BIRMINGHAM: An eighth-wicket stand of 37 by two ungainly batsmen enabled England to win the fifth and final One-Day International at Edgbaston but for a while it looked as if the home side would not be able to score the 155 needed to level the series 2-2.

Michael Yardy, playing only his third ODI, made 12 from one of the ugliest stances in modern cricket and Sajid Mahmood 22 with shots that never saw a text book. A month before the ICC Champions Trophy, it was a necessary boost to the morale of a team which rarely rises above the ordinary in limited-overs cricket.

The basis of victory came from Paul Collingwood, who was playing in his 100th ODI and took two important wickets, and Mahmood, who bowled his quota for 24 runs and dismissed two batsmen. The pitch was like the one at Trent Bridge and offered the seam bowlers the help coach Duncan Fletcher has often requested. Thus England kept Pakistan under control but it was the airport factor that brought the side crashing to the ground in the final game of the series.

Distracted lot

The end of a tour does strange things to a side however dominant it has been and today the Pakistan players looked as if the gifts for their loved ones had all been purchased, their bags were packed and all they wanted was to climb aboard their bus and head for Heathrow.

So, despite all the noise of hooters and trumpets you might expect in Karachi, a support bedecked in two shades of green and the knowledge that it still led the series 2-1, Pakistan could manage only 154 runs after nine wickets fell for 135. Only `man of the series' Younis Khan, as graceful as ever, hit more than 19. It was a scruffy innings against an attack which conceded 12 wides, taking its wide aggregate in the last two matches to 28 and 37 in the five matches.

Andrew Strauss won the toss, asked Pakistan to bat and saw immediate justification for his call when young Stuart Broad could not control the swing and the old head Jon Lewis produced eight overs for just 16 runs. The best that can be said of Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez is that they survived. It needed a high speed throw from Chris Read to run out Farhat although 10 replays were needed to settle whether Farhat had got his bat over the line.

When that had been resolved, Shahid Afridi, hitting blindly, and the imperturbable Hafeez both followed by the time the score reached 51. Collingwood had Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw and bowled Abdul Razzaq; at seven down for 102, with the ball still jagging about in the moist September air, we thought the innings could not last the full 50 overs. But for the next 17 overs the Pakistan tail, not wanting to let down the sublime Younis, forgot the hum of the home-going jet and scrambled a score that was respectable; but only just. England's team for the ICC Trophy will also be announced on Tuesday and the erratic Mahmood, the left-arm spinner Yardy (four for 46 in two matches) and the off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple (four for 77 in three games) needed to impress if they wanted the trip.

So did Joyce, again out quickly, but Strauss is in prime form as he proved with 30 out of the first 45 in seven overs. So too is Mohammad Asif, a new ball bowler of endless variety. He bowled Joyce and had Ian Bell caught in the gully; Strauss followed caught by Kamran Akmal. Just when Kevin Pietersen seemed to have the game won, he was bowled by Afridi and four wickets fell for 16 runs. It was 118 for seven, but the English tailenders Yardy and `man of the match' Mahmood completed their task with aplomb.

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