Report: England v Pakistan, Men's IT20

Jofra Archer took two wickets in his first international for more than a year as England began their World Cup preparations with a 23-run victory over Pakistan at a sold out Edgbaston.

In front of almost 25,000 fans, the capacity crowd was treated to a masterclass from Captain Jos Buttler, 90mph bowling from Archer and fireworks from Fakhar Zaman, in a match that hung in the balance until the final stages.

With Pakistan chasing 184, England’s spinners bowled superbly with Warwickshire’s Moeen Ali taking two wickets, before Archer set the hosts on their way to victory with two late scalps.

After Fakhar holed out for 45, Iftikhar Ahmed and Imad Wasim kept Pakistan alive – Iftikhar hit a monstrous six off Reece Topley. But some excellent fielding from the hosts, including two catches from Chris Jordan, ensured the England fans left the happier.

Archer finished with figures of 2/28 in his first international match in England since 2019 and Pakistan’s innings wilted to 160 all out.

England had earlier been lifted to 183/7 by 84 off 51 balls from Buttler. That total could and should have been more, but Pakistan fought back well at the end of the innings with three wickets from Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/36) to the delight of a partisan crowd in Birmingham. At one stage, the hosts lost five wickets for 25 runs in 25 balls.

England ultimately had enough and lead the series 1-0 after Wednesday’s opening match was washed out. The third game is in Cardiff on Tuesday before the final match at the Kia Oval on Thursday.

Player of the Match Jos Buttler: “We got a huge amount out of the game, great performances from everybody.”

“Jofra Archer was brilliant, you could see his emotion taking wickets for England again but we need to temper those expectations because he’s not going to be the same straight away.”

Pakistan Captain Babar Azam: “We got them to a par score, our bowlers bowled very well and we had our moments when we were batting.

“But we didn’t finish well. We had a small partnership, myself and Fakhar [Zaman] but we didn’t get any other 40 or 50 partnerships that England did.”

England Men return to Edgbaston from 26 July for the final Test of the three-match series against West Indies. Tickets for the first three days are sold out, but fans can still purchase tickets for remaining days online at tickets.edgbaston.com.

Hospitality and Premium Tickets are also still available.