England beat Pakistan by four wickets with three balls to spare in a close contest in the second ODI. England needed six runs off the last over bowled by Umar Gul. England got the runs through a wide, a top edged four and a single. 
Tim Bresnan and Michael Yardy were at the crease. England got home thanks to a wonderful century from Andrew Strauss. 
The English captain was ably assisted by Steve Davies, and Jonathan Trott. Davies started brightly but got out to wonderful angling delivery from Shoaib Akhtar. Then Trott joined hands with his captain and the pair frustrated the Pakistani bowlers. Strauss’ hundred came in 106 balls and had nine fours and a six.
For the first time this summer in England, the Pakistani top order has clicked as a group and helped the team to set a target of 295 for England. Kamran Akmal, who returned to form in the previous game with a fifty, top scored with a well made 72. He started in tremendous fashion striking boundaries all around the wicket. He was especially harsh on Time Bresnan, who started the bowling at his home ground.
Akmal was well supported by Mohammed Hafeez at the top of the order. Hafeez was slow to get off the blocks but two boundaries off Stuart Broad got him going. The partnership was broken when Paul Collingwood got Kamran Akmal LBW. Akmal played a sweep but missed and was struck right in front of the off stump. Hafeez left soon, bowled by Swann.
Mohammed Yousuf was joined at the crease by Asad Shafiq. The duo continued the good work and added 74 runs in 13 overs. Yousuf got out just short of a fifty faintly edging a Broad ball to Steve Davies behind the stumps. Shafiq too was dismissed by Braod as soon as he reached his fifty. Pakistan somewhat lost their way in the last six overs, losing five wickets and scoring only 48 runs after the top order batsmen had set the platform for the lower order to use.
The best thing about the chase was how the English batsmen never let the run rate go beyond their control. Even though Trott and Collingwood took some time to get started, Strauss kept the scoreboard moving.
Pakistan would be upset about how this game went and Shahid Afridi was left ruing his side’s missed chances on the field. England are now 2-0 up in the five match series and have also gone to No.2 in the ICC ODI rankings.