Pakistan vs England in Lahore: one more win books Pakistan's tri-series final spot

Pakistan play England at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Sunday 25 October, starting at 1pm Pakistan time, and a win would put them into the final of the ODI tri-series. It is the first match of the Lahore leg after three games in Rawalpindi.

Where does the table stand?

Pakistan have won both their matches: by 37 runs against Sri Lanka on 18 October and by 87 runs against England on 20 October. Sri Lanka have one win, the wild two-wicket chase of 430 against England on Thursday. England have lost both.

The remaining fixtures, all in Lahore, are Pakistan v England (25 October), Pakistan v Sri Lanka (27 October) and Sri Lanka v England (29 October), with the final on 31 October.

Why does Sunday matter so much?

By our count, if Pakistan beat England they will have three wins and England could finish with at most one, so Pakistan would be sure of a top-two place whatever happens after that. If they lose, the door opens for a three-way tie on two wins each, which would come down to the tie-break rules, including head-to-head and net run rate. Shaheen Shah Afridi’s side would much rather not go there.

What happened last time these two met?

It was Arafat Minhas’s day. Pakistan slipped to 133 for five in Rawalpindi before Hasan Nawaz (79) and Minhas (59, his first ODI fifty) dragged them to 302 for nine. England were cruising at 120 for one in reply, then lost nine wickets for 95 and were all out for 215 in 38.4 overs. Minhas finished with 6 for 40, the best figures of his career, and ran out the last man for good measure.

That collapse is the thing England will have to fix. Their batting is not the problem: two days later Harry Brook hit 202 off 116 balls against Sri Lanka and England made 429 for four. They still lost, because Sri Lanka’s Pavan Rathnayake made 130 and the bowling could not defend the biggest total of the tournament.

Team news

England are without Jos Buttler, who was ruled out of the series with a hamstring injury, so Jordan Cox keeps wicket. Jofra Archer has been rested. Brook captains.

Pakistan had not announced any changes by Saturday morning, and after two big wins there is little reason to; the final XI will be known at the toss.

What to watch

Dew. Brook said before the Rawalpindi game that “dew might play a big factor”, and Arab News noted how hard it made bowling under lights there, and Lahore in late October is no different, so the toss could decide whether teams bat first. Then watch England’s middle order against Minhas and the spinners in the middle overs, the exact phase where they fell apart last time.

The match starts at 1pm PKT on Sunday.