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England secured victory in the first session of the fourth day in the final test of the four test series against Pakistan at Lord's. They won by an innings and 225 runs with more than five sessions of play left and took the series by 3 games to 1. Barring the first 30 overs or so when Mohammad Aamer ripped through England's top order with a six-wicket haul, England were pretty much in command of the game. Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad got centuries and stitched together a 332 run stand for the eighth wicket that took England to a total of 446 having been 7 down for 102 at one stage. No batsman from Pakistan could stay at the wicket for a considerable length of time and hence the visitors were bowled out for a paltry 74 in their first innings. It was the third time in the series that they had been bowled out for a two digit total. They were asked to follow on and the script was similar the second time around too. They lost 8 wickets for 73, but Umar Akmal hung around with the tail and got an unbeaten 79 that took Pakistan to 147. Graeme Swann was the pick of the bowlers, getting eight wickets in the match, five of which came in the second innings. Pakistan's bowlers allowed England's batsmen to get away after being on top of them. The batsmen needed to build partnerships to get closer to England's total, but they failed to do that and at the end of the day, England were simply the better team.

Heavy downpour on the opening day meant that only 12.3 overs of play was possible. Salman Butt won the toss for Pakistan and elected to field. Mohammad Asif and Aamer gave the visitors an excellent start, getting the ball to move both ways to make life difficult for the Englishmen. Asif finally got the breakthrough when he dismissed Andrew Strauss, but Pakistan couldn't make further inroads and England ended the day on 39 for 1.

Aamer gave Pakistan a dream start on the second morning, picking up four wickets in the first half an hour of play to have England 5 down for 47. Trott and Matt Prior put together a steady partnership and stayed unbeaten till the end of the first session. Aamer struck twice after tea as England slumped to 107 for 7. Trott was still there though and he and Broad started to get the innings back on track. The duo took England to 185 for 7 at tea. They continued from where they had left off after the interval as Trott brought up his third test century. Broad too went past his half-century and he started to score more freely after that. He was approaching his maiden test hundred and he reached there with a neat clip over mid-wicket. Broad and Trott were not done yet and they stayed together till the end of the day's play. England ended the second day at 346 for 7, courtesy an unbeaten 244-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Trott was unbeaten on 149 whereas Broad had helped himself to 125.

Trott went past 150 early on the third day and Broad too reached that landmark soon after. England went past 400 and the partnership was now worth more than 300. Broad finally fell for 169 after a 332-run stand with Trott just before the lunch interval. Pakistan wrapped up the innings within a couple of overs after tea with Trott being the last man to be dismissed for 184. England ended on 446, an exceptional total considering the situation they were in minutes after tea on the second day. Aamer was Pakistan's most successful bowler with career best figures of 6-84.

Pakistan found it difficult to deal with the new ball and they lost three wickets, including that of the experienced Mohammad Yousuf, for just 1 run in a short 15 minute period. Salman Butt and Azhar Ali tried to get things back on track and they managed to stay together till the tea break. Pakistan weren't yet out of trouble at 46 for 3. Things got worse when Butt fell on the first ball after tea and after that it was pretty much a procession. None of the batsmen could hang around in the middle and the visitors were bowled out for just 74. Swann and Steven Finn picked up four and three wickets respectively and Broad chipped in with a couple.

England had no hesitation in enforcing the follow on and Pakistan's batting woes continued in the second innings. The openers were back even before the team's score could reach double digits. Butt and Yousuf held fort for a while and they tried to repair the damage done. But the duo fell minutes before the close of play and Pakistan ended the third day in deep trouble at 41 for 4, still trailing England by 331 runs.

The match-fixing scandal that had been exposed following the end of the third day's play grabbed all the headlines before play started on day 4. Seven members in the Pakistan squad, skipper Butt, Aamer, Asif, Kamran Akmal and three unnamed players had been accused of being involved in spot-fixing on the first two days of the match during which Asif and Aamer had allegedly bowled intentional no-balls at pre-determined times in the match. Pakistan were already in a lot of trouble in the context of the game and the drama off the field didn't help them. Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal were the two men out in the middle and they had to do something miraculous to save face for Pakistan.

Swann managed to extract turn out of the wicket right from the very first ball he delivered. And it took him less than two overs to strike the first blow as he took out Ali's (12) off-stump with a beauty. Kamran Akmal fell four deliveries later, caught behind off James Anderson. And in the next over, Swann struck timber once again. Aamer was the batsman on this occasion and he was gone without scoring for the second time in the match. Pakistan were already 7 down for 65 and an England victory seemed to be looming large. Swann was into an excellent spell and it got better when Wahab Riaz (0) fell while going for an almighty slog that went straight up in the air and ended up being a comfortable take for mid-on.

Umar, meanwhile, tried to go after the bowlers at the other end. He was scoring at better than a run a ball and in Saeed Ajmal, he got a partner who hung around for a while as the duo took Pakistan close to 100. But Ajmal ran himself out while attempting a non-existent single and a direct hit from Broad found him short of his crease. Umar took Pakistan past 100 with a boundary. He went after Swann and got to his half-century with a huge six followed by a boundary a couple of deliveries later. Asif was doing well to hang on as Umar tried to reduce the margin of defeat. He kept on attacking the bowlers. Asif's (1) resistance finally came to an end when he tried to slog Swann into the leg side and all he could was get a bottom edge onto his boot and the ball lobbed up in the air and went straight to the man at slip. Swann completed a five-wicket haul and Pakistan had been bowled out for 147. England had won the match by an innings and 225 runs and took the series by 3 games to 1.

Broad was awarded the man-of-the-match for his debut century and his three wickets with the new ball. Trott was named England's man-of-the-series and Aamer received the award for Pakistan's man-of-the-series. The hosts played good cricket throughout the series and the final scoreline is a fair reflection of what happened on the field. Pakistan's bowlers looked good on a few occasions, but their batting was not up to the mark and barring a few glimpses of individual brilliance, they don't have much to boast about. The hosts won the first two tests convincingly before Pakistan threatened to stage a fight-back. The visitors managed to win the third test, but in the end England proved that they were the far superior team. The hosts, however, will be concerned about the form of Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, neither of whom could play an authoritative innings in the entire series.

The teams next face off in a two-match Twenty20 series before a five match ODI series and England will hope that Strauss and Pietersen will be able to get going in these matches. Pakistan have their own set of problems as half of their squad, including their skipper, have been charged of being involved in match-fixing. Investigations are on and if the players are found guilty, then their cricketing careers might come under threat. The first T20 between England and Pakistan will be played on the 5th of September and Pakistan will have to get all off the field incidents out of their mind and work hard on their cricket if they want to pose a challenge to the reigning World Champions.

Mini Scorecard

England 1st innings 446 all out (139.2 overs, 3.20 rpo)

J Trott 184 (383)                  M Aamer 6-84
S Broad 169 (297)               S Ajmal 2-126

Pakistan 1st innings 74 all out (33 overs, 2.24 rpo)

S Butt 26 (58)                      G Swann 4-12
K Akmal 13 (21)                   S Finn 3-38

Pakistan 2nd innings (following on) 147 all out (36.5 overs, 3.99 rpo)

U Akmal 79* (68)                  G Swann 5-62
S Butt 21 (45)                       J Anderson 2-35

England win by an innings and 225 runs

File Photograph Copyright: Barry Zee