England 327-4 Pakistan 285: Plunkett makes name for himself as England bounce back

Yet with expectations low, they produced one of the most commanding batting displays ever seen by an England one-day team on Saturday. It allowed Marcus Trescothick's side to amass the huge total of 327 for 4 and defeat Pakistan by 42 runs. Yes, England benefited enormously from winning the toss and being allowed to use their "supersub" exactly how they wanted, and through batting first on a belter of a pitch but, even allowing for these factors, the game plan was executed with perfection.

Trescothick and Matthew Prior gave England a solid start. Trescothick was dismissed in the eighth over but Prior continued to take low-percentage risks in his pinch-hitting role. Andrew Strauss, dropped from opener to number three, then set out to bat for the majority of the innings.

Strauss had a woeful time in the Test series, scoring 44 runs in four innings. Yet with the distraction of the birth of his first child now gone, he returned to top form. Strauss rotated the strike beautifully and gave the big-hitting trio of Prior, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff as much of the strike as they wanted.

The departure of Prior for 45 brought Pietersen in, and both he and Flintoff were immense. Each picked up minor injuries whilst batting - Pietersen strained his back and Flintoff got hit on the boot by a Shoaib Akhtar yorker - but they are expected to play in today's second one-dayer in Lahore.

Pietersen gave England's innings impetus exactly when it was required. Most batsmen are content to push spinners for singles between the 20th and 40th overs so that the team has wickets in hand during the final push. But not Pietersen. He knows there is not a boundary in the world that he cannot clear and when Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan leg-spinner, was brought on, Pietersen chose to pull out the long handle.

Kaneria was slog/swept twice over deep midwicket for six and the off-spin of Shoaib Malik was treated with similar disdain. Strauss looked to be aggressive too and the return of Shoaib Akhtar did little to arrest the run rate. Seventy-six runs were added in 46 balls before Pietersen was stumped down the leg side. But with England on 185 for 3 in the 30th over, the platform for a huge score had been laid.

Strauss continued to find the gaps whilst Flintoff became accustomed to the pace and bounce of the pitch. When Strauss, on 94, pulled a long-hop straight to deep midwicket, Flintoff then took charge. Paul Collingwood batted intelligently, as he always does, and 87 runs were scored in the final 10 overs of the England innings.

Pakistan, through fine half-centuries from Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik, matched England until the 40th over but the task of scoring at almost nine runs an over proved too much for them.

Flintoff and Stephen Harmison were expensive, conceding 131 runs in 16.5 overs, but the lesser experienced trio of Liam Plunkett, James Anderson and Ian Blackwell were superb. Anderson made the breakthrough with the new ball and Blackwell dried up the boundaries in the middle of the Pakistan innings, but it was Plunkett who impressed most.

Plunkett is making quite a name for himself on the tour and after listening to him speak you can understand why. He appears very mature for a 20-year-old and looks to be a good, solid character with a simple approach to bowling.

After an encouraging year with Durham, he was initially selected for the one-day leg of the Pakistan tour, but the withdrawal of Simon Jones led to him being added to the Test squad. His bowling at practice pushed him ahead of Anderson and he performed admirably in trying conditions on his Test debut two weeks ago.

Not bad for a lad who was once rejected by Yorkshire. Plunkett was born, and still lives, in Middlesbrough and whilst he was attempting to make his way as a cricketer, he attended training sessions with both Yorkshire and Durham.

"When I was young I used to net with Yorkshire on a Tuesday, and then go up to Durham on a Wednesday," he explained. "But Yorkshire found out and they sent me a letter saying that they did not want my presence any more. So it was Durham all the way from then."

The setback did little to affect Plunkett's confidence. He looked nervous during his opening overs in the Test match but his bowling improved, and the same happened on Saturday.

When Trescothick brought Plunkett on England were in trouble. Butt and Younis were scoring freely and Pakistan were racing along at seven runs an over. But Plunkett coped with the situation well. He remained aggressive and had the nerve to mix his bowling up and keep the batsmen guessing. Yousuf became his first one-day scalp and Malik and Abdul Razzaq soon followed.

"I am delighted with the way things are going," admitted Plunkett. "It has all happened so quick but I am enjoying it enormously. It could be a different story in the next game but I am happy with what I have done and hopefully it will continue.

"I try to put the occasion to one side and pretend I am playing for Durham. I enjoyed the atmosphere but when you are running in to bowl you don't really think about what is going on around you. You have to focus on the ball you are about to bowl, and doing your best."

All England need to do now is repeat performances of this stature on a more regular basis than they have managed before.

