Only way is up for record-beating England

Match facts

September 1, Headingley Start time 1400 (1300GMT)

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The series is in the bag but the fun, as far as England are concerned, is only just beginning. “We haven’t reached our peak yet,” said Alex Hales on Tuesday night, after leading a record-breaking rampage in the third ODI at Trent Bridge – and unnervingly for Pakistan, he is almost certainly right. With a national-record 171 under Hales’ own belt, and a world-beating mark of 444 for 3 for the team as a whole, England have served notice of just how formidable their one-day set-up might soon turn out to be.

But, with a current ranking of No. 5 in the world, and with memories of their debacle in the 2015 World Cup still fresher in the memory than anyone would care to admit, England’s motivation to keep improving won’t be dented by such short-term triumphs, no matter how impressive. The Champions Trophy looms in 2017, and the 2019 World Cup soon after that – both on home soil. If this young and hungry squad keeps its eye on the ball as successfully as Hales, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan managed on Tuesday afternoon, an end to England’s drought in global 50-over tournaments could surely be on the cards.

Pakistan, likewise, have half an eye on the next World Cup, albeit for far less palatable reasons. Their current ranking of No. 9 may seem implausible – especially when set against their magnificent march to the top of the Test pile – but nothing they have produced in the series so far disputes their lowly status, and the pressure is self-evident if they wish to avoid the ignominy of having to pre-qualify for a tournament that they won, as cornered tigers, under Imran Khan in 1992.

Amid the carnage at Trent Bridge, there were a few fleeting indications that the patient has a pulse. Sharjeel Khan’s welcome aggression at the top of the order was matched, in precise numerical terms, by Mohammad Amir’s furious 58 at No. 11, and if more of their team-mates can be encouraged to have a go and hang the consequences – as England themselves did in their post-World Cup epiphany 18 months ago – then the future could yet be a touch brighter.

On the flip side, however, the state of Pakistan’s fielding was beyond lamentable. Three grotesque errors in the opening moments of England’s innings set the tone for a woeful day’s work, and though Wahab Riaz just managed to avoid claiming a world record of his own – his analysis of 10-0-110-0 was three runs more economical than Australia’s Mick Lewis at Johannesburg in 2006 – his summer-long tussle with the front line proved incredibly costly, as England benefited from a brace of no-ball reprieves, for Hales on 72 and Buttler on 75.

England, to be honest, weren’t a whole lot more impressive in their own fielding effort – in addition to several lapses in their groundwork, Hales blotted …

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