England might well be underprepared for the T20 World Cup , but they cruised to a comfortable victory in their final match before the tournament against Pakistan. Two of the four scheduled T20s against Pakistan were rained off without a ball being bowled, and even the final one at the Oval could not escape a small rain delay in the first innings. However, it was not enough to deter England, who batted with a flourish to win by seven wickets.
Jos Buttler returned to the side following the birth of his child , and alongside Phil Salt , the duo batted with a flourish to chase down Pakistan’s sub-par total of 158 with 27 balls to spare. It was a complete performance from the hosts, who dominated with bat and ball throughout both innings to finish their T20 World Cup preparations in an ideal fashion, although their number of warm-up matches was far less than planned. Any question marks raised by Shaheen Shah Afridi at the start of the innings were soon quashed by the Lancashire pair who reached 78 runs without loss at the end of their powerplay.
England played with freedom, finding the gaps in the field with ease, as Salt and Buttler put their recent Indian Premier League experience to effective use in south London. Pakistan claimed their first wicket when Salt was caught on the boundary, but not before he had amassed 45 runs from 24 deliveries. However, Will Jacks picked up where his teammate left off, stroking the ball to the off side boundary from his first delivery at his ho.