Sarfraz's strange six and Afridi's record

James Vince, who had hit two sixes and two fours from his last six balls and was beginning to take the game away from Pakistan when Shahid Afridi brought himself into the attack. It was a decision that brought almost immediate rewards when, four balls into the over, Vince top-edged a sweep and was caught in the deep. The wicket - Afridi's 86th in T20I cricket - took him top of the international wicket-taking column in this format. The bowlers in second and third position - Saeed Ajmal (with 85 wickets) and Umar Gul (with 83 wickets) are also Pakistan players.

There were 20 runs required from the final 10 balls of the innings when, scurrying to complete a quick two, Sarfraz Ahmed slid his bat in front of him to beat the a powerful throw from deep midwicket. Quite unintentionally, the ball struck Sarfraz's bat, ballooned over the keeper's head, and slid away to the boundary. Convention dictates that batsmen do not run if the ball hits their bat or body in such circumstances. But if the ball crosses the boundary, that choice is not open to them so Sarfraz was the fortunate recipient of an extra four runs and six in total from the delivery. It was tough luck on the bowler, David Willey, who had produced a perfectly respectable yorker and almost made all the difference to the result.

With his soft voice and modest off-field manner, Jos Buttler might, at first glance, appear an unusual choice as captain. But he has earned a reputation as a leader on the pitch and in the dressing room, where he is not afraid to express his views and is utterly committed to the fearless style of cricket this young England side has adopted. He was appointed vice-captain on the recommendation of Eoin Morgan during the World Cup and here, despite playing in the same team as Joe Root, who is seen as England's next Test captain, he was appointed to lead the international side for the first time.

There has been some pretty modest fielding from Pakistan in the limited-overs games, but Umar Akmal's catch to dismiss Sam Billings was spectacular by any standards. Standing a few yards inside the rope at long on, Akmal flung himself into the air to cling on a slightly scuffed heave from Billings off the bowling of Wahab Riaz. As if that was not impressive enough, he then had the presence of mind to realise that his momentum was taking him towards the boundary. Throwing the ball up into the air, he then took one step outside the boundary to stead himself by returning to the field of play and completing a catch that owed as much to his composure as his athleticism.

Akmal's spectacular catch remained the aberration in another underwhelming fielding display from Pakistan. The mostly costly error came when Sohail Tanvir, on the long-on boundary, parried a chance over the boundary for six. Vince, who had scored 15 at the time, was the reprieved batsman and punished the error by hitting the next three deliveries he faced for six, four and four and finishing as England's top-scorer with 38.

Perhaps it is a reflection of the standard of modern wicketkeeping, perhaps it is a reflection of modern spin bowling or perhaps it simply reflects that seam bowlers tend to be employed more often in the Powerplay overs but, until now, there had never been a T20I in which both opening batsman on one side had been dismissed stumped. That changed here when first Ahmed Shehzad and Rafatullah Mohmand were beaten as they skipped down the wicket and Buttler made no mistake.

Akmal looked desperately unfortunate to be given out caught behind for just 3 in the 15th over of Pakistan's reply. The bowler, Liam Plunkett, hardly seemed to appeal after spearing a ball down the leg side but the umpire mistook the noise of the ball brushing the batsman's leg for a thin edge and quickly raised his finger. Buttler, diving far to his left down the leg side, clung on to an outstanding catch and Akmal, with no DRS available in T20I cricket, had no choice but to trudge back to the pavilion.