England beats Pakistan by four wickets

England's Marcus Trescothick celebrates his century against Pakistan at Lord's in London on Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Opener Marcus Trescothick hit a chancy 108 not out Sunday as England recovered from a middle-order slump to beat Pakistan by four wickets to claim the one-day series 2-1 at Lord's.

Chasing Pakistan's 229 for seven, England crashed to 154 for six before Trescothick and Chris Read, 25 not out, shared an unbroken 77-run partnership off 76 balls to win with nine balls to spare in front of a sellout crowd.

It was Trescothick's second match-winning knock in as many games. His 86 runs off 55 balls enabled England to level the series at The Oval with a seven-wicket win.

The tourists began the three-match series with a two-wicket win at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Trescothick his nerves amid the batting hiccup and reached his fifth hundred in his 64th game. He hit a six and nine fours off 145 balls. Dropped on 35 and then on 93, Trescothick finished the match with a six over mid-wicket off medium paceman Azhar Mahmood.

He was voted the man-of-the-series for his tally of 212 runs.

England, cruising comfortably on 129 for two, lost its way against offspinner Mohammad Hafeez, who took a career-best 3-31.

Hafeez three wickets for three runs in 17 balls as England lost James Troughton (20), Andrew Flintoff (4), Anthony McGrath (2) and Rikki Clarke (4) in the space of 10 overs.

Pakistan dearly for three dropped catches and a series of missed run outs at the start of the England run-chase.

Earlier, Younis Khan (63) and Abdur Razzaq (64) resurrected the Pakistan innings after it had been asked to bat first after a rain-delayed start. The pair came to the rescue after Flintoff had taken 4-32 _ his second four-wicket haul in 55 internationals. Pakistan hammered 91 runs in the final 10 overs of the innings.

Pakistan openers Hafeez (19) and Imran Nazir (8) -- and Yaseer Hameed (5) and Yousuf Youhana (5) -- to struggle to 61 for four in the 19th over.

Younis hit timely form, and Shoaib Malik (23) shared the first of the three innings building stands of 56 runs off 90 balls.

This was followed by 48 runs for the sixth wicket between Younis and Razzaq, and 60 runs off just 37 balls for the seventh between Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood -- 20 not out with a six and a four off 15 balls.

Younis, who had failed to score in the first two games, anchored the batting with his 87-ball innings and hit five fours.

Razzaq the long handle against the England bowlers and hit a six and six fours before falling to Flintoff off the penultimate delivery of the innings. His innings lasted 53 balls after racing to his half century off 41 balls.

Flintoff, who started by removing opener Imran with his first ball, bowled tidily and conceded 13 runs in his first eight overs before suffering in the late rally. He gave away 19 runs in the last two overs.