At Rawalpindi, December 21, 2005 (day/night). England won by six runs. Toss: England. Oneday
international debut: Mohammad Asif.
With the series lost, England achieved a win they badly wanted: to gain ranking points to avoid
pre-qualification for the 2006 Champions Trophy - and to return to England without feeling wholly
embarrassed. Batting first, they were indebted to yet another tail-end rally - this time from Plunkett,
who carved 15 runs from the final over, bowled by Abdul Razzaq, to lift their patchy innings past
200. Though Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shoaib Akhtar were absent, two more wickets from the consistent
Naved-ul-Hasan gave him nine in the series, the most by any bowler on either side. From 122 for
two in the 32nd over, Pakistan really should have cantered home. But Yasir Hameed took an age
- 57 in 105 balls - and time pressure hurried the middle order into indiscretions against Blackwell,
who turned the ball as much as anyone. Anderson was left to close out the game with some useful
slower balls and yorkers. England's bowlers did well to cover for the absence of Flintoff, who
played as a specialist batsman after tweaking his ankle and was then substituted. Thus ended his
glorious year.
Man of the Match: J. M. Anderson. Man of the Series: Kamran Akmal.