani heritage.
"Sajid does all his talking on the pitch and that's the way it should be," England captain Andrew Strauss said. "In international cricket, you have got to get used to having things not your own way and block that out of your mind."
"He showed what he could do in the Test series. Transferring that to the One-Day arena has been tough for him and he's bowled at difficult times. But he's got a lot of character. He wants to improve, he's got a great attitude, and he showed a cool head to guide us through and he's feeling pretty happy tonight."
Strauss, who hopes to be named as England captain for the Ashes series when the selectors name the squad on Tuesday, was pleased that his One-Day team have won two games in a row.
''I felt as if we created a bit of a mess for ourselves," he said about Sunday's middle-order collapse. "We weren't as clinical as we should have been in chasing that target, and that was slightly disappointing and something we have got to learn to do.
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq lost the toss for the first time in the five-game series and said that gave England a big advantage.
"I think the first session was helpful for the fast bowlers," Inzamam said. "The toss is very important as this ball is moving. We had a pretty good chance to win the series, but I think England played very well these last two games and we made some mistakes."
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Despite also losing the Test series 3-0, Inzamam was happy with the way his team played in England.
"The England tour is a good tour," he said. "I have a young team. Ten or 12 boys have come along and played a lot."
Strauss hit eight fours in his 35 and Kevin Pietersen six in his 34, but the rest of the England batsmen were out cheaply. The hosts lost three wickets in eight balls to go from 102-3 to 118-7.
Yardy was not 12 to help Mahmood guide England to victory.
It meant that England, beaten 5-0 by Sri Lanka earlier this season, had rallied from 2-0 down to level the series against Pakistan with one match declared a no-result.
Pakistan lost nine wickets for 111 runs to reach 154-9. Younis Khan top-scored with 47 off 80 balls as Pakistan slumped from 43-0 to score at a run-rate of only 3.1 from their 50 overs.
Strauss and Ed Joyce hammered five boundaries off the opening 15 balls, before Joyce didn't play a shot to a ball from Mohammed Asif and was bowled for eight to leave England on 23-1.
Ian Bell was out for two when he hit a catch to Imran Farhat in the gully from Asif. Next ball, Strauss edged a ball from Rao Iftikhar Anjum and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal dived to his left to take a catch.
That slowed England's run-rate, and Asif, who conceded 31 off his first three overs, had only seven taken off his next four.
Pietersen took four fours off an over from Anjum as he and Collingwood took the total past 100 with a fourth-wicket partnership of 53.
But Shahid Afridi then took two wickets in four balls, bowling Pietersen for 34 when he tried to sweep, and trapping Dalrymple leg-before-wicket for nought.
Collingwood was lbw to Abdul Razzaq in the next over and departed for 22.
Chris Read was out for four when he pulled a ball from Razzaq to Rana Naved-ul-Hasan at deep long leg to leave England 32 from victory and with only three wickets left.
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