Lahore scoreboard

England won toss

England

*M E Trescothick c Danish Kaneria b Naved-ul-Hasan 13

40 min, 21 balls, 2 fours

M J Prior lbw b Mohammad Sami 45

81 min, 55 balls, 6 fours

A J Strauss c Salman Butt b Danish Kaneria 94

122 min, 98 balls, 6 fours

K P Pietersen st Kamran Akmal b Shoaib Malik 56

52 min, 39 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes

A Flintoff not out 72

76 min, 65 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes

P D Collingwood not out 34

47 min, 27 balls, 4 fours

Extras (lb3, w5, nb5) 13

Total (for 4, 211 min, 50 overs) 327

Fall: 1-43 (Trescothick), 2-94 (Prior), 3-185 (Pietersen), 4-237 (Strauss).

Did not bat: ÝG O Jones, V S Solanki, I D Blackwell, J M Anderson, S J Harmison.

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-60-0 (nb4, w3) (5-0-21-0; 1-0-12-0; 4-0-27-0); Naved-ul-Hasan 9-0-75-1 (7-0-45-1; 2-0-30-0); Mohammad Sami 7-0-35-1 (6-0-32-1; 1-0-3-0); Abdul Razzaq 6-0-33-0 (one spell); Danish Kaneria 9-0-62-1 (nb1) (3-0-24-0; 6-0-38-1); Shoaib Malik 9-0-59-1 (w2) (one spell).

Progress: Power play 1: overs 1-10 53-1; PP2: overs 11-15 78-1; PP3: overs 16-20 103-2. 50: 49 min, 61 balls. 100: 92 min, 119 balls. 150: 120 min, 163 balls. 200: 148 min, 207 balls. 250: 170 min, 251 balls. 300: 197 min, 288 balls. Super sub L E Plunkett replaced K P Pietersen between innings.

Strauss' 50: 72 min, 55 balls, 4 fours. Pietersen's 50: 45 min, 35 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes. Flintoff's 50: 57 min, 55 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes.

Pakistan

Salman Butt c Flintoff b Harmison 67

86 min, 65 balls, 8 fours, 1 six

ÝKamran Akmal b Anderson 5

8 min, 6 balls, 1 four

Younis Khan c Collingwood b Flintoff 60

94 min, 56 balls, 6 fours, 1 five, 1 six

Mohammad Yousuf c Solanki b Plunkett 59

98 min, 63 balls, 5 fours

*Inzamam-ul-Haq c Jones b Collingwood 13

17 min, 18 balls, 1 four

Shoaib Malik c Jones b Plunkett 50

76 min, 60 balls

Abdul Razzaq c Jones b Plunkett 13

8 min, 7 balls, 1 four, 1 six

Shoaib Akhtar run out (Jones TV replay) 3

5 min, 3 balls

Naved-ul-Hasan not out 2

7 min, 2 balls

Mohammad Sami c Trescothick b Flintoff 1

3 min, 2 balls

Danish Kaneria b Flintoff 0

1 min, 1 ball

Extras (lb5, w5, nb2) 12

Total (206 min, 46.5 overs) 285

Fall: 1-15 (Kamran Akmal), 2-132 (Mohammad Yousuf), 3-160 (Younis Khan), 4-179 (I nzamam-ul-Haq), 5-262 (Mohammad Yousuf), 6-279 (Abdul Razzaq), 7-282 (Shoaib Malik), 8-282 (Shoaib Akhtar), 9-285 (Mohammad Sami), 10-285 (Danish Kaneria).

Bowling: Harmison 8-0-58-1 (w2) (4-0-30-0; 2-0-15-1; 2-0-13-0); Anderson 7-0-33-1 (w2) (6-0-29-1; 1-0-4-0); Flintoff 8.5-0-73-3 (nb2, w1) (4-0-41-0; 1-0-5-1; 2-0-10-0; 1.5-0-17-2); Plunkett 9-0-51-3 (3-0-20-0; 1-0-9-0; 5-0-22-3); Blackwell 10-0-45-0 (2-0-10-0; 8-0-35-0); Collingwood 4-0-20-1 (one spell).

Progress: Power play 1: overs 1-10 68-1; PP2: overs 11-15 106-1; PP3: overs 20-24 from 132-1 to 165-3. 50: 34 min, 47 balls. 100: 63 min, 89 balls. 150: 97 min, 131 balls. 200: 136 min, 194 balls. 250: 179 min, 255 balls. Arshad Khan was named as supersub but did not play.

Salman Butt's 50: 61 min, 47 balls, 7 fours, 1 six. Younis Khan's 50: 72 min, 45 balls, 5 fours, 1 five, 1 six. Mohammad Yousuf's 50: 86 min, 54 balls, 4 fours. Shoaib Malik's 50: 70 min, 59 balls.

England won by 42 runs.

Umpires: D B Hair (Aus) and B G Jerling (SA).

Man of the match: A J Strauss.