England will not get carried away, insists Ravi Bopara

To be 2-0 up with two to play was not the predicted way of things. After the 3-0 whitewash in the Test series there was a sense of impending doom about the one-dayers, which has been utterly
swept aside.

Victory by 20 runs in Abu Dhabi last night, following the 130-run margin on Monday, was again largely engineered by the Essex partnership of the team's captain, Alastair Cook, and his
long-time mate, Ravi Bopara.

There were also another four wickets for Steve Finn, who again bowled like the wind. Cook took the fullest advantage of winning his 18th toss in 21 matches as captain by scoring his second successive hundred. He was again joined by Bopara, who made his second 50 of the series, in a significant third-wicket stand which ensured England had the total of 250 they wanted.

"We weren't happy with our one-day record so it will be a massive thing to win out here," said Bopara after his 58 from 66 balls. "I wouldn't want to get too giddy. We have done that in the past, not as a team but individually.

"I will keep my feet on the ground. All I'm thinking of is Saeed Ajmal and how to deal with him."

A large part of the reason for England's success - apart from the toss on a slow pitch getting slower - was their effective method against Ajmal.

They disrupted his rhythm by regularly rotating the strike and although the Pakistani maestro took another wicket, his 13th leg-before victim of the tour so far, England looked something like comfortable against him for the first time.

Cook, who scored 102 off 121 balls, is in the one-day form of his life, seemingly inspired by the captaincy. Since he took the job last June he has scored three tons and five 50s in 17 innings with a strike rate in the mid-90s, a cardinal riposte to a legion of doubters.

"He just grinds it out," said Bopara. "He knows his areas, he's a tough man, hard on himself, a really good player. He is somebody I have seen adapt over his career so much.

"I have played with him since he was 14 and he has changed so much over the years there is no reason why he can't come into the Twenty20 side."

The teams today moved the 60 miles from Abu Dhabi to Dubai where they will play the third match on Saturday and the fourth on Tuesday.