CRICKET

Pakistan v England: Calamitous batting gives Moeen Ali far too much to do

Lahore (England won toss): Pakistan beat England by six runs
England's bowlers were excellent in bowling Pakistan out for 145 but their chase withered away after a poor powerplay
England's bowlers were excellent in bowling Pakistan out for 145 but their chase withered away after a poor powerplay
KM CHAUDHURY/AP

Moeen Ali could have done little more. When the England captain reluctantly took a single off the penultimate ball of the match, it was all over.

Ali had made a quite brilliant unbeaten 51 from only 37 balls and had ensured that 15 were required from the final over, superbly bowled by debutant Aamir Jamal as it was, despite going for one six, but the truth was that Ali was attempting to rescue a desperately poor batting display by his side.

“Of all the games so far, this was the most disappointing,” Ali said. “You have to see [the] situation of the game and the conditions. We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t chase the runs. We feel we are a better team than that. We got