Pakistan beat England in the fourth ODI played at Lord’s by 38 runs to level the series at two games all. The series now moves to Rose Bowl in Southampton for the all-important finale on Wednesday. 
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first on a dry-looking surface. Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez added 62 for the first wicket, before three quick wickets pegged them back to 94/3. Hafeez brought his half century and took the score along to 137/3 in the 32nd over. 
Hafeez then became Graeme Swann’s third victim for 64 and when Fawad Alam was bowled by the same bowler after the drinks break, the Pakistanis were in trouble. Shahid Afridi bailed them out with a 22-ball 37, but it was Abdul Razzaq who added 55 for the eighth wicket off 29 balls that finally propelled the score along to 265/7. Razzaq scored 44 of 20 balls.
In reply, England began well with the opening pair of Andrew Strauss and Steven Davies adding 113 for the first wicket off 20 overs. The pair was aggressive and took on the bowling from the word go, and Davies would have got to his half-fifty had he not misread the Doosra from Saeed Ajmal.
One wicket usually brings one more, and in this case, the dismissal was followed by three more for the addition of 36 runs – to leave the English side struggling at 149/4 in 31.2. Unfortunately, along with the wickets, the runs also begun to dry up and in the end the side was left with too much to score in the last ten overs.
Umar Gul returned to swing the ball around again, and captured four wickets, even as the English side found no-one down the order to anchor the innings. England were 227 all out in the 47th over to hand Pakistan over the win.
A visibly angry Andrew Strauss credited the English side for performing so well despite the trauma that they had to go through after the PCB chairman, Ejaz Butt had accused them of match-fixing in the third ODI at Oval.